The forgotten parts of YEREVAN, Armenia Երևան Հայաստան
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- Hi everyone! This is the eleventh and final episode of my Caucasus series in which I travel through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.
In this vlog, I explore parts of the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, that are off the beaten track. The aim is to get an idea of the real Yerevan that you don't always see in brochures or magazines - the often forgotten parts, if you wish - that are essential to telling the story of the city. I am always very interested and curious to see where and how the locals live and go about their business, so please tag along for this exploration!
We start our walk in the area around Pushkin Street, then heading towards Mashtots Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Yerevan. The first planned stop is the Blue Mosque, an 18th century Persian Shia mosque that is currently the only active mosque in Armenia. Along the way, we notice more of the everyday life in Armenia, including lots of traffic, beautiful buildings made of volcanic tuff, flower stands and other interesting shops.
I enter the Blue Mosque and walk around the interior of the courtyard, noticing the impressive main prayer hall, library and gardens, as well as several artefacts on display. Various shades of blue such as teal and turquoise are present in the mosaic tiles, which contributes to a peaceful setting.
After leaving the Blue Mosque, the intention is to walk towards the Kond area, known as the Old Town and home to lots of art and graffiti. At first though, a beautiful building catches my attention. I ask a random person about the building and he mentions it is called 'City' - after closer inspection, I note it is called 'Yerevan City' and a supermarket (my understanding is that it was a large market area previously before it got renovated).
I then decide to head to Kond but seem to have some map reading issues! One thing is for sure though - I enter an area off the beaten track in Yerevan that certainly has a more local feel. I stumble across a local shop and decide to try an ice cream.
After satisfying my sweet tooth, I walk further towards Kond and meet a group of guys talking to me in German. I then notice some of the old buildings for which Kond is renowned for, as well as some graffiti which signals to me that I am on the right track. I also notice that some of the buildings are a little more derelict than in other parts of the city, but more affluent parts and beautiful cafes and restaurants are still prominent.
Whilst searching for the graffiti areas, I also continue to notice the prominent use of pink in the city - on the buildings, on the fences and in shop signs. And then of course there is the pink tuff buildings. No wonder it has the nickname the 'Pink City'!
You will also notice that I get lost quite a bit and seem to walk around in circles. I don't travel with data on my phone and my map reading skills need some serious work it seems! But, in my defense, I also get a lot of mixed messages from the locals. Maybe the language didn't help either. It is also a much higher area than the rest of Yerevan and means "long hill" in Armenian.
However, as a glass half full person, I decide to take the opportunity and just stroll around randomly. In the process, I stumble across some intriguing street scenes and really take in the atmosphere of an area that feels very different from what you'll experience in more glamorous parts such as Abovyan Street, Republic Square and Northern Avenue. I also interact with several locals along the way and somehow make my way to the graffiti alleys.
The final part of the vlog sees me explore the graffiti alleys and I also notice a lot of Armenians hard at work - the apricot-band of the Armenian Tricolour flag at display. The sounds of machinery and manual labour together with the visual display of art in this area do create a particular atmosphere.
Hope you enjoy this vlog in areas away from the main tourist parts of Yerevan. And I hope you enjoyed this Caucaus series!
Happy exploring
Willie
Wonderful country and people ❤❤❤
I had a wonderful time and cultural education Heidi! Thanks for watching :)
Thank you my brother 👏👏👏
From Armenia 🇦🇲🇦🇲🇦🇲
Always welcome my brother! Thanks for watching and supporting my channel :)
@@willieexplore You're welcome 😉
Thank you for visiting Armenia! You should definitely re-visit during Vardavar, and try Armenian barbecue.
Cheers for those suggestions! Definitely want to return one day
Thank you for bringing much needed light to Armenia. You documented Yerevan and the rest of Armenia much better than others in the past. My parents left Armenia in the 70s to escape communism and came to the United States and I was born here. One day when I'm financial stable I will visit Armenia.
