Something bad had happened, people had died, but we never truly appreciated or understood the details.

Laundry lists of personal concerns and modern media’s facile compartmentalization of just about everything made it easy for us to become desensitized and stow it all away. These were simply areas of conflict someplace far away.

Although we didn’t venture into Abkhazia, South Ossetia, or Nagorno-Karabakh, we did meet some people displaced and affected by the disputes. For us, their personal tales conveyed a human face to areas that previously only amounted to just another set of flashpoints halfway around the globe.

Abkhazia

The only thing everyone seems to agree about Abkhazia is that it is a beautiful place – the Caucasus Mountains on its one side and the Black Sea on the other. After that, agreement yields to chaos; nothing is black and white about the war, who started it and how it might someday be resolved. The reality is that an estimated 200,000-300,000 refugees from Abkhazia are now spread throughout Georgia. We met just a few.

Holed Up at Hotel Telavi
Our first encounter with Abkhazia occurred in the opposite corner of Georgia, in the Eastern region of Kakheti. In search of great views of Telavi and the surrounding countryside, we found ourselves climbing the crumbling steps of the Hotel Telavi, a once-desired address now inhabited by Abkhazian refugees driven from their homes more than ten years ago.

Common rooms on the ground floor are gutted and scattered with trash and rusted Brezhnev-era remains. Extended families are squeezed into old, decaying Soviet hotel rooms. Children have turned the grand ballroom into a velodrome and cycle the long hours of uncertain days away while their parents hang out of the windows, drawing smoke from cheap cigarettes as they watch time drift by. Uncertainty seems certain here; no one knows when or if he’ll ever be able to return home.

So Close, Yet So Far
We met Lena after enjoying an impromptu feast at the Zugdidi market. She was forced to flee her home in Sukhumi (regional capital of Abkhazia) 15 years ago and subsequently settled in nearby Zugdidi. Tears welled up in Lena’s eyes as she drifted into the past and described her beautiful home and her former life. She eventually grew silent and her eyes dropped as she returned to the reality of the present. Her hope to one day return home was also waning. All we could do was nod empathetically.

Unexpected Caretaker
A friend in Tbilisi told us about how she used to spend summers as a child at her grandfather’s house in Sukhumi. After the war, borders were closed and her family could obviously no longer take advantage of the summer home.

When phone lines were reconnected a few years ago, our friend dialed the phone number of her old summer home out of curiosity. A man answered the phone and explained that he was a Chechen and now living in the house. He wanted to know whether there was a car that went with the house. He’d found some car parts in the garage and wanted to take full advantage of all the house had to offer.

To reassure our friend, he said, “Don’t worry. I’m taking good care of the house. If politics change, it will be in good condition for when you return. It’s a nice house.”

Nagorno-Karabakh

In Azerbaijan, it would be an understatement to say that feelings run strong regarding Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The continual pain and anger from this conflict finds expression in so many – often bizarre – ways, from the moment you enter the country until the moment you leave.

Offending Guidebooks – Rip Out the Maps!
One of the teams from the Mongol Rally that we met in Uzbekistan shared an apt tale of the Azerbaijani attitude towards this disputed territory. The drivers carried a Lonely Planet Caucasus guidebook with them. The Lonely Planet’s characterization of Nagorno-Karabakh as distinctly separate from Azerbaijan apparently did not fit with the Azerbaijani government’s view. As they entered Azerbaijan from the border with Georgia, the Azerbaijani guards confiscated the book, citing the offending map and characterization of Nagorno-Karabakh as an entity separate from Azerbaijan. After considerable discussion, the guards showed their generosity by allowing the Mongol Rally team to continue their journey into Azerbaijan.

We also had our guidebook and map examined by several Azerbaijanis in Baku, Shaki and Lahic. Each paid special attention to how Nagorno-Karabakh was depicted. Fortunately for us, our Trailblazer guidebook and its especially pro-Azerbaijani view (it was, after all, primarily a guidebook for Azerbaijan) and the Avis map (given to us by the Azerbaijani embassy in Tbilisi) both passed the test. We were kindly allowed to keep our materials and were not forced to travel blindly.

Offending Photos – Hide Them!
Just when we thought we were in the clear as we departed Azerbaijan, one of the border guards pulled us aside. The Armenian visas in our passports drew his ire. Our exit from Azerbaijan included 45 minutes of questioning regarding our activities in Armenia. We assured him that we hadn’t visited Nagorno-Karabakh. He insisted that we show our photos on our laptops to prove we were never there. Impeccable logic, eh? Given his tone, we worried that he would force us to delete all photos from Armenia as punishment for visiting the offending country. Luckily, we received a brief lecture instead about Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and were allowed to board the ferry to Turkmenistan.

