{"id":5832,"date":"2013-07-26T07:52:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-26T11:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=5832"},"modified":"2013-09-11T00:54:56","modified_gmt":"2013-09-11T04:54:56","slug":"erubuni-old-and-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=5832","title":{"rendered":"Erubuni: Old and New"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday – July 26, 2013<\/span><\/p>\n

It was another hot sunny day in Yerevan. \u00a0The daytime temperatures this week ranged between 38 to 42 degrees Celsius. \u00a0Only mad-dogs and tourists were out during the heat of the day. \u00a0Throughout the city there are cheap efficient official and unofficial taxis. \u00a0To go from one corner of Yerevan to another, the typical fare is between 700 to 1000 Drams which is about $1.70 to $2.44 per ride. \u00a0Before getting into a taxi, a tourist tells the driver the destination and asks the price in order to prevent surprises at the destination. \u00a0In my brief taxi experiences, all the drivers were honest and helpful. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>King Argishti I of Urartu<\/p>\n

This morning we took a taxi to the Erebuni Fortress and Museum which is located on the outskirts of Yerevan. \u00a0Erebuni was founded by the Urartian King Argishti I in 782 B.C. \u00a0It was one of several fortresses built along the northern Urartian border to serve as a military stronghold and became an important political and cultural center of the kingdom. \u00a0The name Yerevan is derived from Erebuni.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Entrance to the Erubuni Fortress Museum<\/span><\/p>\n

The fortress was built on the top of a high hill known as “Arin Berd” and was surrounded by 30 – 40 foot stone walls. \u00a0King Argishti constructed a grand palace, a royal assembly hall, a temple, living quarters, dormitories, and storerooms. \u00a0Successive Urartian kings made Erebuni their place of residence during their military campaigns against northern invaders.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Urartu Artifacts<\/p>\n

Excavations of the fortress began in 1952 by an international team and continue today. \u00a0The museum houses many Urartian artifacts which were uncovered during excavations, including ceramic jars, bracelets, beads, drinking vessels, helmets, silver coins, and arrows. \u00a0Stones with carved cuneiform inscriptions were also found at the site.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Interior of the Erubuni Fortress Museum<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Artifacts From the Excavations<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>View of Yerevan From the Fortress<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Diorama of Erubuni Fortress<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Walking Around The Fortress Wall<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Greeting Hall<\/p>\n

Walls were decorated with colorful frescoes depicting human figures, gods, geometric and floral designs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Continuing Up Into the Fortress<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Foundation Stones<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Another View Over Yerevan<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Archeological Site<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Archeologists at Work<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Diorama of Current Archeological Plans<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Iranian Graduate Student<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Painstaking Archeological Work<\/p>\n

It was very hot on the top of the Erubuni hill. \u00a0The archeologists took a lunch break and Francoise and I descended to street level. \u00a0We found a taxi parked across the street and negotiated a fare to take us back to the center of Yerevan.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Typical Houses Outside Central Yerevan<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A Natural ‘Gas Station’<\/p>\n

Francoise wanted to find an outdoor market so we settled on The Tashir Market to shop and have lunch. \u00a0There are several covered outdoor markets throughout Yerevan. \u00a0The taxi driver dropped us off between the modern glass enclosed shopping center and the market. \u00a0I asked about a nearby restaurant and was directed to the third floor of the glass building.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Steps Leading to the Modern Tashir Shopping Center<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Inside the Tashir Shopping Center<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jewelry Center Toward the Back<\/p>\n

There was a brightly lit large room at the back of the first floor of the shopping mall. \u00a0We walked in and discovered many rows of small tables with people selling all varieties of expensive jewelry. \u00a0There were mainly gold pieces with sparkling gemstones, primarily diamonds. \u00a0There is a guard’s hand in the photo above. \u00a0He tried to stop me from taking the picture, but wasn’t quick enough.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tashir ‘Fast Food’ Restaurant<\/p>\n

We found a Tashir Pizza chain restaurant on the third floor. \u00a0Francoise had a fresh pasta salad and I had roasted vegetables. \u00a0We also had two bottles of spring water and coffee for about $8.00 total.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Pictorial Menus<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>More Traditional Market<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Inside the Market<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Another View<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dried Fruits and Nuts<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Who Needs Bags When You Have Baskets?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Fruit Stalls<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Brooms<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Mulberries, Raspberries, Figs, Grapes, etc.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Pictures in the Meat Market<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Lamb & Beef Section<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Cheese Section<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Hand-Mixing Cheeses<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Behind the Market<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Serious Chess Game<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Russian Household Goods<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Clothing<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Lavash Lady<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dried Fruit Arrangements<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday – July 26, 2013 It was another hot sunny day in Yerevan. \u00a0The daytime temperatures this week ranged between 38 to 42 degrees Celsius. \u00a0Only mad-dogs and tourists were out during the heat of the day. \u00a0Throughout the city there are cheap efficient official and unofficial taxis. \u00a0To go from one corner of Yerevan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-armenian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5832"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5884,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5832\/revisions\/5884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}