Yerevan, Yerevan, Armenia
Today was my full day to explore the city of Yerevan before my day trips the next three days. I'd lost some time with my 3am arrival last night after being delayed 4 hours in Kiev. I slept till 930am and seemed refreshed for the day.
First I needed cash as I hadnt been able to exchange any Canadian currency at the airport and needed to pay for my apartment in cash as most apartments do not take credit cards.
The first bank by the apartment did not take any Canadian. Starting to worry I withdrew 120,000 ARM from the bank machine ($300) to cover costs for the apartment and leave me some cash. Walking to the Metro I then saw a HSBC bank who are global. They did accept Canadian currency so I exchanged a further $300 CAD back into Euros to avoid further problems along the trip.
I first was going to take the metro south two stops to get to the Cathedral and Gum market. Gum does not mean chewing gum but is a bazaar typical in Soviet countries. Metro fare was 100 ARM ($0.25 cents).
I'd recently been to the Gum Market in Almaty Kazakhstan last September so this was very similar with dried fruits, spices, meats, and regular fruits.
A short walk is a large new modern cathedral. Navigating the streets it was quiet dangerous crossing six lane roads and I gave up trying so had to walk extra to get to traffic lights.
Heading past the French Embassy where there is a large Armenian diaspora I made my way to the city museum at the rear of City Hall. Entrance was 500 ARM ($1.25).
The museum was small in space but spanned three floors.
Like many countries of the world the modern day borders are all wrong and do not reflect historic territories or wider diasporas. Modern Armenia is a fraction of its true size.
A fellow blogger has done a good write up on the history of the region - http://v2.travelark.org/travel-blog-entry/crowdywendy/6/1440612578
Leaving the city museum I then made my way to the Blue Mosque. Armenia has three Muslim neighbours, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan. Relations are poor with Turkey due to the 1915 massacre, and a territorial war with Azerbaijan after post Soviet independence has frozen relations with its eastern neighbour. The leaves Iran as Armenia's only land border in what would otherwise leave them landlocked except for Georgia in the north.
Next I then had to find the travel agent where I was to pickup my train ticket for my sleeper train the day I left. It was difficult to find and had no street markings. After also getting a shawarma I stopped back in the apartment to rest after a days walking with more to come climbing the cascade steps.
After resting in the apartment for about an hour I made my way to the Cascade Steps. This seems a nicer version of the Potemkin Stairs in Odessa, Ukraine which turned out to be a let down descending to a shipping port.
Rather than walk I'd recently discovered on youtube that they have indoor escalators to save all the walking.
You then have to cross a dangerous bypass road to get to the Independence Park. You can get killed crossing this road hence the monument to all the Armenian martyrs!
The statue has an eternal flame outside but the indoor museum was closed.
The original plan was probably to have the Cascade Steps lead all the way to the Independence Park but it seems the money ran out as there is an abandoned construction site you have to walk around at what would have been the connection.
Some light drizzle began as I began my first day's walking. The rain was forecast to move in for the next few days.
crowdywendy
2019-05-15
Loved the GUM market too. All those delicious sticky fruits. Thanks for the plug!