Although our engagement with these disputed regions was relatively superficial, our encounters with refugees and others affected lend gravity to the conflict and humanity to those involved. This also demonstrates another reason why we choose to travel the way we do. When a place has a face, desensitization begins to wear off. Human connections make these places more difficult to dismiss as “some war, some place, and some people halfway around the world.”

Possibly Related Articles:

• Where is Leila Now? (As South Ossetia Melts Down and Zugdidi Evacuates)
• Visual Tour of the Caucasus
• Blue Eyes, Gold Teeth: The Fabled Land of the Svans
• The Flip Side of the Land of Smiles
• Baku, Old and New

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We declare – man cannot live on kebabs alone! And anyway, could grilled minced meat wrapped in lavash (flat bread) really represent the breadth of the Armenian table?

Don’t mention Yerevan’s better and more accessible restaurants, Caucasus Tavern and Mimino. As good as they are, they are just as much Georgian as they are Armenian, if not more.

For the low down, go to Nury’s Deli and have a chat with the owner. Although we weren’t expecting to get a lesson in traditional Armenian food, the owner, an Armenian-Syrian, is on a mission to help Armenians re-discover their traditional cuisine before Sovietization eliminated much of its balance and variety. He explained that although meat has always been important, traditional Armenian cuisine featured more vegetables, spices – and even fruit – for more balance.

Unfortunately for us, our moment of clarity arrived on our last night in Yerevan. Next time, fewer kebabs and more visits to Nury’s Deli.

In the interest of full disclosure, we did manage to find a couple of Armenian restaurants in Yerevan listed at the tourist office. However, they obviously targeted visitors and tour groups, offering “traditional” music and non-traditional prices. If the only Armenian restaurants in town are geared to tourists, are they really representative of the cuisine? This isn’t our eating style anyhow, so we gave them a pass. Let us know if we missed out on something special.

For unfinished bits from across Yerevan’s colorful markets, check out our Yerevan Photo Essay.

Practical Details – Armenian Restaurants in Yerevan

Nury’s Deli and Restaurant: 62 Teryan Street. Lebanese and traditional Armenian dishes. Talk with the owner to get your own lesson on Armenian cuisine.
Mimino: 7 Alek Manukian Street. On our last evening in Yerevan, our friend,Yeranuhi, and her husband took us to Mimino’s where we enjoyed roasted eggplant with garlic filling and pomegranate seeds, roasted vegetables and Greek-style dolmas (meat wrapped with grape leaves).
Caucasus Tavern: 82 Hanrapetutyan Street. Large selection of salads, soups, shashlik (barbecue), and breads from Georgia and Armenia. The roasted eggplant dip was Audrey’s favorite.
New Delhi: 29 Tumanyan Street. Although not Armenian food, it’s the best Indian food we’ve had since Hanoi.
Street food: The underpass in front of GUM shopping area (Tigran Mets Street) had the best selection of kebab wrapped in lavash (flat bread). Find the woman in this picture for some of the best kebabs in Yerevan.

If you have a high-speed connection, stick around for the photo slideshow below.

Possibly Related Articles:

• Yerevan – A Symbol of a Newer, Shinier Armenia
• Kutabs and Kebabs: Azerbaijani Food
• Armenia: Site Round-Up
• Tatev, Worth the Climb
• Guerilla Food Photography: 10 Tips for Taking Great Food Photos

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Yerevan’s Tourist Office on Nalbandyan Street (behind Republic Square) is the best Tourist Office in the Caucasus. In addition to offering glossy brochures, the center’s employees are well-informed and equipped to answer any question, from public transport options to available tours.

Visual Tour of Armenia’s Sites

Khor Virap Monastery
Every tourism advertisement for Armenia includes an image of Khor Virap Monastery’s silhouette against snow-capped Mt. Ararat.

Khor Virap Monastery can be considered the site of origin of Christianity as Armenia’s state religion. At the end of the 3rd century, the pagan King Trdat III imprisoned Gregory the Illuminator for 12 years in the pit of a well. The story goes that the king was so moved by Gregory’s survival and his ability to cure the king’s madness that he converted to Christianity and deemed it the state religion in 301 A.D. Armenians will take every opportunity to remind you that their country was the first Christian nation.

Christian history aside, our visit was highlighted by the blessing of a chicken about to be sacrificed. Children carried their live chicken upside-down and circled around the church several times while the priest prepared for its blessing. Meanwhile, the baking sun took its toll and grandmothers began to dance and sing, throwing their arms about in a heat-induced jig. They even invited us to take part in their celebratory feast. Unfortunately, we had to politely decline in favor of a packed return marshrutka (minibus).

At the foot of the hill leading up to the monastery, a black sheep bucked in frantic protest, for it was his turn to get blessed. He must have known what was in store.

How to get there: Catch a marshrutka at 11 AM from behind Yerevan’s main train station. Flag down the return marshrutka on the main road at Khor Virap several hours later (confirm the return time with the marshrutka driver when he drops you off).