My absolute pleasure Roll Out! I'm really pleased to hear that you enjoyed my vlogs. Thank you for watching, engaging and supporting my channel. I really do hope you make it to beautiful Armenia one day! Greetings from across the pond :)
I enjoyed the video so much brother, thanks a lot.❤🇦🇲
Thank you KH! Cheers for watching and engaging!
Hello willie from California, I like how detail you show to Erevan , I wish you have more time and visit Tavush Dilijan and lake Sevan Armenia country side is beautiful, thanks all amazing episode from Armenia 🇦🇲,
Thanks for all your comments Aida! I did make an entire video of other parts of Armenia including Lake Sevan - I even had some delicious fish from this lake :)
Hello Willie! Thank you for bringing part of our beloved Hayastan (Armenia) and the Pink City. Kind is so often overlooked and I really appreciate you bringing up the stark and rough beauty to see there.
A quick mention… Tuff is pronounced Toof with a long o sound. You’ll note that Gyumri (Kumayri in the past) used black tuff as Yerevan used pink. A wholly different feel and just as beautiful in its own way.
I hear you saying hello to people -so here’s a couple ways to say “Hello”.
Barev pronounced “Bar-ev”
A bit more formal and actually more of a welcome is, phonetically spelled:
“Voc-choon”
I hope you get a chance to see Erebuni fortress while in Yerevan, and Dilijan, a beautiful lush green township in the mountains surrounded by nature and an excellent monastery. Along the way you can stop by lake Sevan.
Thank you Eric and Tanya! Appreciate you checking out my channel!
As for 'tuff', I've heard people use the pronounciation you mentioned, but I've also heard Yerevan locals and professional geologists use the one that I use. Maybe it is one of those words like aluminium/aluminum :)
It's a shame I could not get to the Erebuni Fortress and Gyumri on this trip, but I did go to Lake Sevan! You can check it out in my first Armenia video (there are four in this particular series I made). Hope you get a chance to see those :)
Hello sir !! Big fan of you !!!
I am from India living in Yerevan .I am a medicine student ( studying in Armenia )
I want to meet you sir !!!🎉🎉
Thank you Doctor MK! Appreciate your support and encouragement. Unfortunately I am no longer in Armenia. Hope the studies go well - I was informed that Yerevan has several international students especially in the medical field :)
I hope & pray you will be a great vlogger with lot of subscriber's in upcoming years . congratulations 🎉🎉
@@doctormk5299 what a wonderful message to receive! Thank you so much for your support, it really means a lot :)
I love the vibe in Yerevan.
The Blue Mosque looks abit like the Annur Mosque we have here in Abuja, Nigeria especially the exterior because they are both Persian design.
Definitely a relaxed atmosphere, even when getting lost! Interesting to hear that comparison, thanks for sharing :)
Great video as always Willie!
Cheers Jasper! Glad you enjoyed that :)
Warming my thoughts ❤ nice
Thanks for watching!
Excellent video thanks again for your wonderful video and blog!
Always a pleasure Simon! Glad you enjoyed it :)
What a good video! not too many people make videos about our country and it's amazing to see videos like those
Thank you very much Erik! Glad you enjoyed this video. It was a great privilege to visit your beautiful country and I hope to be back in future too. If you haven't already, do check out my other videos on Armenia / Yerevan too :)
Thank you for the nice videos about our beautiful Armenia and Yerevan! Enjoyed watching every second of it 🙂 And thank you for such an educated approach, you know so much about Armenia's history and Yerevan, shows how respectful you are of other cultures. I must say, you pronounce Armenian words and names really well! 😀 Good luck and hope to see you back in our home Հայաստան 🌞
Thank you for your nice message, Maria! Visiting Armenia was a real highlight in my travels to date. Hopefully one day I can return and experience more, including the famous Vardavar! :)
@@willieexplore It will be great! Vardavar is so much fun 🙂
❤❤❤ from the Philippines..
