YEREVAN

 

Yerevan is a city that to this day gets so little exposure that even the most rehearsed travelers are in for a surprise. Even those who have not visited, say, Sydney or Tokyo can easily get even a rudimentary feel for what to see. Going into the Pink City, however, keeps one in suspense until arrival.

Armenia, a tiny country, has had little time to announce itself to jetsetters, having been crushed by more powerful empires up until relatively recently in its history which can be traced as far back as the establishment of Christianity. Its ancient ruins and mountainous countryside is enough of a selling point to the curious wayfarer but, I suspect, its capital city would be a marketing challenge to any specific point of interest.

This is not a slight, as Yerevan is a most beautiful city, but its atmosphere, style and culture are hard to define. I arrived at night and took a ride from the airport to the Holiday Inn via the country’s most popular rideshare Yandex Go. I saw little during the ride but what I did see reminded me of parts of Costa Rica and even Los Angeles.

By day, however, as I saw a cultural cross-road more complicated than the often-misused East meets West. I saw a city perfectly at ease with the hybrid cultures that formed it, a city in no identity crisis amongst the many fingerprints that make its mold. It can at once feel Eastern European, Near Eastern, Soviet and, this was what makes it so unique, a new breed of urban landscape bred out of this historical melding.

If a prototype for any of the above-mentioned cultural landscapes were to be conceived it would look, I suspect, very much like Yerevan. Perhaps because of this, Yerevan is a city that has most things a visitor would expect to find: a museum, murals including some of such far-flung icons as Edgar Allan Poe, supermarkets, cafes, restaurants and fast food (though I saw no McDonald’s I did see a number of Kentucky Fried Chickens and a Burger King) and numerous fashion and cosmetic stores.

On the bustling Abovyan Street stands a building dating back to 1884 which currently houses Vostan, a courtyard restaurant offering a great introduction to Armenian cuisine. But my real introduction to the heart and soul of Yerevan was the stunning Republic Square, which at night comes to life in a spectacle of lights, water fountains, music and the vibrating pulse of the people of Yerevan. In my time in Armenia republic Square became the epicenter and I could not think of a more beautiful place to end each day and a more glowing welcome back to Yerevan after a day’s journey into the mountains surrounding the city holding remnants of a tiny nation’s rich and lasting history. 


                                                                        Welcome to Vostan


                                                     Dolma and hummus served at Vostan

                         
                                                      The breathtaking Republic Square

                                            

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