November 10-18, 2019
Anna-Carin and Ata are not only very hospitable, but also very sophisticated - they have a signed photo of Angelina Jolie in their bathroom after all. They moved to Yerevan after a few years of living in Warsaw, and we took it as an invitation to visit. I don't think they actually said we could come, but you know how it is when friends move to a cool place you want to visit. It's an auto-invite. The invitation to visit Poland is still open for anyone reading this, by the way. Luckily, I had a work trip scheduled to Armenia (back when those were a thing), so Zosia took a couple days off and joined me.
Sophistication at its finest
Armenia's capital, Yerevan, goes back almost 3000 years. There's a lot of history in the area, especially for a place so small. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 301 AD, thanks to St Gregory. He was kept as a prisoner in Khor Virap monastery (which was pretty cool to visit), then eventually convinced the King to convert to Christianity. I imagine their relationship something like Ragnar and Athelstan in the TV series Vikings. Something else came to mind when contemplating Armenian history; how is there an Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem? Turns out a short time after the conversion to Christianity, some Armenian monks went to Jerusalem and never left.
Khor Virap
St Gregory was kept down there
Learning about Armenia's relationship with its neighbors is a reminder how delicate things can be between countries around the world. Conflicts between any countries or groups can arise due to political or religious beliefs, disagreements over ownership of the land, greed, conquest, ethnicities, and a million other reasons. And of course each side has their own point of view. I've always wondered how countries agreed on borders when there isn't an obvious natural separator, or a sector where the different ethnicities live. Does someone bring out some chalk and draw a line? Maybe they lay down their jackets and wait for their friends to show up? When you aren't emotionally invested, it might be easy to wonder why countries and their people can't just get along with each other. But when you are living their reality, I suppose that's hard. It's also easy to say "if you don't like the country you live in, just move", but that also ignores the root causes and the deep feelings of what's fair and just. I guess we will continue to see changes to country borders around the world, new countries declaring independence, civil wars, and maybe even worse. We really shouldn't take peace and cooperation for granted. But it's also fascinating to think how country borders have changed over the years (one of the many things we had to memorize in history class), and they are definitely not done changing.
Garni Temple
Geghard Monastery
Of course the trip to an unknown country wouldn't be complete without a stressful experience with taxis. I went to the airport to pick up Zosia (who came a few days after I went), but the car I ordered on the phone app to pick us up from the airport cancelled because (I think) we couldn't understand each other on the phone about the pickup point. Then the app stopped working altogether, so I tried another app, but the credit card payment method wouldn't confirm. The taxi sharks (random guys offering us a ride at the airport) started circling so we tried to play it cool like we weren't getting desperate. We could have taken a normal taxi, but we didn't have cash, the ATM didn't work and they didn't accept credit cards. We found a cash exchange, but we only had PLN and Georgian money, which they wouldn't accept. Finally one of the more persistent sharks, who somehow seemed less intimidating because he talked to us questions in English - instead of trying to get what HE wanted, he wanted to find out what WE wanted. What a novel concept. In the end, he ended up taking Georgian money from us in exchange for enough local cash for us to take an official taxi (not even his). And he insisted to write a receipt for the money exchange by hand to confirm he wasn't trying to trick us. It ended up fine, but having just a small amount of local currency (or an taxi app that worked, or being able to speak a local language) would have helped.
One of the most important things I learned in Armenia was that their last names end with "yan" or "ian", and immediately I thought of the Kardashians. And just like the Kardashians I noticed a lot of women with unnatural looking lips. I wonder if the K's have influenced the level of face plasticity in their motherland. But the most important Kardashian konnection for me is that the trip reminded me of my great auntie Yaeko, who passed away from cancer the year before. The last time we visited her, she was watching the Kardashians on TV, and sent us outside to pick some corn so she could finish the episode in peace.
From this view I can't tell if those lips are natural or not
The food in Armenia is similar to what you might find in Turkey and other places in the region - meats, skewers, eggplant, breads, herbs, baklava, honey cake, but the best food for us from Armenia is lahmajun. In Warsaw we were always looking for a good one, and Ata introduced us to his favorite in Warsaw. So of course we asked him to take us to some in Yerevan. Luckily it was everywhere. A couple of the restaurants we liked were Tun Lahmajo and Lavash. The lahmajun were huge and full of fresh herbs for less than $2. I also really liked the aveluk (sorrel) soup.
Mouthwatering
Beyond the food was another highlight: brandy. We did a tour and tasting of the Ararat Factory and did a taste test. I enjoyed the 20 year old Ararat, but it was quite expensive so we brought home a bottle of the 10, which was better than half as good. A friend in the office there, Sergey, even gifted us a bottle and gave me one to bring back to Doremi. Sergey is a great guy; once when Doremi went to Armenia for a week, Sergey met them to hang out and drive them around, even though he didn't know them. He also took me around for some sightseeing before Zosia arrived.
Cheers!
Speaking of Ararat, the mountain famous for Noah's Ark, it's located just across the border in Turkey. The air is sometimes dirty, but you can see the peak from the one of the higher points of Yerevan.
View of Ararat from the city center
Our hosts let us to tag along with them during their social outings as well, including a Nordic Christmas planning party with some of their international friends, making some decorations and mingling. They also met an impressive artist Kevork Mourad, who let us come to his studio where he was preparing for a 3-D exhibition.
It was a great time in a cool city, with a lot of history and food and drink. And of course with our amazing friends who helped us to make the most of it. We miss them in Warsaw, but are very grateful to have the chance to visit their new home. Just consider keeping your original lips, guys!
