KathleenOur lovely 3 PM flight from Italy to Armenia was moved to 8 PM which means we didn’t arrive in this capital city until 12 PM our time, 2 AM in Yerevan. True to its travel book descriptions, Yerevan was still hopping at this time on a Saturday night. Folks were still in cafes and bars and there was even a 24-hour grocery store open in our downtown location only half a block from our AirBnB. We got a late start the next day after going to bed at 4 AM local and spent our day getting familiar with this lovely modern city.
Although Armenia is one of the sites of the very earliest humans, there is nothing ancient about this city. The soviet era history means some rather austere monuments and civic buildings but the Armenians have made their own with some of the most lovely outside spaces, restaurants and cafes that I have seen. The park next to the opera house is filled with swank, outdoors cafes and restaurants and the vibe feels very young and these folks are devoted to spending time enjoying what their city has to offer.
We were extremely sleepy after lunch so we decided to get the blood flowing by climbing a million stairs (actually 572) up “The Cascade,” which is a soviet-era construction connecting the central city to the “Victory Park” at the top of the hill. Although the architecture of this stairway is a bit austure, one cannot help but be impressed with the oodles of travertine and artful fountains on each level. We were a little disappointed that the water was not running throughout, but it was still impressive. Unfortunately, the project ran out of money before it was completed, so there is a bit hole construction site that you have to go around to get to the top. At the top stands an impressive “Mother Armenia” statue preportedly glaring toward Turkey (rocky history between these two countries). It’s massive mother-warrior replaced a tribute to Lenin from the soviet era. The park includes a lake and a mini amusement park.
In the evening we strolled about, had some yummy Armenian dumplings, dolmas and hummous, and went to bed early in anticipation of our two-day South Armenia tour which was to start the next morning.
