Best Eastern Bass Hotel Yerevan

We spent a whole day yesterday to travel from Telavi to Tbilisi by minibus and then to Yerevan, capital of Armenia, by an overnight train. The distance wasn't that large, but the waits at the border were long and the train slow. The trains in Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia are identical to each other because all of them used to be part of the former USSR.

We arrived early in the morning, found a place to stay close to the station, and set out to explore the city. Yerevan is a ...

... 8211; Spring in Armenia is time for flowers, green, blossom, happiness, joy, kindness and holidays! There are plenty of holidays in Spring – Tsakhkazard (Sunday before Easter), (means “decorated with flowers”), Easter, Women’s Day (8 March), The Day of Beauty and Mothers’ Day (7 April), Workers’ Day(1 May), Victory Day (9 May), First Republic Day (28 May), May’ ...

... into. I was to learn that this was not an experience I shared alone and even for Armenians the national sport seems to be getting out of the country. I walked and hitched across the Debed canyon traversing from sombre village to sombre village witnessing stunning scenery marred cruelly by rusting soviet mining facilities. In the towns macabre men stand idly in packs, their faces unwelcoming, gaunt and bored. Fake smiles cover hungry stares as they assess ...

... I stayed in Yerevan for an evening to pick up some things I had left at the homestay there and to just have a break between marshrutka rides. The taxi ride from the bus station to the apartment resulted in another bit of scream therapy for Mary. As the taxi approached my building, I pointed to it and said, "There it is." The driver said okay, he was going to turn around when he got the chance. Well, he went 3 blocks down, pulled over, and started to pull my ...

... is still open, a 60 meter ladder down into a pit. I don't know whether I was sweating with exertion or the fear of walking down a rickety ladder into a dark hole.... I ended up taking a taxi to the site. Usually I'm a fan of marshrutkas since they are a) way cheaper, and b) sometimes you can meet nice locals (there is an opposite to this, when it's not so nice to take marshrutkas because of the locals...) but I wasn't done with ...

... hell again, before I find Yerevan marshrutka I'm all wet again! [Note: international departures are in the underpass under the building behind Alaverdi-bound marshrutkas and one has to cross the small bridge first if there is high water downstairs;)]. I pay the whole 30gel to Yerevan since there is always just one price in marshrutkas, grr. Well, maybe I am wet but I'm happy for not being outside. At many places one can't see the wheels of the cars and there are rivers of mud coming down ...

... an aluminum wall surrounds the church, as Yerevan plans to revitalize Katoghike and its now muddy lot. A clarinetist played outside: "I love Jesus...I like jazz," the street musician said. Anahit, some Georgian-Armenians, an Iraqi refugee and I chatted on various occasions, sitting on her couches, surrounded by contemporary Armenian art bought from the Saturday Vernissage market near her house, surrounding the Martiros Sarian statue in an icy park. The saturated ...

... I'm too sentimental and don't want to lose our Armenian identity that may or may not be changed with this face lift. And whether I like this or not, this extreme development since we became a republic, funded mostly by the diaspora (people like me who live in other countries, who have a few more dollars to spend on luxuries and want to buy cheaper land and apartments in the freed ex-soviet state) has mostly just created this fast-paced ...

... fekk Leidangursforinginn vinflosku ad gjof fyrir ad koma med thessa peningaglodu ferdamenn. Eg versladi ad sjalfsogdu minn tokk tharna og mer til mikillar anaegju seldu their lika hvitvin fra Georgiu svo eg get stadid vid lofordi um ad koma heim med hvitvin fra vinframleidslulandinu Georgiu og brandi fra Armeniu. Eftir thessa ferd forum vid i heldur dapurlegri skodunarferd um minningarsafn um fjoldamord tyrkja a ...

... for few, who enjoyed the beauty of Yerevan just a little longer. Today was once again a long day. We got a little behind schedule this morning, but it seems God had plans for the day we didn't know about yet at that point. Initially we were supposed to see the Manuscript Museum, the Genocide Museum, have 2 concerts, and go to the Refugee camp all in one day. It sounds like too much, and it is! God knew that His plan was better, and our second concert ended up cancelled ...