Golden Palace Hotel - Yerevan

... 283;jší schody do druhého patra kostela, které Lukáš a určitě minimálně polovina návštěvníků považovala za dekoraci. Šířka 40cm od stěny k okraji bez zábradlí taky od stoupání odrazovala. Dali jsme si ještě každý místní zmrzku (na dně mrazáku jich leželo pár jak leklé ryby, asi zásobují na jaře) a vzhledem k prázdnému parkovišti vyrazili 8 km zpátky k hlavní silnici pě&#353 ...

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.<br><br>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 &#8211; Tsakhkazard (Sunday before Easter), (means &#8220;decorated with flowers&#8221;), Easter, Women&#8217;s Day (8 March), The Day of Beauty and Mothers&#8217; Day (7 April), Workers&#8217; Day(1 May), Victory Day (9 May), First Republic Day (28 May), May&#8217 ...

... 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 ...

... to go about his work converting the country. In reality, the king probably saw the growing Christian population in his country as a good ballast against aggressive foreign powers (this king was also known for killing another Christian woman for refusing to wed him. Lovely soul...) To make things more complicated, St. Gregory's father had assasinated the king's father....(possibly making this not a religious grudge, perhaps?) The ...

... 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 ...

... not a midieval ruin. At Alena's the family and I had dinner together and we watched traditional Armenian music videos, with a modern twist, in their living room, with ancient churches in the background of the musicians, with their new Moog keyboards and microphones. A few kilometers away, up another switchback road from Alaverdi, was Sanahin. The storm cleared while I was at Sanahin. Yet still a few snowflakes gracefully fell through the skylight pinhole in the gavit ...

... weather had gotten colder and it had begun to rain a bit harder as we got out of the cars to fill out our visa forms and pay our taxes. Here on the Armenian side it seemed that we had never left the Georgia offices. There were the same sheds with the same small heaters warming the small rooms. We spent a few hours filling out the necessary forms to enter the country and then we had to go and pay our visa entry and car permits. This is usually the longest ...

... Foringinn þolinmæðina og stefnir hópnum í átt að rútunni, ég sig eftir á mótþróaskeiðinu en þori ekki öðru en rölta af stað og reyna að hafa augun í hnakkanum, tilbúin að snúa við ef prósesían skildi nú koma út úr fylgsnum sínum. Það gerist ekki og ég rölti eftir hópnum. Mér til mikillar mæðu er hópurinn allur komin inn í enn eina minjagripaverslunina og ég er ekki í nokkru stuði til að berjast um fersentimetraplássið við afgreiðsluborðið, svo ég stilli mér upp ...

... same faces at the front of the line accepting our gifts when we knew there were others who had yet to receive any. But looking back, it's easy to recognize that these people are just used to having so little that they want to get as much as they can to better their lives. We also noticed as we were leaving that those who had received a lot were sharing with the others. We returned to the church, and were able to participate in their Bible Study, and sing some songs for ...