TRAVEL – COFFEE IN THE CAUCASUS: COULD YOU POINT TO ARMENIA ON A MAP? BEN LERWILL COULDN’T … UNTIL HE VISITED ITS CAPITAL AND FOUND A LAIDBACK BUT LIVELY WORK IN PROGRESS
by Ben Lerwill
Time Out
September 15, 2011
I spent most of my first morning in Yerevan taking a long stroll up
a work in progress. It’s called Cascades and comprises a contemporary
art museum and sculpture garden, recently integrated with an immense
flight of stone stairs and flower gardens.
The project, according to a plaque placed at the summit of the
stairway, symbolises ‘the beginning of a new era of cultural
resurrection and progress of the Armenian people’. The open-air
works on display, from abstract bronze figures to merrily obese cats,
succeed in lending the area a grand but contemporary feel. Judging by
the many pairs of sauntering lovers, the locals have warmed to it too.
The £20 million needed to build Cascades was coughed up by
American-Armenian businessman and philanthropist Gerard Kafesjian
– a member of Armenia’s huge diaspora. From the hilltop location,
I had excellent views over the capital’s almond-coloured cityscape,
the skyline punctuated by imposing civic buildings. In the distance,
green plains stretched to snow-capped mountains.
Is Armenia Europe’s most disregarded nation? It’s certainly ignored by
the travel media. It has brandy, canyons and heritage sites but lacks
the kind of cachet that gets the glossies trumpeting. Half a million
visitors come each year, some of them religious-minded folk drawn by
old monasteries set in tumbling landscapes. But the vast majority are
‘roots tourists’ – members of Armenia’s diaspora. As a proposition
among the wider travel community, it hasn’t found its niche.
Yerevan, the capital, barely bumps the tourism radar. Until quite
recently, I probably couldn’t have told you it was in the Caucasus.
And when I started reading up on it, I wasn’t sure it was for
me. A post-Soviet metropolis tucked away on the furthest fringes
of the continent? It sounded trying. It has the novelty factor and,
inevitably, a good range of Stalinist edifices. But a decent cultural
city break? Doubtful.
But Armenia celebrates 20 years of independence on September 21, and
two decades is enough time for a city to define itself. I was buoyed
too by the dawning realisation that Armenia’s location in the Caucasus
region – hemmed in by three broad-shouldered neighbours (Turkey, Russia
and Iran) – made it a genuine geopolitical and cultural crossroads.
More than a million people call Yerevan home, and the immediate feel
was of a far more Continental, brightly buffed destination than I’d
expected. It was busy – crowded even – but full of life being lived
slowly. Boulevards stretched between civic squares, the fashionable
heel-clacked their way to ice-cream stalls, and a river valley
formed a green belt around the city centre. It had a character that
wasn’t easy to place, being Middle Eastern in its unhurriedness but
resolutely European with its opera house and cafe terraces. Both sides
of the socialist-capitalist divide were very much in evidence too,
with boxy Ladas trundling past Gucci, Mothercare and Burberry stores.
Armenia’s claim to fame is that it was the first country in the world
to officially adopt Christianity – in AD301. I got my fill of heritage
at the city’s museum of ancient manuscripts, the Matenadran. Hundreds
of medieval parchments and intricate documents expound on everything
from geometry and cosmology to religion and poetry. One of the
showpieces of the museum, a heavy thirteenth-century tract known as
‘The Homilies of Mush’, had been made from the skins of 660 calves.
Elsewhere in the galleries were letters, bibles and philosophical
works, all beautifully embellished with painstaking calligraphy and
hand-mixed natural colours. Were it to come to London, it’s the kind
of priceless, mind-blowing collection that would have commentators
crowing. Yerevan also has some princely little churches and, within
day-trip distance, a set of stupendous Unesco-listed religious sites,
but you’d be wrong to expect a city full of overbearing devotion.
To take its secular pulse, in the evening I found myself a prime spot
at the southern end of Hyusisayin Poghota, a broad, Ramblas-style urban
strollway. I watched as the fountains on Republic Square turned into
focal points for families, couples, balloon-sellers and backgammon
players. Not for the first time, I could see why Yerevan had earned
its reputation as the most relaxed of the Caucasus capitals. The mood
persisted when I went out to dine. Centuries before Turkish or Soviet
intrusions, the country was on a key Silk Road route, resulting today
in menus full of grilled meats, lightly spiced pastries, fresh salads
and oven-warm flatbreads. Some restaurants aim for the visitor dollar
by dressing staff in traditional garb, but at Our Village there was no
compromise on the food. Homemade apricot vodka rounded off a generous
meal of vine-wrapped rice and barbecued lamb. By 11pm, I was ensconced
in the smart-and-smoky Malkhas Jazz Club, where owner and ‘father of
Armenian jazz’, Levon Malkhasian, still performs several nights a week.
