Monday, June 5, 2017
The hotel picked me up a car with right hand drive (1) After a 3:30 am arrival, I had a lie-in until about 11:00. Then a walk to the central train station to get a ticket for the sleeper to Tbilisi in 3 days (2). The train station is a grand Soviet design, but now hosts few trains. I grabbed the metro back to town (3).
I wandered over to the Cascades Complex, a kind of park with wide stairways leading up a large hill just north of the city center. There is a sculpture park at the base. Climbing the steps, you can see Mount Ararat (4) quite well. It was still snow-capped in June.
Baklava was on the dessert menu at lunch. I have never really liked Baklava, but now I know what is supposed to taste like. My previous experience had been with overly sweet, mushy baklava. The one I had today was served warm, with a crispy crust and a not-too-sweet mixture of flakey crust inside with a nice blend of honey, egg and nuts.
The Blue Mosque was next. There was a large police presence here, although I'm not sure why. The mosque was built about 250 years ago, when this area of Armenia was ruled by Persia (modern-day Iran). The mosque is housed within a larger complex with an courtyard in a busy part of the city. The traffic noise fades quickly as you step into the courtyard.
I quietly slipped off my shoes and entered the mosque itself. There was only one other person present, a man sitting by the entrance. I wandered about for a few minutes admiring the interior design and carpet. As I took a picture, the man sitting by the entrance apologized for not greeting me. He said he thought I was an Iranian (5) coming to pray rather than a visitor. He told me about the Mosque's architecture and history. The mosque had been a museum during Soviet times and had been refurbushed with help from the Iranian government for re-use as a worship space by the Shia Muslim population in Yerevan. He invited me back at sunset to join him in breaking the Ramadan fast (6).
There was a free concert with the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra this evening at Khachaturian Hall (7) featuring some very young (probably about 8 to 14 years old) musical prodigies playing movements from Piano, Violin and 'Cello concertos. It was great to see a pianist who looked to be about 9 years old go through the formalities of shaking hands with the concert master, etc.
Yerevan also has a large Soviet-era central square surrounded by government buildings. The city seems to have avoided the sterility problem I have observed with other large plazad. Perhaps this is because of the large fountain that spouts and changes colors in synchrony with music each night, or the large number of sitting places in the square. I also like that Yerevan has a large number of drinking water fountains and benches with the city name scattered throughtout the city.
(1) This is UK style, even though Armenia drives on the same side of the road as the US. The driver said cars with the steering wheel on the wrong side are about US $800 cheaper. There is a glut of used right-side-drive cars from Japan, making these cars cheaper. The Japanese people apparently like new cars. By my rough estimate, about 25% of cars in Armenia,are right-side drive.
(2) You can normally just buy a railway ticket the day of travel, but I wanted to be sure I got a sleeper berth. Only once have I been unable to get a train ticket: from Uzhorod to Solotvino, Ukraine. The minibus ride I took instead reminded me why I prefer trains.
(3) The central railway station is not really central. It is a mile or so south of the city center.
(4) According to the locals, Mt. Ararat (a) is where Noah's Ark came to rest upon the receding of the waters after the Biblical flood.
(5) During my travels, people have thought I was Irish and German, but never Iranian.
(6) While I did return, I did not see the man who invited me, so I did not enter and break bread. While I am game for many things, entering a mosque in a country where I do speak any either of the common local languages (Aremian or Russian), nor Farsi nor Arabic, then sitting down and eating with strangers was a stretch even for me!
(7) Aram Khachaturian is probably the best-known Armenian symphonic composer best known for his frenatic piece "Sabre Dance."
(a) Due to the vissisitudes of history, Ararat is now on Turkish territory, although it is still an important symbol in Armenia. When the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic put Ararat on its official seal, the Turkish government objected that the Armenians should not officially use a symbol of something that did not belong to them. According to local lore, Moscow (which ruled Armenia at the time) responded that they did not object to the crescent moon being on Turkey's flag, even though the moon is not in Turkey.
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