call to armenia
Armenia’s history is ravaged by genocide, war and foreign occupation. “Never mind,” say the locals, “Let’s not worry about it and have another glass of cognac.”
TEXT TRISTAN KENNEDY feedback
‘Urrrgh, Armenia. Why would you ever want to go there?” sneered the hairy Azeri border guard, flicking through the visa pages of our passports. I shrugged slightly sheepishly, wondering if I’d in fact made a horrible mistake in choosing to tack a tour of Armenia on to the end of my Caucasian trip. I knew so little about it. Was it really the kind of place people should go for a holiday? Sitting in the sun sipping 16-year-old cognac two weeks later, I had my answer. As I closed my eyes and inhaled the brandy’s rich fragrance, I felt like I could have been somewhere in the south of France. Definitely the kind of place people should go for a holiday. Spending a week in Armenia wasn’t long enough to sample everything that this charming little country has to offer. But it was long enough to learn that the sublime cognac is not the only surprising thing about Armenia. The fact that Armenia exists as a country is something of a surprise in itself. The strategically valuable land on which the state now sits has been invaded by just about every empire going. The Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Mongols, and Persians all swept through in turn, wreaking varying degrees of death and destruction on the local inhabitants. Although the Russians took what is now Armenia from the Ottoman Turks in the 19th century, the vast majority of ethnic Armenians still lived in what is now Eastern Turkey. During World War I the Ottoman government apparently did its level best to exterminate the Armenians as a race, setting a genocidal precedent which Hitler later admired. Emerging as an independent republic after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia was immediately plunged into a brutal war with its neighbor Azerbaijan over the break away enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The bitterness caused by the war, which left thousands dead and displaced on both sides, continues to this day. No wonder our hirsute Azeri friend had been so scornful of our choice of destination. Although the poverty caused by this history of hardship is evident, Armenians are not ones to wallow in their own self-pity. Their heritage has also left them with much to be proud of. Each Armenian we met, from Vanadzor taxi drivers to the aging poet who fed us a feast in his flat near Lake Sevan, told us something new about this remarkable country. During a period of independence Armenia became the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion, beating the Byzantine empire to it by 36 years. The evidence of this firmly held tradition is everywhere. Ancient monasteries litter the mountainous landscape to the north of the capital. Cathedrals seem to cling to the edge of cliff faces. Distinctive shallow-spired Armenian churches await architecture buffs at the end of windy mountain tracks. Two of these mountain monasteries, Haghpat and Sahanin, are protected as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization world heritage sites. But while they are older, and arguably more beautiful than the cathedrals at Chartres or Cologne, together these sacred sites attract fewer tourists in a year than Chartres does in a week. Though they are badly in need of restoration, there is something special about being left to wander through ancient chapels without having to worry about ruining someone’s family photograph. The attractive architecture of old Armenia is matched in equal measure by the natural beauty of the landscape. The biblical Mount Ararat is breathtaking. The view over Lake Sevan from the Sevanavank monastery is almost enough to convince you of the existence of God by itself. The Soviets of course didn’t have much time for such sentiments and Stalin gave orders for the lake to be drained to half its size. It only narrowly escaped becoming a second Aral Sea when Stalin died before his orders could be carried out. Today Sevan is the glittering jewel in Armenia’s tourist crown. Its shores are lined by Soviet-style beach resorts with cafes where friendly locals feed you fresh fish shashlyk to take away the taste of the vodka. Despite the surprising survival of Armenia’s Christian heritage, the influence of 80 years of Soviet rule is still very much visible to the visitor. Yerevan boasts some impressive new buildings but many of its major landmarks, including the harrowing Museum of the Armenian Genocide, were constructed during the Soviet Union. Built in 1965 following street demonstrations, the museum is all the more remarkable as it marks one of the few times the Kremlin capitulated to popular protests. Crossing the border I felt I knew a lot more about the country I was leaving. But as we sat sweating in the sun and cursing the lack of taxi drivers, Armenia showed it still had one surprise left up its sleeve. A busload of football fans invited us to hitch a lift to the nearest railway station. It might have been their kindness, or it might just have been the bottle of cognac they passed around, but as we drove off I was left with a lovely warm feeling inside. tips for travelers • Getting There — Several airlines fly to Yerevan direct from Moscow daily. Aeroflot starts at 350 euros return. S7 starts from 260 euros return. • Visas — British, American and Russian nationals require visas to visit Armenia but do not need a letter of invitation. These can be issued by the Armenian Embassy in Moscow for around $40 in a day. • Language — Armenian is the official language. It uses its own unique alphabet. It’s probably worth learning a couple of letters of this to read station names on the Yerevan metro, but otherwise Russian is pretty widely used. Thanks to the influence of the diaspora many Armenians also speak excellent English. • Currency — The Armenian currency is Drams (AMD), with 100 AMD converting to about 9 rubles. • Where to stay — The five-star Armenia Marriott Hotel in the center of the city has double rooms starting at 60,000 AMD per night. Cheaper (and slightly further out) is the charming Villa Delenda Bed and Breakfast, which has single rooms starting at 20,000 AMD. Check out visitarm.com or welcomearmenia.com for further details about hotel bookings. | 