Possibly Related Articles:

• Georgian Site Round-Up
• Yerevan – A Symbol of a Newer, Shinier Armenia
• Tatev, Worth the Climb
• The Lost Table: Armenian Food
• Visual Tour of the Caucasus

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Tatev’s main draw, the Tatev Monastery (9th-14th centuries), has stood mocking nature on a cliff’s edge over a deep gorge for almost 1000 years. We had free reign to wander, climb walls and staircases and make the place our own. Free to explore, we felt like kids again. Tatev Monastery’s simple beauty won us over – it proved our favorite site in Armenia.

Donkey Days and Crazy Kids
Continuing to explore the village, we encountered Ruzanna collecting evening greens for her donkey. Sensing our interest in her photogenic beast of burden, she invited us on our first donkey ride. Dan’s feet dragged. Not quite to scale, the donkey hardly offered a prodigious view. While the rest of us were amused, the donkey wasn’t. He eventually halted in protest and began to poo.

After touring the town on our beast of burden, we stumbled on the village church and were surrounded by a group of curious kids in summer evening small-town boredom. At first, they were a bit suspicious, not sure what to make of us. A few waves and “barev” (hello in Armenian) from us prompted endless shouts of “Hello! Hello!” This was as much excitement as this side of town had seen in years.

In their excitement, the kids literally ran circles around us. After a photo and video session, they insisted we go inside the church. No one could find the light switch – it was pitch black inside. Undeterred, they led us each around by hand, showing us different altars and paintings in the dark, explaining everything in Armenian. The fact that we didn’t understand (or see) a thing didn’t seem to matter. We all had fun.

File Under “Small World”
After rolling every last bit of food out of the cupboard for us in a late afternoon snack (feast, really), our hostesses in Tatev asked us where we were from. To avoid complexity, we said San Francisco, the last place we lived in the U.S. Turns out that the woman’s daughter now lives near San Francisco. Photo albums chronicling her visits to the Bay Area seemed to outline our past – San Francisco, Monterey, Carmel, and Berkeley. We were surprised to find a keyhole to our past in a tiny mountain village in Armenia. It’s another sign that the world is not flat, just compressed.

Unable to secure a seat on the return bus the next morning, we balanced ourselves on metal milk containers and bounced our way around tight curves and steep cliffs to arrive in Goris.

Although the ride to Tatev can be a bit uncomfortable and long, it offers an unusual experience and beautiful scenery. It is well worth the effort (and sore bottom) to seek out this peaceful and pleasant little village tucked away in Armenia’s southern hills.

More Photos of Tatev, Armenia

Practical Details – Transport to and Accommodation in Tatev

How to get there: Catch a marshrutka to Goris at the station behind Gum/Rassiya on Tigran Mets Street in Yerevan (5,000 Drams). From Goris, take the 3:00 daily bus to Tatev (500 Drams). Arrive early to get a seat. The bus returns to Goris every day at 9 AM.
Where to stay: We stayed at B&B Lena and John. Comfortable, good food, and nice hosts. 3500 AMD/person includes heaping amounts of food – snacks on arrival, dinner and breakfast. Give them a call and they will meet you at the bus stop – +374 (284) 97392
What to do: Visit the monastery, hang out with the local children, and hike in the hills.

Possibly Related Articles:

• Armenia: Site Round-Up
• Yerevan – A Symbol of a Newer, Shinier Armenia
• The Lost Table: Armenian Food
• Visual Tour of the Caucasus
• Golden Camel Awards, Part 3: Sights, People and Scenery

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Today, Yerevan appears up and coming. Moments of widespread scarcity are a distant memory, at least in downtown Yerevan where new buildings, cafes, restaurants, and sophisticated store fronts line the city streets. Large SUVs compete with BMWs and Mercedes as kings of the road, while those with Soviet-era Ladas and Volgas keep their cars sparkling clean in order to earn their place on the streets. The black clothing we had grown accustomed to seeing in Tbilisi is replaced by colorful and fashionable attire worn with confidence and a hip strut to match. Image in Yerevan is king. During our first evening stroll, our mouths remained agape in continual surprise. We wondered how we had accidentally ended up on the streets of Los Angeles.

Diaspora Power
Armenia is land-locked and not terribly rich in natural resources. So, where does all this money come from? Most people we spoke to pointed to a combination of diaspora and mafia money, with the edge going to the diaspora.

Take multi-billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, perhaps the most famous member of Armenia’s diaspora. Like Hungary’s George Soros, Kerkorian has given billions to his homeland, helping to rebuild Armenia’s roads and sustain its charities. The story goes that Armenian passports normally declare “This person is protected by the Republic of Armenia.” whereas Kerkorian’s Armenian passport now reads “The Republic of Armenia is protected by this person.”

