Gallivanting Grandma

Monday – July 29, 2013

The sun was bright and warm today as it had been every day for the last two weeks.  I learned a new phrase in the Eastern Armenian dialect, “Shok eh!”  Which means the weather is hot!  Although I speak a different dialect of Armenian from the people here,  I had plenty of opportunities to practice my language skills during the last two weeks.  It was great fun to be in a foreign country and to be able to speak the language.

Statue of Stepan Shahumyan

After a week in a new city, I usually learn to navigate the streets without feeling lost.  Today, the streets of Yerevan were beginning to feel familiar and this weekend I was able to travel around the city easily.  I left the hotel after breakfast and chose to walk on back streets to get to the western side of the city to explore areas a bit off the tourist track.

Local Transportation

The van in the above photo is one kind of public transportation which operates along predetermined routes.  The local people cram themselves into the vans and tell the driver where they want to get off.  There are also large public buses but many people prefer the vans because they move faster through crowded streets.  The vans are a Russian tradition which are called, “marshrutkas.”  They cost the same as the larger buses and have specific stops but will make other stops at the rider’s request.

Entrance to the Blue Mosque

I continued to follow back streets and found a short cut to Lower Mesrop Mashtots Avenue, a major street in Yerevan.  I happened upon the ‘Blue Mosque’ which is the only mosque in Yerevan.  It was built in 1765 and serves as a reminder that the Persian Empire extended as far North as Yerevan.  The mosque had fallen into ruin during Soviet times but has been carefully rebuilt by Iranian benefactors.

Interior Courtyard

I was greeted by an older Armenian woman who told me she was from Teheran.  She explained that she worked there as a guide and language teacher for the Iranian students who lived in Yerevan.  Iran has always had a large Armenian population.

Interior of the Blue Mosque

By the time we entered the mosque, we were joined by two German students of history.  The guide explained the history of the Blue Mosque and commented that there are only three ‘blue’ mosques in the world.  The other two are in Istanbul and Mecca and are identified by their beautiful blue tiles.  I remembered the gorgeous blue interior tiles of the mosque in Istanbul when I visited in 2010.

A Clay Tablet Called a ‘Mohr’

The guide stated that Iranians are Shias and she explained some differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims.  The tour ended promptly at 1:00 as people began to congregate for the afternoon prayer.  The German students invited me for a cup of tea in a local cafe.  They said they had recently arrived in Armenia and were eager to speak to an Armenian descendent from the diaspora.

Shared Vegetarian Lachmajoun

At the outdoor cafe we joined an Armenian/American couple who were visiting to attend a sporting event in Yerevan.  We all shared our experiences and opinions of world affairs and exchanged recommendations of sights.  One of the best rewards of traveling for me, is to meet people from other places in the world to talk and share ideas and experiences.

The Royal Tulip Hotel

After some snacks and cups of strong Armenian coffee, we went our separate ways.  I showed the German students how to read their fortunes in the bottom of Armenian coffee cups.  This was an old Armenian custom.  I continued to zig-zag my way across the center of the city to Abovyan Street.  This was my last chance to see as much of Yerevan as I could.

Yerevan State Hamazgayin Theater

My goal was to see the chapel of St. Astvatsatsin, more commonly know as Katoghikeh.  The small chapel was built in 1229 and is the oldest and only surviving medieval church in Yerevan.  I thought this would be an appropriate finale to my weeks in Armenia.  My guide book stated that Katoghikeh was “the cultural gem of Yerevan.”

St. Astvatsatsin – Katoghikeh

As I walked up Abovian Street just off the corner of Sayat Nova Avenue, I was greeted by a large construction site.  At first, I was disappointed but then I saw the tiny ancient chapel nestled next to a new stone church under construction.  The original church had been destroyed by an earthquake in 1679.  During Russian domination of Armenia, the little chapel was hidden from the Soviets by other buildings and miraculously survived intact.

The Tiny Chapel of Katoghikeh

The new building project is ambitious and will become an active religious complex with a residence for the Catholicos of the Armenian Church.  The tiny chapel has survived natural disasters and endured the hardships of war and politics.  Much like the Armenian people, the little chapel is a survivor which is being rebuilt and is looking toward a promising future.

