eyewitnessarmenia nick redmayne Armenia in the balance Nick Redmayne explores the newly emerging ex-Soviet state 56 » traveller » Autumn 2009 Autumn 2009 « traveller « 57 eyewitnessarmenia nick redmayne maria grazia cosella/the story maria cover “YES, I USED TO REPORT ON TOURISTS, nick redmayne maybe something like – ‘This one is taking too many pictures of mountains’. It was just to keep them happy. Once an Armenian friend who had married a foreigner came back with her husband on one of my tours. I was so happy to see her. We hugged and laughed, it was wonderful. Later my manager told me to calm down, and stop greeting the clients like returned cosmonauts.” Former Intourist guide Irina smiles and then laughs. “Anyhow, these visitors, they came prepared, they knew all guides are kgb, just as we knew they were all spies.” Sitting outside the rebranded Armenia Hotel on Yerevan’s grand Republic Square, on a warm, blue-skied morning, there is still an occasional Cold-War chill. Perhaps the hotel’s secret kgb fl oor, discovered by Marriot during refurbishment, is the source of this? Or maybe it’s the old military command centre buried beneath the square? It’s 8.30 am. I try to distract a dour- MOUNT ARARAT IS NEVER REALLY OUT OF SIGHT IN YEREVAN, faced waiter from his duties defending AND AS SUBURBS OF BREZHNEV-ERA APARTMENT BLOCKS GIVE smart new bistro tables from assaults WAY TO FIELDS OF GRASS, THE MOUNTAIN’S PRESENCE DOMINATES 58 » traveller » Autumn 2009 Autumn 2009 « traveller « 59 eyewitnessarmenia maria grazia cosella/the story maria cover Opening pages: A circus performer practices his high wire act, with Mount Ararat, across the border in Turkey, forming a stunning backdrop. Previous pages (clockwise from top left): The 5,165-metre peak of Mount Ararat looms above the Khor Virap monastery. The letters of the Armenian alphabet on display on the outskirts maria grazia cosella/the story maria cover of Yerevan: they were erected, in 2005, to mark 1,600 years of the alphabet’s use. A mig fi ghter jet at Sanahin, the birthplace of Artem Mikoyan, a co-designer of the mig jet. These pages (clockwise from top left): The Noraduz cemetery, which boasts an array of khachkars, traditional Armenian carved stone crosses. Priests in Echmiadzin, Armenia’s spiritual centre. A Khachkar at a monastery in the Lori region. The 4,095-metre Mount Aragats, the highest peak in Armenia. Following pages: A grocery store in Alaverdi, in the remote Lori region. nick redmayne from the fo, bloody good chap, and an international bank ceo: I have to smuggle it in, you know.” I leave him to his coffee dregs and the newspaper. It’s the weekend, and Irina has promised to show me the best view in Yerevan – not an offer I can refuse. Driving out of town, Volga saloons of a certain age vie for road space with jaunty Lada jeeps – any colour you like as long as it’s white – whilst elderly Russian buses sporting a double-brace of lpg cylinders by cash customers. My request for a atop their roofs steadfastly occupy the coffee is met by a silent fi nger pointing inside lane. towards the al fresco coffee bar. “Closed,” We pass the us Embassy, its railings says the attendant. “Pardon?” I ask, nick redmayne emblazoned with posters boasting incredulously. “Clo-sed,” he repeats slowly ’Twenty Years of Partnership’, juxtaposed for the under-fi ves. “Open at 9 am.” with similarly insistent notices saying I’m not going to be beaten, there is an ‘No Trespassing’, ‘No Parking’ and ‘No older chap already enjoying a treacly shot Loitering’. The road soon starts to wind of coffee. “Ah yes, well they’re closed out and I see sheep grazing the central here, but open inside. You have to go and reservation, unfazed though one of their bring it out yourself. It’s all nonsense you number is being skinned and butchered know.” I’m not about to disagree. at the side of the road. I share the sunshine with Gerald, an Mount Ararat is rooted across the Englishman and – if you believe his cover frontier in Turkey, but it’s never really out story – a former purveyor of prestige of sight in Yerevan, and certainly never motorcars to the well-heeled of Mayfair. out of mind for Armenians. As suburbs of “The people here are so honest: drop roughly fi nished Brezhnev-era apartment your wallet and nine times out of ten blocks swiftly give way to fi elds of close- it’ll fi nd its way back to you. But there cropped grass, the mountain’s presence is corruption. All these bmws, Range dominates. Its metaphorical shadow Rovers, everything with blacked-out casts a constant, sombre reminder of windows,” he nods towards the traffi c the 1915 