Armenian Genocide

Armenia is a very beautiful country with a lot of very warm people.  I felt easily at home when I went for a short vacation in Armenia.  The family who adopted us for a while was so loving.  The people we mingle with, though the communication barrier is really an issue, are very welcoming and nice.  They are beautiful both inside and out.  But behind these warm welcome and smile, this small Caucasian country has gone through a lot in the past.  The saddest part of this country is the Armenian genocide.

The Genocide museum 

 I was lucky enough to be able to visit the Genocide museum.  The museum is situated in Tsitsernakaberd in Yerevan.  In 1915, the Ottoman empire arrested and eventually murdered about 1.5  million Armenians.  

Turks teasing the starving Armenian children with food

For the story of Armenian genocide, check on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide

Budget travel to Armenia

If you are on a budget and would like to have a getaway, here are tips for a budget travel to Armenia.  

1.  Plan your trip.  Have a travel checklist.  A month or two before your flight list down all your itineraries, homestay and food plans, etc.  If you plan well, the budget is more than enough.  Our pocket money was only 1000 aed and it was enough including souvenirs.  :)

• Book tickets six months before on Air Arabia for real cheap tickets.
• Book homestay on Homestay Yerevan or Diana Hovakimyan.  This is the most loving and accommodating Armenian family I have ever met.
• Check out things to do on a budget in different blog sites or Virtual Tourist.

2.  Free walking Tour.  The free walking tour is all over world.  You just have to find one in the place you are visiting.  In Armenia, the best free walking tour is Yerevan free walking tour.  Vako, the tour guide is very passionate of his country.  I learned a lot of things from him about Armenian history and culture.  The free walking tour is obviously free :) but tips are accepted and drinking at a bar after is optional.  He gives away backpackers' map after the tour finishes on top of the Cascades.

Yerevan Free Walking Tour.

3. Taxi Service.  Though transportation options in Armenia are many - Metro, bus, taxis and marshrutka, there is no Engligh translation on the bus route, so it is quite hard to get in and out of public transportation.  What we did was ask the owner of homestay Yerevan to recommend a taxi driver.  Luckily, they have a wonderful family friend, Narek, who knows English and treated us like sisters.  At times, if he does not understand what we want, he would call his wife, Luce' (very loving) to interpret for us.  We used Narek's taxi for out of town tours and even nearby town  tours.  He always refused to eat with us but a day before we left Armenia, he agreed to have a lunch date with us in Tsirani Garden Restaurant Complex.  Narek can be contacted through Diana of Homestay Yerevan or through Whatsap on +374 99934488.  He can drive through zero visibility snowy foggy mountains, that is real taxi service.

Narek at the Zvartnots airport

3. Be sociable and find tourists who would like to share fees for tours.  To save up on on our budget, we always make it a point to smile at every one especially Filipinos on tour and that is where conversation starts.  Then, we ask "re you planning to go out of town or out of city? " Then say, we have this taxi and we can share the fare, etc, etc.  And so, we shared and it lessened the burden of tour fees.  

With Jess and Jobelle, our new found friends

For the breakdown of tour fees, please read my other blog on Armenia budget travel - How to budget travel to Armenia.

4. Go off the beaten path.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.  Find something that is not usually seen on FB or travel pages.  We went to public markets, street alleys, mountain tops out of the usual path (where we met an Azerbaijan man who prayed for us), bordering towns and even cemeteries.  In this way, there is no  tour fee but we learn from these places and got nice pictures too.  Narek, our driver, actually got the shock of his life when I told him to stop in the cemetery he he he.

One of the cemeteries in Armenia

5.  Eat on the streets and small cafeterias.  The street food in Armenia is amazing.  The taste is so fresh and hmmmm, really home made.  The bread is so delicious and warms my heart.  The coffee? one of the best!  One big whole roasted chicken is only 3,000 Dram which is about 23 dirhams.  Best to eat with Armenian beer, Kilikia.

Pork shawarma is <3

So, there goes my budget travel to Armenia.  To see the world with limited budget requires planning and meeting new friends.  Dare to get out of the usual paths, go out of your way and learn about the country with such a limited time and limited budget BUT with a fulfilled heart.