Details of the New St. Astvatsatsin Church

“Shok eh,” I thought as  I walked back down Abovyan Street toward Republic Square.  I decided to stop at a sidewalk cafe for a bottle of spring water and a light salad before returning to my hotel.  As I sat in the shade of the cafe watching the people pass by, I heard my name called.  I turned to see one of the people who I had befriended on our trip to Karabagh.  He was a mathematics teacher from Saxony, Germany who came to Armenia to visit a friend and see the countryside.  He joined me for a snack before leaving to meet some friends. We talked about our time in Yerevan and we compared experiences.  It was nice to bump into a friend in a strange city.

Selling Lotto Tickets

At six o’clock, I rushed back to the hotel to call my cousin Anahit to make plans to see her.  Anahit and her husband, Karen, had invited me out this evening.  They picked me up at the hotel and we drove to a lovely park.  The air was cool and we sat at an outdoor cafe which featured live music.

Anahit and Karen

Anahit said that during the summer, she and her neighbors like to walk down to the park at night to sit and enjoy the entertainment.  It was peaceful and we had a pleasant time talking and listening to music.  It was a wonderful way to end my visit to the Yerevan and the Republic of Armenia.

Karen and Anahit at the Cafe

Sunday – July 28, 2013

Goods For Sale

Francoise left Yerevan and flew home to France very early this morning.  After I had breakfast at the hotel, I walked to the Vernissage outdoor market at the end of the street.

Craftsperson

The Vernissage continues the old trading tradition of the ancient Silk Road which passed through Armenia for thousands of years.  I had just two days left and I wanted to get some last minute souvenirs to take home.

Vernissage Vendors

Afterwards, I went to the Republic Square to find a taxi to the Sergey Parajanov Museum.  The taxi driver didn’t know the location of the museum so he asked several other drivers.  None of them knew where the museum was located.  I took my map of Yerevan out of my bag and showed it to the taxi driver and pointed to the museum on the map.  He studied it for a few minutes and nodded his head and indicated to me to get into his taxi.  The Parajanov Museum was located on a small dead-end street in a row of old residences along the top of the Hasdan Gorge.

Parajanov Museum Overlooking the Hasdan Gorge

Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990) was a Soviet Armenian film director and artist.  He invented his own cinematic style and maintained creative control over his films, despite the “socialist realism” dictated by the communist government at the time. He was imprisoned twice and persecuted by the Soviet regime.

Looking Into the Gorge & the Hasdan Stadium

Entrance to the Parajanov Museum

The Main Room of the Museum

According to the guide, Parajanov never lived in the house.  Parajanov moved to Yerevan and chose the location of the museum in 1988.  A group of loyal friends and admirers opened the museum after Parajanov’s death in 1990.

Homage to Parajanov

Sergei Parajanov’s best known films are: “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors”, “The Color of Pomegranates” and “The Legend of Suram Fortress.”  Although his films achieved international acclaim, they were banned in the Soviet Union and Parajanov was blacklisted from Soviet cinema.

Decorated Hats

The guide stated that Parajanov loved beautiful things.  He redecorated hats with a variety of objects and presented the hats to his female friends.

Additional Display Rooms

The museum is brimming with thousands of art objects which Parajanov created.  His collection includes films, installations, collages, assemblages, drawings, dolls, hats, paintings, screenplays, librettos, and costumes.  The works of art demonstrate Parajanov’s amazing creativity.

Parajanov Memorabilia

A Bedroom

I left the Parajanov Museum and found another taxi to take me to the Tumanyan Museum.  Hovhannes Tumanyan (1869-1923) was an Armenian poet and writer who is considered to be “the greatest of all the Armenian poets, a patriarch of new Armenian poetry.”  One of Tumanyan’s famous poems was titled, “A Drop of Honey.”

Museum of Hovhannes Tumanyan

The museum has a large collection of manuscripts, letters, books, photographs, drawings, translations, and memorabilia collected during Tumanyan’s lifetime.  He wrote poetry, novels, articles for journals, librettos, and fairy tales.  One of the women in the hotel told me that Toumanyan was her favorite author. When she was  young, she visited his museum several times a year to see his original manuscripts.

