Yerevan, Armenia

Most museums and the like in Yerevan are closed on Mondays, so we had planned outdoor stuff for today. It was still drizzling when we woke up, but by 11am the sun had started to poke its head out.

We chatted with the front desk on excursion options to get to Tbilisi. It’s a common route for tourists, stopping at a few monasteries in Armenia on the way. Yesterday at the National Gallery we had seen some reproductions of paintings in churches in Akhtala and Haghpat, which I’d like to see in real life.

We headed out in the sun (with our umbrellas just in case) towards the Blue Mosque. It was okay to see, with its turquoise and yellow tiled dome. The front is under renovation so I didn’t post any pics.

Across the street is the façade of the old market. Our room had an old b/w poster-sized pic of the building, so we wanted to see how it looked current day. The exterior looks the same, inside is a chain supermarket. Wouldn’t be worth a visit as a tourist unless you had the same room as us.

The Modern Art Museum was across the street. At first we thought it was marked incorrectly in Google Maps, cause there’s a cool-looking building nearby. But it’s as marked, in the ground floor of an apartment complex, without any external indication there’s a modern art museum inside. Anyways it was closed Mondays, but at least we knew how to find it now.

Next on our list was wandering around Kond, one of the oldest quarters in Yerevan. It’s sort of like Parkdale used to be in Toronto, before it gentrified, with cool cafés and artsy places. It was pretty muddy in the alleys with the overnight rain and some alleys were under construction, making it even muddier, which we weren’t dressed for, so we decided to skip it.

Looked at Google Maps to see what else there was to do on Mondays. Decided to visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex. The museum was closed but the memorial is open 24x7.

It was about an hour walk, which was good with us as it had turned into a really nice day, and we didn’t have much else to do. The walk itself was through industrial areas, but a good way to see the city. It was on the other side of the Hrazdan River, which has only a couple bridges near the centre of Yerevan. We crossed over the Victory Bridge, which is between Noy Factory (brandy / wine / vodka) and the Ararat Museum. Ararat Museum was open, but it’s really just a tasting tour to sell brandy. A friendly dog followed us across the bridge, only giving up when we started climbing the 100 or so stairs up the hill to the museum.

We finally got to the Genocide Memorial. We walked around the complex, it’s rather peaceful at the top of a hill overlooking Yerevan. There’s not much signage or explanation outside, likely it’s all in the museum. Unfortunately the memorial is half under scaffolding so no good pics.

We walked back to the centre across the Kievyan bridge (the Rough Guide calls the Memorial ‘outside the city’). There was a busy restaurant just across the bridge, so we stopped in for some shawarma. It was huge, we probably could have split it. The restaurant (called ‘Parking’) reminded me of California Sandwiches. You know it’s a popular place when first responders and trades eat there.

We had planned to take the subway back to the hotel but decided to walk back in, another hour. The route took us through mostly residential areas. Eventually we got back to the center and had a coffee and dessert before getting back to the hotel. Total walking distance for the day was 16.0km according to my iPhone.

Decided to head to the laundromat before relaxing so we didn’t lose steam. It’s so much more convenient, especially with heavier clothing like jeans and flannel shirts.

We ate off-campus, just to try something different. Tried a family-run Iranian restaurant about four minutes from the hotel. The food was good, it hit the spot. Walked quickly back home as it was starting to drizzle again.