Thanks for watching my videos!
It was nice to see your journey throughout armenia. Its a hidden gem especially in late spring or early summer, where places such as dilijan and jermuk are beautiful places.
If youre ever in Lebanon, try to make it to an area just outside of Beirut called Bourj Hammoud, aka Little Armenia.
Thanks for all your comments my friend! Lebanon definitely on my list of places I want to visit
@@willieexplore if you ever do visit bourj hammoud,send me a message.
lunch/dinner is on me, ill introduce you to the armenian version of biltong :)
@@massey81 now that sounds like a plan my friend! Thank you :)
City used to be a big small stand market, but it was bought by a supermarket chain. N.B. You walked right past an underpass with stores at Mashtots and Aran streets. There is a City supermarket there too.
Aram
Cheers Anthony, I did read up after filming this that the City changed into a supermarket. I'm sure I've missed many things when walking / filming, but interesting to note that some of the underpasses do have stores in Yerevan. Cheers for watching, engaging and supporting my channel :)
Thank you for covering this.
My absolute pleasure Eric, thanks for watching and engaging!
Great video, as always! The mosque and Kond art were both beautiful. I found it pretty humorous how many locals you had to ask for directions to finally arrive at the Kond gallery haha. It was a blessing in disguise though, because we got an opportunity to see parts of the city that most people probably don't get to see. It was fascinating seeing those living conditions and back alleys.
Also, after seeing this video, I'm thinking that Yerevan might need to be renamed from "The Pink City" to "The Flower City" haha.
As an American who will likely never be able to go on most of the trips you're going on, it's nice to see what it would be like to go to these places and I'm looking forward to wherever you're going after this Caucasus series.
Thank you so much my friend! I really enjoyed my visit in these parts of Yerevan. Yes, I got lost quite a bit, but that is half the fun haha! The 'Flower City' would certainly be a very apt nickname for Yerevan - I would love to know if all the flowers actually get sold!
Really appreciate you supporting my channel and looking forward to my content. It is feedback like this that keeps me going! I already have a new series planned so do watch out for that one :)
@@willieexplore Hey Willie, I've been lost all over Yerevan when maps weren't available - I had to draw my own & keep adding to it LOL! Btw, most of the flowers (apparently) are sold in the wee hours of the morning.😉
@@AnoJanJan haha sometimes getting lost is the best part though! Glad to hear the flowers do get sold, even at that time ;)
Barev Willie thanks for this, algorithm blessed me with this cozy journey. Cheers from Chile, hail Armenia! Hail Montainous Karabaj!
Thansk for watching! Hope you find some more informative content on my channel :)
use to be a flea market but they turned it to supermarket … it had a different vibe before
I can imagine that it was a different vibe! I was slightly disappointed to find a supermarket inside lol
Great video as always my friend. I completely understand taking the time to hunt down that gallery, I too love a good mural or piece of street art / graffiti. Sad to see the Caucasus series end, but excited to see what comes next!
I just did my first weekend road trip of the year this weekend, not sure what kind of video I am going to make from it, but excited to put together my first full length video regardless. :)
Cheers Landshark! Glad you enjoyed this one and the series. The street art here was very special. Excited to see what your video looks like!
omg so many flowers!!
Definitely!
Hello Willie, another very interesting walk. The people are so friendly and helpful. Really enjoyed coming along. These are places I would not normally see. So thank you, Kiwi from Virginia.
Hello Swanoaks, thanks as always! This really was a walk off the beaten track away from the glamorous side of Yerevan. Cheers for exploring with me virtually!
Thank you for sharing! ❤
My pleasure! Thanks for watching!