Armenia’s diaspora not only send money back. They send family, too. Returned diaspora are an active, visible presence on Yerevan’s streets. Groups of young Armenians, obviously raised in the west, wear knit shirts declaring “Armenia is my home.” The magnet back to the motherland is strong; it draws family back in droves.

Old Yerevan
Our hostess Zina, an Armenian woman in her early 60s, offered a contrast to Yerevan’s new money. She converted one of the rooms in her flat into a separate bedroom for tourists and she runs a homestay (a sort of makeshift bed and breakfast). The income she earns from her guests supplements that of her accounting job and helps her to pay for bills related to the care of her live-in diabetic sister.

An engineer by trade, Zina employed her know-how to construct an elaborate water collection system to ensure that her apartment always had water, even when the municipal water was turned off between 11 PM and 8 AM. She represents the generation that has been left behind in the boom, but she knows how to accomplish a lot with very little.

“Good morning, my dears!” Zina would welcome us energetically to the breakfast table each morning. She’d light up her cigarette over a small cup of strong “oriental” coffee and launch into how she was certain Marlyn Monroe was really part Armenian. “It’s all in her low-hung bottom.” Or how she had her refrigerator (still functioning) delivered from Minsk, Belarus in the mid-1980s. “It took six months for it to arrive. Delivery was delayed because the trains were used to supply the war in Afghanistan.”

Our days ended pleasantly with her as we shared our discoveries and she shared lessons on Armenian history and details of her life as a computer engineer traveling across the Soviet Union. We were always sent to bed with a hug and “Good night, my dears.”

People like Zina represent the heart and soul behind Yerevan’s shiny, new exterior. Here’s to hoping that Yerevan doesn’t lose sight of its human heritage and its past as it boldly seeks to build its modern future.

Photo Essay – Yerevan, Armenia

Practical Details – Transport to and Accommodation in Yerevan

How to get there: Buses from Tbilisi’s Ortajala bus station take between 6-9 hours (15 Lari). Flights are available from Europe and Turkey.
Where to stay: Hotels in Yerevan are expensive, so for budget travelers the best option is to stay in someone’s apartment ($10-$15/person including breakfast). The well-equipped Yerevan Tourist Office maintains a list of home stays, including many families centrally located on Sayat Nova Street. Or, you can contact us for the details of our outstanding home stay (our hostess asked us not to post her information on the web).
Where to eat: Caucasus Tavern (82 Hanrapetutyan Street) has a wide selection of Armenian and Georgian food. Mimino (7 Alek Manukian Street) offers some exceptionally good Georgian and Armenian fare as well. For a change of pace, the Indian Restaurant, New Delhi, at 29 Tumanyan Street is more expensive, but top notch. Nury on Teryan St. #62 has Lebanese specialties with traditional (pre-Soviet) Armenian and Middle Eastern dishes on offer. The owner is a friendly Syrian-Armenian who knows his food. Kebabs rolled up in flat lavash bread are a good, cheap ($0.50) and ubiquitous street food option.
What to do: We highly recommend the Sergey Parajanov Museum. Parajanov’s collage and mixed media installations are visually striking and humorous. The Matenadaran houses Armenia’s manuscripts dating back to the 6th century; it’s worth splurging a few extra dollars for the guide. Walk around the city, visit the weekend Vernissage (art and flea market) and experience one of Yerevan’s many street-side cafes when you need a break. Various day trips are plentiful and easy to arrange from Yerevan.

Possibly Related Articles:

• Armenia: Site Round-Up
• The Lost Table: Armenian Food
• Tatev, Worth the Climb
• Visual Tour of the Caucasus
• This Land Is Not Your Land

© 2006-2010 Uncornered Market. Visit Uncornered Market for more stories and travel photography. | 3 comments

As a result, we finally have some photos to show from Armenia and Azerbaijan, thereby completing our visual tour of the Caucasus.

Now it’s time to catch up on our observations of this fascinating region, including some parting thoughts about Georgia and some fresh thoughts about Armenia and Azerbijan.

Armenia

Armenia, Up and Down

What Goes on in Yerevan

Armenia: Food and Markets

Azerbaijan

Air of Azerbaijan: Shaki to Lahic

Baku, Old and New

Azerbaijan: Food and Markets

Georgia

Fabled Svaneti

Kakheti Adventures

Georgian Food and Markets

Impressions of Tiflis (Tbilisi)

Georgia: From Bakuriani to Zugdidi

Fans of Turkmenistan, don’t dispair. Photo sets this weekend and brushes with Turkmenbashi to follow.

Possibly Related Articles:

• Flickr Photo Blues
• Where is Leila Now? (As South Ossetia Melts Down and Zugdidi Evacuates)
• This Land Is Not Your Land
• Lazing in Lahic: Caucasus Hill Towns
• When Georgians and Beer Mix

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