Armenia visit

I went to Yerevan and Gyumri, Armenia, for three weeks in April-May ’04. In each city I stayed in a guest house. The one in Yerevan was owned by Kaikush Kambartsumyan (or it may be Haikush Hambartsumyar; the writing is hard to read) and cost $40, breakfast included. The guest house in Gyumri was owned by Tenoyan Achot and cost $25, breakfast included. The latter was one of the nicest guest houses I’ve ever stayed at; they made me feel like I was at home.

The visitor center and tourist board had the addresses and phone numbers for both places. The Gyumri tourism office is very excited about and active in making this northwest corner of the country a tourist attraction. They have color pamphlets in English and other languages with information on hotels, restaurants, transportation, historic attractions, markets, doctors, etc.

Both dining and lodging in Armenia can be very reasonably priced or as high as in modern hotels in Europe if you can afford such. A good 3-course meal on the off-streets cost $3 to $12 plus drinks. I felt very safe as a woman alone, even out sightseeing by myself at night.

This Christian country is surrounded by Islamic countries and I was surprised at its being a mixture of both ancient and modern. It is one of the poorest countries I have ever visited. They are being helped financially by the U.S. and, since the big earthquake of 1988, the U.N. According to the Armenians I met, over 45,000 persons died in the earthquake; whole villages were leveled.

With the rebuilding by the U.N., there are good-sized subdivisions in both big cities that look strangely out of place, including U.S., German, Swedish, Japanese and French style houses. They were built for the richer Armenians, who are the only ones who can afford to buy them.

If you like zoos, be sure to visit the small but clean exhibits in Yerevan. And I was very impressed with the Botanical Gardens there — a “must see” for a quiet, relaxing getaway. I visited with the help of a college student I hired as an interpreter and guide; many people speak or understand English in the big cities.

The main greenhouse is located on the backside of the gardens. We went to the door of the office of the greenhouse where the entrance was located and were met by the administrator of the gardens who apologetically said that they must charge a fee to enter the building: a whole 35¢ each. (It was $1 to enter the main garden gate.)

One of the most dedicated people I ever met, this exceptionally nice gentleman wished to personally take me on a tour. I think he was surprised that I was very familiar with many plants and yet was not a botanical expert, just a gardener.

They have a wonderful collection, but due to the lack of government funding they could not afford to heat the building and so the tropical plants were lost. If you visit and can afford to leave a donation (the more generous the better), it will be put to good use. After the Soviets left in 1991 there have just been no funds left for many projects.

The northwestern part of Armenia is much like Switzerland with its mountain meadows. In May it was a good 25 degrees colder than in Yerevan in the west-central part of the country. A side trip to southern Armenia offered fantastic views of a completely different landscape than that in the north.

Almost everywhere you go in Armenia you can see Mount Ararat (where the remains of Noah’s Ark reportedly have been found). The mountain was taken in the war and now is under Turkey’s control. You cannot go to it unless you get a visa from Turkey; the border is guarded, and there is also a “closed border” on the Azerbaijan side. The Armenians, themselves, are not allowed to travel freely in any of the four directions by the Islamic countries of Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran.

I do volunteer work in third-world countries. This time it was for ACDI/VOCA (formed by the merging of Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance; phone 800/929-8622 or visit www.acdivoca.org). They made all of my arrangements, paid for my airfare and lodging and provided a certain amount for food and expenses.

This technical management assistance organization sends out about 500 volunteers a year on 2- to 4-week assignments, but they look for very specific technical skills in agriculture, business, etc.

One of my specialties is goats, and on this trip I did work relating to sheep cheese. I found that the markets in the villages of Armenia have great feta cheeses. There is also a really different blue-mold type of cheese that can be found in the local markets (the mold was brought from Denmark). The texture is chewy and it comes in slabs like pieces of wood. The sheep and goat milk cheeses are my favorites.

If you see roadside stands with strings of hanging, jewel-colored treats in browns and purples, stop and buy some. They are balls of ground walnuts with a chewy covering of candied grapeskins. Delightful taste!

JEAN NEW
Alexander, AR