Love your passion and interests for my birthplace. For some reasons I find similarities between Ireland and Armenia. Celtic crosses and Khachkars for instance
Thanks so much for commenting and engaging! Glad you enjoy my videos. I am very grateful for the support :)
That mosque was absolutely stunning! Always so much detail put into the structure of these buildings. What a shame the cartoon building was pretty much just an Asda inside haha! Well worth the walk to see the graffiti walls though..beautiful. My favourite was the stone steps with the pottery built in. A great series, Willie 👏
Cheers Sheila! Loved the different shades of blue and green in the mosaic tiles at the Blue Mosque. Amazing to think it is the only active mosque in the country, especially taking into account that it borders big regional powers Iran and Turkey, and Azerbaijan which is also a majority Muslim country. Yep, the City supermarket was a bit of a disappointment especially after seeing the intriguing exterior! I also liked the stone steps with the pottery in Kond - very original and definitely makes one stop and notice. Glad you liked the series and I really appreciate all your support and encouragement!
If you do ever come back I’d recommend going up north (Gyumri, Lori, dilijan) or south (yeghegnadzor, goris, noravank)
Hi! Thanks for watching and suggesting those destinations. Would love to one day return to Armenia, especially during Vardavar!
The kond is very old town ,the city have big plan to rebuild but they need to keep the old town atmosphere ,the plan is beautiful we don’t know when they going to start , when they finish it’s most be look like old town like European city’s old town, kind of Italian narrow street whit old building ,
Thanks for providing additional information there Aida! I do hope that Kond receive the support it desires
I thought for a moment that you were going to walk straight past the mosque! It certainly looks beautiful.
Fascinating to see the backstreets of the city, personally I love exploring the parts that tourists generally don't see. Thinking back to when I visited Sidi Bou Said in February, that main street where all the shops and restaurants are was crowded, but I headed up into the side streets and pretty much had the place to myself! It was beautiful. Having wanderlust is a precious gift. 😊
I was wondering if someone was going to notice me not spotting the mosque at first! And you certainly did Andy :) I always find it more interesting to go where others don't. Sidi Bou Said is a very good example of where there is just so much more to experience!
Cheers for watching and engaging, as always :)
@Willie Explore I actually said out loud at the time, "It's over there look, you need to cross over"!! 😂
@@andybaker2456 haha!
Nice videos.. I was last week there.. hope to see u maybe next year there? 🤝
Cheers DJ! Not sure when I'll be back but it is a question of when, not if. So much more that I want to see in Armenia!
Could you also do Gyumri?
Would love to be back in Armenia to do more vlogs. Hopefully sooner rather than later!
The building is farmer’s market.Thank you for visiting our country.
Thank you for watching my videos and supporting my channel :)
South Caucasus was a part of Iranian territory until the 19th century. It is not surprising that in Azdebaijan, Armenia, Georgia, you can see the influence of Iran.
One can certainly see that influence in the area. Such an interesting history!
Persian Salucid territory actually. And yes. You’re correct. But also Roman, Greek as well as the reverse where under Tigran the Great, it was all Armenian, to include a bit of the northern area of Persia.
❤️❤️❤️❤️@@OurEclecticTravelAdventures
I m wound ringing how wonderful and clean weather is there 🤔
A very clean place in general and I had mixed luck with the weather - some rain but also some beautiful sunshine!
"City" (name of the supermarket), was used to be the building of "Pak Shuka", the famous closed market of Yerevan. It was really big disappointment for many of us, when the previous government sold this building to be converted into supermarket chain.
I can imagine the disappointment! Thank you for watching and supporting my channel :)
Willie you should walk to 2800 anniversary park in Erevan, It’s front Republican square,it’s a long park first one is old and behind is the new one,
Cheers Aida, unfortunately I'm no longer in Yerevan but thanks for the suggestion - I do hope to be back and will check it out then :)
Armenia some of the underpass Have a beautiful shops one of them is moskovyan and Abovyan underpass
In my previous vlog, I did go to the Tashir Shopping Centre that is situated underground in Northern Avenue. Beautiful!
"City" is a supermarket shopping chains, one of the largest in Yerevan
Yes I found that out afterwards :)
Thanks for posting very nice videos but it would be nice if you researched a bit more about the locations or sites you visited. It would be nice to also ask some locals to help you. Armenians are very hospitable!
