Best Eastern Hotel Shirak Yerevan

... 8211; all this together makes a wonderful colour, a union of old and new.



Armenia has a lot of descriptions and “nicknames”.

Some people call it a “Holy Land” as the saint mountain Ararat where Noah's ark landed, is situated here, and as Bible says Noah and his family settled here, on Armenian land.

Armenia is considered as one of the world's ...

... Georgia is composed of valleys, pretty boring, and Armenia is composed of hills. The bit of urban landscape plopped down in the countryside of Armenia is not too inspiring, early Bolshevik standard issue, but the countryside itself is hypnotically appealing. It's the heart of springtime now and flowers are in full bloom, purple ones and yellow ones and some red ones that I especially like... poppies... zzzzz... We stop for lunch ...

... and I am the honorary Aunt:) It has been a truly wonderful day, Mt Ararat hidden in the mist, but Julian said when he flew out to Syria last night it was magnificent. This is all from me Love to all Liz, PS from Marion I am loving all the places we are going and it is so special for me to be here seeing the little ones and spending time with Julian and Junko. They have saved up going to see a number of places ...

... genocide is said to have happened from the end of the 1800s to the beginning of the 1920s, with the main atrocities in 1915 to the Armenians living in Turkey (at the time, Ottoman Empire). I use the term "is said to" because the genocide is still not recognized by Turkey. Outside the museum is a garden of trees planted by countries and public figures that recognize the genocide, including many representatives from America and Russia. Turkey and Armenia still ...

... Dilijan) takes the highway and leaves me at the Sevan peninsula. Lake Sevan lies in 1900m above see level and is the biggest "seaside resort" in Armenia (since they can't go to Turkey, eh), but now at the end of September all of the facilities are completely deserted. In 15 minutes I'm standing next to touristy black-stone Sevanavank Monastery situated on the top of the peninsula. The monastery is not so special but together with the location it's picturesque: blue water and dark brown ...

... in fittingly remote or hard-to-reach places, which is another reason why the highlands of Armenia have probably remained Christian, while surrounded by Muslims. On one poke-around, I visited Garni Temple and Gegard Monastery, located 10 kilometers from one another and close to town, thus making a good day trip. Garni Temple was an ancient Roman Sun Temple, dedicated to Helios. Now fully reconstructed, about half the stones are newly-carved, though ...

... was sleeping, a hypodermic needle was lodged into the tent base. One wrong move while I was sleeping or if I had slept without the foam mat and I would have been jabbed by who knows what. My heart raced as I remembered her somehow putting the mat down before I climbed into bed. Fate had been on my side that night and I know that I will never forget it. We entered Yeravan and passed by the opera, this is where we were going to meet Gohar and having an hour ...

... sjöl, krossar og annað smálegt ratar nú samt í hendur mínar áður en ég fer heim á hótel aftur. Ég ygli mig aðeins framan í sjálfa mig yfir þeim ódugnaði að hafa ekki labbað meira um borgina og skoðað mig um á eigin spítur en það þjónar engun tilgangi. Allt hefur sinn tíma og í þessari ferð var ekki minn tíma til að rölta ein í ró og næði um götur og stræti ókunnra borga. Við borðum kvöldmat snemma, klárum að pakka og reynum að ná okkur í nokkurra tíma blund fyrir flugið.

... We went to a pagan temple, built in a Roman style, where they sacrificed living animals to their sun-god. The ultimate destination was the monastery at Ghegard. It was built a long time ago (duh!) and we felt that God's spirit was still dwelling in that place. The church was mainly made out of rocks, which echoes amazingly, and provides great acoustics. Grace to these acousitics, we stood in a circle in one of the rooms and started ...

... closer I ve realised that it was soldiers having their morning excersise. From the distance it seemed they were half naked, but before I managed to get closer to enjoy...I mean, to VERIFY my thoughts they were gone. Dissapointed I hopped on a minibus and got to the main bus station. Everyone seems to have a reserved seat and I think I actualy got the last empty seat in the bus. A girl and boy that arrived later, tourists (Canadians I think ...