Armenia
Armenia feels older than anywhere else. It runs on history and hospitality: cliff-carved monasteries and six-thousand-year-old winemaking. From Yerevan's pink-stone boulevards to choirs singing inside the rock at Geghard, to Lake Sevan's cold blue water and apricot stalls at the market, the country is full of dramatic contrasts for somewhere so small. Travelling here means a cappella in a stone chapel, zip-lining a green canyon, brandy tastings and mountain roads that slow you down. This is proper off-piste, and one of the only places your friends haven't explored yet...
Unmissable Moments
The City That Was Old Before Rome Existed
Yerevan was founded in 782 BCE. Not a ruin. Not a museum. A working capital of a million people, and you're walking straight through the middle of it.
A Choir Singing Inside the Rock at Geghard
Geghard isn't built against the cliff face, it's carved out of it. Chambers hollowed from the stone in the 4th century, then again in the 13th, and a few are still used exactly as they were. Inside one of them, you’ll hear a small choir sing medieval Armenian spiritual chants a cappella. No speakers, just voices and a thousand years of rock.
Zip-Lining the Canyon at Yenokavan
A harness, a platform, and 80km/h of nothing between you and the canyon floor. Up to five cables strung across the gorge at Yenokavan, one after the other, so you're airborne again before you've stopped laughing. Then iron runs up the cliff face on via ferrata, and a custom truck takes the rough tracks out.
The Oldest Winery in the World
Armenia has been making wine longer than almost anywhere else on earth. In 2007, archaeologists digging in a cave near the village of Areni found a complete winery: a clay press, fermentation vats, storage jars, dated to around 4000 BC, which makes it the oldest known winery in the world. The grape they were pressing, Areni Noir, is still grown in the same valley today, and winemakers still ferment it in karas, enormous clay vessels buried in the ground the way they were six thousand years ago.
Cheat-Sheet:
MAJOR AIRPORT:
Zvartnots International Airport (EVN).
CURRENCY:
Armenian dram (AMD, written ֏).
HIGH TRAVEL SEASON:
June to early October. Warm, dry days and long light.
LOW TRAVEL SEASON:
November to March. Cold, often below freezing, with snow in the mountains.
TIPPING CULTURE:
Appreciated but not obligatory. Around 10% at sit-down restaurants is the norm.
HOW TO SAY 'THANK YOU':
Shnorhakalutyun— pronounced shnor-ha-ka-LOO-tyoon. It's a mouthful, which is why locals also just say merci.
Why we love it
Brian
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