10 Travel Photo Challenge - Armenia

Before I traveled to Armenia, I have listed down 10 + 1 travel photo challenges.  The 10 + 1 (for anything goes) are as below:

1. Sunrise and sunset

Zvartnots airport sunrise

Took this atop the Cascades in Yerevan

2. Airport

Zvartnots Airport Armenia

3. View from balcony 

St. Gregory the Illuminator Church as seen from our balcony

4. Architecture

Garni pagan  temple

5. Local currency

Armenian dram

6. Local Food

Assorted Armenian food

7, Local People

Deacons, real karabala, vendors and our hosts

8. Coffee

Armenian coffee, one of the bests

9. Transportation

Old soviet car, bus, metro and matrhuska

10. Backpack shot

+1 Anything goes.

And all good things will be stored into memories.  Thank you Armenia!

Finding myself in Armenia

I have not been putting entries on my blog these past few days.  I am in Armenia.  Why did I go to Armenia?  I felt burnt out from work, from people around me and felt myself being a "monster".  Hurting people's, especially friends, feelings is the least thing I want to happen.  So, I packed my bag and decided to take a break away from Dubai.

Armenia is a rich country stripped off of their own original identity.  The Armenians are very passionate about their country.  Most, if not all, have not forgotten how the Soviet Union has occupied them.  The oldies would prefer being under Russia but the young ones don't.  The saddest part of their history is the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian Genocide^[11] (Armenian: Հայոց ցեղասպանություն,^{[note 3]} Hayots tseghaspanutyun; Turkish: Ermeni Soykırımı), also known as the Armenian Holocaust,^[12] was the Ottoman government's systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, mostly Ottoman citizens within the Ottoman Empire and its successor state, the Republic of Turkey.^[13][14]The starting date is conventionally held to be 24 April 1915, the day that Ottoman authorities rounded up, arrested, and deported 235 to 270 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders from Constantinople to Ankara, the majority of whom were eventually murdered. The genocide was carried out during and after World War I and implemented in two phases: the wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population through massacre and subjection of army conscripts to forced labour, followed by the deportation of women, children, the elderly, and the infirm on death marches leading to the Syrian desert. Driven forward by military escorts, the deportees were deprived of food and water and subjected to periodic robbery, rape, and massacre.^[15][16][17] Other indigenous and Christian ethnic groups such as the Assyrians and the Ottoman Greeks were similarly targeted for extermination by the Ottoman government in the Assyrian genocide and the Greek genocide, and their treatment is considered by some historians to be part of the same genocidal policy.^[18][19] Most Armenian diaspora communities around the world came into being as a direct result of the genocide.^[20]

(SOURCE:  Wikipedia)

The Genocide museum in Tsitsernakaberd, Armenia

Yerevan  (Երեւան) is the capital city of Armenia.  It is also the largest city in Armenia.  We can find the Republic Square, The Cascades, Yerevan Opera House, Kafesjian museum, St. Gregory the Illuminator Church, St. Sargis church and a lot of pink-looking buildings.  Yerevan is called the Pink City because most of the buildings are colored pink.  The pink impression is given by the stone used which is typical in the mountains of Armenia.  Most buildings and houses are of typical Soviet type structures.

Republic Square in Yerevan

Armenia is the first Christian country in the whole world adapting Christianity since 301.  The Armenians are passionate about their religion.  This is obvious with a lot of churches and monasteries in Armenia.  According to our driver, Armenia consists of 90% Christians who are passionately in love with Jesus Christ evidenced by their love of the cross - the Khachkar.  The Khachkar or the Armenian cross is all over Armenia.  Khachkar means the cross rock.  The Khachkar is an object of worship for the Armenians.

Khachkar

This country is also known for wine, cognac and brandy.  Armenia has the best tasting wine.  The beer is just right to taste.  Most Armenians drink and smoke maybe because of the cold weather.  It is normal for Armenians to smoke even in family restaurants.

Karas wine along the airport

May Hayrenik (Մեր Հայրենիք) or Our fatherland is national anthem of Armenia.  The Armenian flag is composed of three colors - red, blue and orange.  Orange symbolizes the apricot which is the national fruit of Armenia.  

The Armenian flag in front of a museum

The people of Armenia are very loving, sweet and one of the nicest people I have ever met.  The Homestay where we spent our vacation and soul searching made us feel like family.  Homestay Yerevan can be booked through Homestay Yeravan in booking.com.  This Armenian family made excellent homemade breakfast and introduced us to the best driver in Yerevan, Narek.

Narek, the best  Armenian driver with Lerma, my friend

Our homestay family

Armenia, oh Armenia, a place I fell in love with.