The most iconic image of Armenia – present on everything from its
coat of arms to its souvenir T-shirts – is Mount Ararat. The mountain
actually lies within the modern borders of Turkey, but such is its
enormity that it’s visible from most parts of Yerevan. On the one sunny
morning of my trip, I woke to see it glowing majestically above the
rooftops, every bit as mighty as its Biblical status would indicate.
Swayed by the sunshine, I got a taxi to the pilgrimage site at its
base, the Khor Virap Monastery, which sits just inside the Armenian
border. It’s 30 kilometres south of Yerevan, making it the most
accessible of the out-of-town sights. It was in a snake-filled pit
below this monastery, they say, that St Gregory the Illuminator,
bringer of Christianity to the region, spent 12 years. It’s a shame he
wasn’t able to enjoy the view, which stretches over vineyards and up
Ararat’s volcanic slopes to the mountain’s 5,137 metre-high apex. I
arrived an hour before the tour buses, and spent most of that time
just sitting and staring.
Ownership of Ararat is just one of several issues that strain
relations between Armenia and Turkey. Back in Yerevan, the most
talked about visitor attraction is the Tsitsernakaberd, the Museum
of the Armenian Genocide. Turkey still denies the G-word, but the
experience of visiting the museum is no less affecting for that. Set
on a hilltop, it commemorates the death of some 1.5 million Ottoman
Armenians between 1915 and 1923. An underground gallery displays the
facts baldly – there is no attempt to sensationalise the tragedy, an
approach that serves to heighten the horror – while outside, a memorial
stands over an eternal flame. There is also a garden of trees planted
by representatives of international states who recognise the genocide,
including the UK, US, France and Russia. It gave my last day in Yerevan
a profoundly sobering tone, but made the trip even more worthwhile.
As a cultural break, the Armenian capital offers an original weekend
away, with enough of an infrastructure to take the stress out of a
visit and sufficient rough-edged, under-touristed charm to keep things
pleasingly unpredictable. I was welcomed as some sort of dignitary
when I chanced to wander into the city chess club during an all-ages
competition, and later spent an impromptu sunset hour listening to
my home-stay hostess playing old jazz tunes on her piano.
When it comes to little-known destinations, the people are often the
biggest selling point. The Armenians I had the chance to meet were warm
and hospitable – but this isn’t just somewhere to come for smiles and
brandy shots. Yerevan, particularly when combined with other parts
of this tiny nation, is a lot more notable than its international
status would suggest.
Unesco a gogo
Three World Heritage Sites to visit in Armenia
Cathedral and churches at Echmiatsin
A short drive from Yerevan, Echmiatsin is the country’s spiritual
heart. Its cathedral and churches had a deep architectural influence
on the wider region. The archaeological remains at nearby Zvartnots
are also recognised by Unesco.
Haghpat and Sanahin Monasteries
These two Byzantine monastery complexes sit close to each other on
the lip of the Debed Canyon in the north of the country. Both were
founded in the tenth century.
Geghard Monastery
Reachable as a simple day trip from the capital, Geghard Monastery
sits in the glorious Upper Azat Valley and is considered to represent
the high point of Armenian medieval architecture.
For more details about Armenia’s Unesco World Heritage Sites visit
whc.unesco.org.
GET PACKING
Fly: Bmi flies from Heathrow to Yerevan with returns from £685.
Stay: The Armenia Marriott Hotel Yerevan enjoys one of the best
locations in town. Doubles from £180 per night.
Anahit Stepanyan offers home stays in an art-filled apartment
overlooking the Opera House. The flat is up several flights of stairs.
£12 per night. +374 1 052 75 89
Eat: Our Village (5 Sayat Nova Ave; +374 1 054 87 00) combines
home-style cooking with live music and trad decor. Meal for two plus
wine: £25.
Drink: Malkhas Jazz Club (52 Pushkini St; +374 1 053 17 78) is a
classy music venue with two nightly performances. It’s open until 3am,
and there’s a £5 cover charge.
Info: Visit the Armenian Tourism Development Agency
website.
From: Baghdasarian