Mother Armenia and Beyond

The weekend was off to a good start with an orchestra concert on Friday night – Mozart and Beethoven on the bill. We had gone to a duduk (traditional flute of Armenia) concert last week and, well, for my money (less than two dollars per ticket) you can’t beat the orchestra!

On Saturday I went on a tour that one of the PCVs had organized – a fun group (including two moms here visiting their PCV sons), and it is so beautiful now with all the wildflowers and green hills! First, to Khor Virap. I don’t think I said this last time, but it means “deep well,” and this time I did climb down the metal ladder into the pit where St. Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned. It is well-lit now, but I’m sure it wasn’t then; hard to imagine being down there for thirteen years. Alas, it was not the crystal-clear day I’d hoped for – we could see Little Ararat, but Big Ararat was hidden behind clouds. And I learned something else interesting. In the Bible, only consonants were used in the original version. So mentions of Urartu, the ancient kingdom, look the same as Ararat, and in fact the kingdom was in the Ararat region, so there you go.

On to Vayots Dzor province – and since I’ve talked about the provinces, I decided to search for and post a map showing the marzes. Vayots Dzor means “gorge of woes;” it is called that because of many earthquakes that happened there in the 7th Century. We went to Noravank (“new monastery”), in a beautiful mountain setting. Some notable things here – a narrow exterior staircase leading to a second story, a relief of Mary with her legs in a Buddha pose, the country’s only carving of God the Father, with “Mongol eyes” since at the time Turks were invading.

On the way to Noravank, we stopped for photos in a town where there were several storks’ nests; we’d seen them in Armavir too (both places are near fish farms). Storks are thought to bring good luck (in Morocco too). This month, babies have been in the nests and we have been treated to a view of feedings. Which leads me to ask once again a question I first asked when I saw storks’ nests in Lincoln Park Zoo – where do stork babies come from?

I had actually stopped in Vayots Dzor province before – on the way back from Syunik the first time, the OSCE contact wanted to stop to get some of the local wine; it’s sold by the side of the road out of Coca-Cola bottles. There are also some wineries in the area. Areni is both the main town and the grape; it’s one of the few grapes that can survive Armenia’s climate extremes. I tried the winery wines but not the roadside homemade. Not great. But I’ve had a lot of great wines in my day.

Last night was Free Museum Night – maybe in Europe, maybe around the world, but definitely in Armenia! It was great to see the town so full and the museums so crowded! I first had dinner with a PCV friend and met friends of hers – including the head of the Armenian Monuments Awareness Project; I read AMAP signs everywhere I go, and his passion for and knowledge of Armenia was remarkable. I then went to the National Gallery; I hadn’t been there since our first weekend in-country. The collection is still impressive, and now that I have been to more of the places depicted in the landscapes, I enjoyed seeing them again! The fountains in Republic Square are now operating, and every night they dance, set to music. I watched for a while and will definitely be going again! If only it didn’t get dark so late.... and it will continue to get dark even later for another month!

This morning I walked all the way up the Cascade and through the park to Mother Armenia, the sculpture that you can see from almost everywhere in Yerevan; she glares out towards Turkey. In the base of the pedestal there’s a military museum, with an exhibit about the Artsagh (Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh) war. So sad. Not on the same scale, but my host mother noted today with sadness that Azerbaijan won the Eurovision contest. Of course, many Armenians didn’t like the Armenian entry, “Boom Boom Chaka Chaka.” I rounded out the day with a walk through the Vernissage. That’s always fun!