Turkey to Yeravan, Armenia

Yerevan Airport- unloading dignitaries

The morning found us on our way to Yeravan on a charter flight. The charter flight terminal was filled with Russian “Natashas” heading to resorts on the Black Sea Coast. Our flight was on a Tupelov 134. It was wonderful (?) to be back on Russian aircraft, although this one actually seemed to work. The flight was filled with religious VIP’s.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr)
Our taxi to the hotel was a smoking Russian Lada. All of the cars were old Russian Ladas, Volgas or Nivas- all in various stages of disrepair. The hotel was an ex-Soviet style hotel, complete with floor minders. We dropped our bags and headed for a walking tour of the city and to try to find any kind of travel guides- since we had nothing to plan from and no information on the country. We managed to find some old “Soviet Armenia” guidebooks – very dated, but it was all that we could find.

Since our hotel was $100/night, we tried to search out a more economical alternative and found horrifying Soviet hotels for the same (or greater) rates. We had dinner at the only Indian restaurant in town, the Bangalore, filled with ex-pats.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr)

After dinner, we had a few drinks at the sidewalk café in front of the Hotel Yerevan and happened into an Armenian priest from Boston! Father Davidian is a priest at the St James Armenian Apostolic Church in Watertown and was a regular visitor to Armenia. Since he was planning his retirement for this year, the church had sponsored a photojournalist to follow him in preparation for a book on his service to the church. What a find! He was able to explain the huge presence of the religious VIP’s in the country- the patriarch of the Armenian Orthodox Church, the “Catolicos”, had died and they were all arriving for his funeral on Thursday. We also got a few lessons in the history of Armenia, the church and the current state of affairs.