View Down Toumanyan Street

After seeing the exhibits in the museum, I walked down Toumanyan Street toward the center of Yerevan.  The traffic was light and families were out shopping or eating at the many local restaurants which lined the street.

Mer Tagh Outdoor Cafe

Eventually, I decided to stop and had a very late lunch at Mer Tagh.  I had a very good ‘lachmajoun’ which is referred to as Armenian pizza.  This is a thin-crust pizza with chopped meat, tomato sauce and spices.  Yum!  It was fun to sit outdoors and watch the weekend shoppers and tourists pass by.  

Walking Down North Way

Saturday – July 27, 2013

Spoiler alert: if you don’t care for ancient books and manuscripts or modern art, skip to another page.

I had a wonderful day today!  I took a city taxi to the edge of the city to the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, commonly called The Matenadaran.  The magnificent building houses the world’s largest collection of ancient Armenian manuscripts.  One of the guide books stated that the stone building is dug into a hill and can withstand a nuclear attack.  I’m not sure about that information, but the museum appeared to be a very solid and impressive building.

The Matenadaran

Lobby of the Matenadaran

The Main Manuscript Room

Illuminated Manuscript

The collection at the Matenadaran includes more than 17,000 manuscripts.  The oldest parchment book is the Gospel of Lazarus written in 887.  There are older  fragments of manuscripts dating from the 5th to 8th centuries.  It is an amazing collection.

Manuscript

Another Manuscript Room

Map of the World – 1110 A.D.

Plants Used to Make Ink

Hacob Meghapart – “The Sinner”

The first book printed in the Armenian language was The Friday Book in 1512.  It was printed in Venice, Italy by Hacob Meghapart some years after Gutenberg invented the printing press.  Hacob Maghapart was a monk who called himself  “the Sinner” because, at that time, it was believed that the words in books came from God and were transmitted through a religious scribe.  Therefore, printing was a sin because the words were placed on the pages by a machine.

Friday Book – Venice 1512

I spent more than three hours in the Matenadaran because the collection of ancient manuscripts was so vast and  impressive.  Afterwards, I walked down the broad tree-lined Mashtots Avenue.  I passed a small book store and noticed English language books in the window.

Little Old Book Store

I entered the store and was surprised to find impressive paintings on the ceiling.  After a little bargaining, I purchased an overpriced paperback book and some post cards.

Ceiling in the Book Store

On the corner, I found another branch of the Russian Tashir Pizza chain.  Since it was almost three o’clock, I stopped in for a late lunch.  The waitress was surly and unfriendly, but a young man at the next table, who spoke English, helped me and ordered in Russian.  When I thanked him in Armenian, he asked if he could join me.  He was an Armenian/Russian university student from Omsk, Siberia who came to Yerevan “to practice English.”  He said he was staying in a local youth hostel where all the international students speak English.  When he heard me speak English, he was eager to practice with a real English-speaking person.  I had company for lunch, learned a little about Omsk, and admired his youthful enthusiasm.

Tashir Fast Food

After lunch, I walked along Isahakyan Street toward The Cascade.  Anahit and Karin brought us here on my first day in Yerevan, but the museum was closed.  I returned today to visit the Cafesjian Center for the Arts.  This is a magnificent multi-level gallery of modern art with a fabulous sculpture garden on the first level.

Foot of The Cascade

Cafesjian Center for the Arts

There are indoor and outdoor spaces for exhibiting the amazing world-class private collection of Gerard Cafesjian.  The museum climbs five levels up the side of a hill.  There is an indoor escalator, as well as indoor and outdoor stairs to view the art works.  The structure is simply called “The Cascade.”

Decorative Fountain

Modern Art in the Cascade

Looking Out

Photography was prohibited in the galleries so I have no photos of the objects on display indoors.  My favorites were: in the first floor gallery there was an exhibit of glassworks created by Dale Chihuly and in another upper level space there were the works of the Czech couple, Libensky and Brychtova.

Modern Art

Sculpture Garden Below

The Cascade

Good Gelato

The lovely tree-lined street in front of The Cascade is lined with cafes and restaurants.  I needed a short rest, so I stopped in one for a bottle of cold water and a dish of Italian gelato.  It was very tasty!

Street Sign

Fireworks From My Hotel Window