massacres of Armenians by now circling Republic Square, “they’re Ottoman Turkey. all punks.” Gerald imparts a few more We pull in at a viewpoint and walk gems of expatriate wisdom, ranging through a dressed stone arch for the from shop staffi ng policy to crossing the promised best view. “You know there road (“You may look both ways and think was a joke on Radio Yerevan,” Irina says. you have priority: you have no priority!”) THE ROAD STARTS TO WIND AND I SEE SHEEP GRAZING THE “A Turk asks Radio Yerevan why Armenia and the availability of contraband liquor: CENTRAL RESERVATION, UNFAZED THOUGH ONE OF THEIR NUMBER has taken Mount Ararat as a national “Every Friday we have Pimm’s, top man IS BEING SKINNED AND BUTCHERED AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD icon, when it’s not even in Armenia. 60 » traveller » Autumn 2009 Autumn 2009 « traveller « 61 traveller facts armenia TOP SIGHTS [1] yerevan Armenia’s capital is one the world’s oldest continuously inhab- L d ited settlements, although its modern e b e e architecture owes more to the Soviet D Vanadzor regime than its ancient roots. The city s Gyumri has more than 20 museums including s the History and Art Museum, plus the e Artshaven Opera House, the Vernisaj fl ea market and the ancient Erebuni Fortress. r [2] lake sevan One of the largest high- n a Ashtarak d z Sevana altitude lakes in the world and the larg- a r H Lich C Vardenis est lake in the Caucasus. It is fringed by Yerevan pretty beaches where fi sh restaurants a Ar az serve delicious Sevan trout. u [3] tatev monastery In the tenth c century this was the heart of cultural, Yeghegnadzor a artistic and scientifi c development in the region. Built on a natural fortress of s Vo ro tan rock, it remains a spectacular site. u [4] mount aragats This 4,095-metre s extinct volcano is the highest mountain N in Armenia, the summit popular with Kapan Armenia climbers and the foothills with walkers. [5] echmiadzin This holy city houses 40km the Cathedral of St Gregory, Armenia’s Araz most important cathedral and a fi ne example of seventh-century architec- ture. Spiritual home of the Armenian Orthodox Church, it is said to house a WHEN TO GO FIND OUT MORE piece of wood from Noah’s Ark. Summer days can be hot and dry, Websites dropping sharply at night due to www.armeniainfo.am This tourist- Armenia’s high altitude. Winters are board website is easy to navigate, with typically very cold with heavy snow. lots of background details on Armenia’s Average temperatures in the capital, culture, sites of interest and places to stay FIRST PERSON Yerevan, range from 30ºC in summer www.visitarmenia.org An American- ‘I should like to see any power of the to minus 5ºC in winter. May to June based independent website that world destroy this race... Go ahead, and September to October are the most promotes Armenia’s cultural heritage destroy Armenia. See if you can do pleasant months to travel. and natural beauty. it. Send them into the desert without www.armenianembassy.org.uk The bread or water. Burn their homes and WHERE TO STAY Armenian Embassy in London offers churches. Then see if they will not armenia marriott hotel Conven- news and consular facilities. laugh, sing and pray again. For when iently situated in Republic Square in two of them meet anywhere in the Yerevan, this top-end hotel has 226 Books world, see if they will not create a spacious rooms, many of which afford The Crossing Place: A Journey Among New Armenia.’ views of the square or Mount Ararat the Armenians In his search for the William Saroyan, Armenian-American beyond. It offers high-speed internet Armenian spirit, British journalist writer connection and a choice of dining ven- Philip Marsden encounters Armenian ues. Other facilities include a gym, spa descendents in the Middle East with an and Yerevan’s largest ballroom, used for abundance of stories and memories. weddings and business functions. Caravans to Oblivion G S Graber has avan marak tsapatagh hotel Built crafted this narrative of the Armenian who emigrates, with her parents, to in a quiet rural location overlooking massacres of 1915 with a journalistic America after the collapse of the Soviet Lake Sevan, this comfortable and well- approach, giving an understanding of Union. Unexpected events and an old presented 34-room hotel’s facilities the history surrounding the events. friendship make her go home some include an outdoor swimming pool, Passage to Ararat This intimate and years later, to fi nd a changed country. beach cabin, hot tub, table tennis and personal book is a moving portrait of Ararat Atom Egoyan’s fi lm within pool tables.