At Mt Aragat we meet a young guy, an Armenian vlogger who is making some drone videos. He asked us to take also some shots with our Unimog. He is so enthousiast that he invites us to stay at is house and to a family’s birthday in Yerevan. Already with the coffee we get selfmade Vodka – and ja, it’s much better than we expected- not comparable with the stuff the kids drink in Netherland!
After a great evening with his family, good food, some more walnut-abricot vodka, cognac, wine, interesting conversations about history and politics we spend the night in Arthur’s garden. He loves and drives a Hummer car and takes some more videos together with the Unimog.
The next morning we visit Yerevan. It feels special to be in the capital and in the largest city of Armenia.
Yerevan is an ancient city more than 2,800 years old, even older than Rome and one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities.
Yerevan has several must-see places, but the Yerevan Cascade Complex is perhaps the most superb and memorable one.
The complex was designed by the legendary Armenian architect Alexander Tamanyan, who was the main architect of Yerevan city.
Erected from limestone the Cascade Complex allows us to see Yerevan from one of the highest points from its 572 stairs. In 2002, the businessman and philanthropist Gerard Leon Cafesjian started to renovate the historical monument the Cafesjian Center for the Arts.
The Center presents modern and contemporary art on each level of the structure on both the inside and outside of the Cascade.
We cross the Opera Theatre, and a lot of museums , parks, squares and monuments. The only operating mosque in Armenia, the beautiful Blue Mosque is located in the center of Yerevan.
Arthur wants to meet us for some more drone videos around the Mother Armenia monument. It’s almost impossible to say no!
The statue of Mother Armenia is the biggest and one of the most recognizable statues in Yerevan and symbolizes the country as a body and soul of a strong Armenian woman.
Located on the top of a hill in Victory Park, the monument came to replace the statue of Joseph Stalin in 1967. The height of Mother Armenia and the pedestal is approximately 51 meters.
A military museum is located inside the monument. We get a vieuw and more details about the still lasting (since 35 years) conflict between Armenia and Azerbeidzjaan, which coast so many casualties – only in 2020 more than 5000 young Armenian men died – we don’t know the number on Azerbeidzjaan side. Most of the fights are around the corridor around Karabagh.
The next morning we visit Tsitsernakaberd – built-in 1967, the Memorial Complex of Tsitsernakaberd is a monument dedicated in memory of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. Shocking and sad.
