Melby's Travels

For breakfast, I had gata from the Tumanyan St Bakery. Looks like the top crust was added on top separately, hence the gap between the top crust and the filling. Anyway, quite tasty - the sour cherries, apricots, and walnuts all had good flavor. Then I went to Hayk's Coffee Roasters which focuses on sourcing quality coffee beans. I had their Armenian coffee 100% Arabica version (they also had a 100% Robusta version for the caffeine?). When the coffee was hot, I felt a bit of the fine coffee grounds on my tongue but they later settled (after about an hour?) There was a toasty flavor, but not too bitter especially when I didn't drink any of the grounds. For lunch, I dined at Rehan which was pretty upscale since it was near the Cascade. I had the Fishne Kebab, which consisted of bread, lamb meatballs, and sour cherry sauce. The lamb meatballs reminded me of Swedish meatballs - probably because they had allspice and/or nutmeg in them. The sour cherry sauce was pretty pungent, but i...

This tour also visited Khor Virap, so clarification on how Armenia became Christian. At the time (300 AD), the Parthians were pagans and the Romans were anti-Christians. So become Christian helped Armenia distance itself from both empires. Also, the need for Bibles led to the development of the Armenian alphabet. HIN ARENI WINE FACTORY I learned that you should store wine bottles horizontally, so that the cork touches the wine and doesn't dry out. Located in Vayots Dzor, a region known for wine making. We sampled three wines: white, rose, and red (all dry). The white and rose are fermented in metal vats while the red is a mixture of wine fermented in oak barrels and in metal vats. In the tour, we also saw a grape press from Italy; an important thing is that it doesn't crush the bitter seeds. The wine bottler is also from Italy. Because most of the process is mechanized, there are only 4-5 workers at the small wine factory. Among those workers, one is the Armenian winemaker and ...

JAN 26 MORNING RUN This time I successfully made it to the Kond Pedestrian Tunnel with the help of a local - neither Google Maps nor Yandex Maps gave me the right directions. There was some cool street art inside the tunnel. On the other side of the tunnel was the Hrazdan gorge, a steep drop to a bit of water. The trail by the children's railroad felt like the woods - peace admist a busy city. FILMING Then I met up with a filmmaker for MISTI publicity. We took some shots in a park and also visited Vernissage. I will have to return to Vernissage on the weekend when there are more vendors. We also went to GUM Market, where buyers haggled to give me samples so I could buy their dried/candied fruits. The meat section was also intriguing, with many different cuts. I will have to return. I also bought cheese pastry from a vendor on Tigran Mets Ave - it was fall-apart flaky, literally. Sorry no pictures since I was being filmed. ARMAT CAFE Bari axorjak - means "bon appetit" but ...

Yerevan is pretty different from Gyumri. As the capital city, there are naturally more international restaurants (Italian, Korean, KFC, etc.), products at grocery stores (napa cabbage, Doritos, etc.), and international banks (HSBC, Byblos Bank, etc.). It feels like the restaurant economy is more burgeoning and a smaller percentage of restaurants have a homey feel.  Cool upside down spider Also, I appreciate the more plentiful and arguably more cheerful (aka not just the stern / sad men in Gyumri) sculptures as well as the art in the archways between buildings (the archways are called dalans). While there was a nice painting on a building near Gwoog in Gyumri, here the art is much more commonplace. And I pass by a painted dalan every day - right by more apartment! I have seen many more pet dogs, whereas in Gyumri I only saw one dog on a leash my entire there. In addition, there are many more cats here, maybe as rat protection for stores or because there are relatively fewer stray do...

KHOR VIRAP MONASTERY This monastery is located in the Ararat plain, ie at the base of Mt. Ararat, which is reputably where the story of Noah's Ark took place. It is the largest flat part in the country, making it an agricultural center. We saw lots of sheep! Pointing to Mt. Ararat The monastery is prominent because it is where Gregory the Illuminator, who led the Armenian Christian movement, was believed to be imprisoned. We visited both of the dungeons underneath the church. Inside the chapel, I noticed that the women covered their hair with shawls. This is not something I've seen done in Catholic / Protestant churches, but I believe it is also common in Orthodox churches. We came in as mass began. Someone rang the bells and several women began singing beautifully (basically like trained singers) as another played an electric organ (basically a keyboard).  ARAT RESERVOIR In the spring, this reservoir fills up from the rain, while in the winter, it fills up up with melted snow....