Did you not see how many people I asked for directions? Also many have thanked me for my informative approach especially in my other Yerevan video, so your comment is just a bit odd.
Willie ek is rerig baie beindruk met Armenia!
Ek was self, Tosca. In hierdie video besoek ek een van die meer vervalle areas bekend vir interessante graffiti, maar ek het ook 'n idee gekry oor hoe baie mense in die stad bly.
Amazing😍😍🇦🇲🇦🇲
Thanks for watching Lucy! I really appreciate your support :)
You've got it in for the flowers, haven't you? 😮
Not at all! On the contrary, I love flowers. But I wonder if all of it actually gets sold - I've never seen so many flower stands in any city before :)
Is it safe to hold a camera like that while wandering on the pedestrian
I had no problems
❤❤❤
Thanks for watching Satie :)
🇦🇲🤍🇦🇲
Appreciate your support for my channel!
ZAR 7 for a chocolate ice cream not bad
That's for sure! Thanks for watching :)
thanks, great man!
🇦🇲👌👌✌️
Cheers for watching!
Hello sir I need work
Thanks for watching but sorry I can't help with work. Maybe one day I can employ a camera crew :)
One of bat things in Armenia most people smoke cigarettes ,and when you go shop most ladies not smiling and they are moody , like that ice cream shop ,
Nah my experience of the people was very positive Aida. Really enjoyed my visit!
That poor dog is homeless?
I believe so yes
If you think that was chaos moody driving, in usa every and each time you go on a drive you will see and have to fend road rage drivers. 8 out of 10 usa drivers drive with anger with minimal respect to other drivers and will turn to conflict sometimes with no reason. Very much like the usa society as whole. It's a failed society system run by paper printing thugs (currency) and should be stopped before it causes more damages to the world.
Thanks for watching!
Armenia looks a little bit like russia
Definite similarities in architecture in parts
The blue mosque has nothing to do with Iran!..
I think you'll find the Internet disagrees with you
South Caucasus was a part of Iranian territory until the 19th century. It is not surprising that in Azdebaijan, Armenia, Georgia, you can see the influence of Iran.
@@living_peace yes it was under Iran's influence for 200 years.
It really is Iranian. Emil Lazade is Azerbaijani, so...I am not a mean person , but is just a fine example why we can't understand each other with Azerbaijani people. Anyway , thanks for your videos. You really see and comment differently and that makes your content different and I am sure successful. Just a matter of time.Good lack
@@arusgevorgyan7238 you armenians don't like anything which belongs to AZ. The old name of Erevan is Irevan Khanate (established by Ravankulu Khan), archive materials are enough to chek out .. For armenians to use Iran for falsifications is priority because they are strategic partners. The same was happened in Shusha when the armenians tried to change the Govharaga mosque ( by restauration) as an Iranian, invited the specialists from Iran.
But I guess Willie is enough informated about all .
Hi Willie, what a nice video!
I strongly advice you to go to Vagharshapat(its a small town - a 30 min drive away from Yerevan)
Somehow oftentimes it gets overlooked by tourists even though there are some really nice places to visit in that town
Hi Kirill! Thank you for watching my video and for taking the time to comment. I appreciate the engagement and the recommendation! I'm not in Armenia anymore, but will definitely check out Vagharshapat and put that on the bucket list for when I'm in Armenia again :)
flowers are cultivated in a greenhouse don't worry no one harms natural flowers in there.
by the way 80-90% of flowers get sold.
That is good to know!
Willie if you are still in Yerevan let me take you to some place let me know in comment..
Cheers Dave, that is very kind. I'm no longer in Yerevan but I really do hope to be back at some point
@@willieexplore okay let me know how can i stay in touch? I would be more than happy to guide you.
@@daved9302 cheers, you can always comment on here but my email is listed in the banner above too