Last flight - Istanbul to Orio al Serio

Pegasus Airlines really know how to break a man. No waterboarding or other forms of physical torture. No, five hours of layover at this time (08:00am), in an airport without free wifi, will really bend a man's will.

After a hour you resist. After two you start obsessively checking hotspots, hoping that some free ones will miraculously appear. After three hours you'd do anything, like buying a watered down cappuccino and a cardboard cake, just 'cause they'll magnanimously concede a hour of wifi.

Anyway, for one of the last entries in my Caucasian Walk travelog I want to thank Gaga and Zon, the best guys at the Grand Theft Hostel in Tbilsi.

Gaga

Zon

Hope to see you soon somewhere! Possibly Milan, I can't take another Pegasus torture anytime soon!

Last day in Tbilisi

My last Caucasian day has been as I had assumed. Tiresome. I woke up well intentioned to buy a chokha, but fate conspired against me, under the guise of a damn debit card which claimed I had insufficient funds. I immediately checked and no, I had more than enough funds. Dammit, Unicredit! You and your stupid foreign limit! I had already tried it and it was amazing!

It didn't matter though, I just spent the rest of the day wandering the Old Town, retaking pictures (there was the sun this time!) and eating. Eating a lot!

Coming back to the hostel I noticed that not far from Marjanishvili square there was an art exhibit, the personal of painter Kakha Khinveli (http://www.artvladis.com/khinveli/). I, of course, had no idea what to expect, but I was captured by his almost comic-like approach to scenes and dynamics.

After that, it was time for the CouchSurfing meeting. Actually called "The BIG CS Meeting", with 109 alleged partecipants and more or less 30 actually bothering to show up. I knew CouchSurfing meetings are extra boring, after all, which is the reason I left with a couple of other dudes and went to the Canudos. And there is where I finally realised I am an EXTRA BORING person, as they both vanished while I was at the toilette. Way to end a great vacation!

Anyway, here I am, at the Tbilisi International Airport, waiting to be embarked and with a kid already crying in the lounge.

It will be a loooooong way home...

The Garni temple and the Geghard monastery

New day, new visit. This time we are talking about two very different things. The Garni temple and the Geghard monastery, two close sites that are easily visited in two to three hours.

The first, a Hellenic temple, is situated around 30 Km southeast of Yerevan.

It was probably dedicated to Mithra and was built with the money King Tiridates I of Armenia got from Nero, when he visited Rome. Destroyed by an earthquake in 1679, it lied in ruins until the XX century, when it was rebuilt between 1969 and 1979.

The temple itself isn't of particular interest. We have plenty of those in Italy. Its importance lies in the fact that it is the only pagan temple in Armenia that survived the Christianization of the country in the early IV century, and and the only Greco-Roman colonnaded building in Armenia and the entire former Soviet Union. Not bad, uh?

The Geghard monastery is an entirely different matter. 10 Km after Garni,  we enter Indiana Jones territory, here. Situated in the Kotayk province, it is an impressive edifice, partly carved in a mountain. The main chapel was built in 1215, but the monastery complex was founded in the IV century by Gregory the Illuminator at the site of a sacred spring inside a cave. The monastery had thus been originally named Ayrivank, meaning "the Monastery of the Cave". The name commonly used for the monastery today, Geghardavank (Գեղարդավանք), meaning "the Monastery of the Lance". The lance in Echmiadzin, used to be kept here.

The echo is impressive. Choir in this monastery must be haunting. But this is just a part of it. In fact, following a small stone staircase on the left of the main building, we find a small corridor, leading to another smaller chapel, dedicated to St. Gregor, carved into the very mountain. Here we go into real Indiana Jones stuff.

Not as famous, this place was in my opinion, on par with Tatev. For its beauty, ruggedness and because it was repeatedly destroyed as well, despite having been built in some fuckoff place. Really, guys, you're not cut for this, next time try the damn bottom of lake Sevan.

Tsitsernakaberd (the Armenian Genocide monument and museum)

After having returned from Echmiadzin, I met with Natalia at the bus stop, since she also expressed the wish to see the Genocide Monument, having been here for just under two months and impossibly busy. We ate something at the Kilikia bus stop and we walked all the way to the site, which lies on a hill.

On the way, to put us in the right mood, we saw some stray dogs scavenging for food in the trash. They wagged their tails as soon as we looked into their direction. Thanks buddies, that really helped...

Finally we reached the hill. We got, ahem, the wrong way up, so instead of the pleasant and gradual staircase, we went for the steep and dilapidated road, complete with pipe on the right, which we assumed gathers the tears of the visitors to irrigate the trees around.

The monument itself is simple. It is formed by two elements. The first is a circular dome, formed by twelve slabs. They represent the twelve lost provinces of Western Armenia, given to Turkey after World War I, following a peace agreement between Ataturk and Lenin. An eternal flame, surrounded by flowers brough by people, burns in the center.

The second element is a tall stele, formed by two interconnected slabs of different size. The smaller, represent Western Armenia. It was buit in 1967, following unprecedented public demonstrations in 1965 (50 years after the genocide).

Close to this is a small area with evergreen trees, planted by other countries leaders, dignitaries, personalities and groups, among those who recongnised the Armenian Genocide. Somber music plays in the background.

The museum, is below, in a bunker. Unfortunately, part of it was undergoing mantainance (seems like my bad luck started in Echmiadzin and goes on here), so we could only see a room, which frankly, was more than enough. Shelves gather newspaper articles from all over the world, painting, satiric strips and photographs.

Strangely enough, the worst part isn't the photos, but the cold recollection of an attempt at erasing one people. Physically, ethnically and culturally. To bring an example, in addition to the "simple" massacres, churches, an enduring symbol of Armenian unity and culture, were systematically razed or defiled. Books were burned, monuments destroyed. It's a touching chronicle of one of the several dark pages of last century. I recommend a visit to everyone who goes to Armenia.

Holy Echmiadzin

After having met Natalia (my second host for Yerevan) the evening before, I planned to go and see Echmiadzin. This is basically Armenia's Vatican City. It was the capital of Armenia from 180 to 340 a.D. and it's the Holy See, where the Catholicos (the Patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church) resides. Currently he's Karekin II.

So, we hopped in a marshrutka that headed to the city center, which also went to one of the main bus stations. Natalia got off before to go to work, I kept going and took another marshrutka to Echmiadzin. The trip was quick, it's about 15 Km to the West of Yerevan.

There are many churches in Echmiadzin, and many general religious and not religious buildings, like libraries and offices. Some are built in the world famous Whawethethi style (what were they thinking?), like this one.

I came for the main and most famous one, anyway, the Mayr Tachar. Which, of course, is under heavy construction.

It was built in 301-3, and underwent more works during the centuries, including, well, today. Before entering, I noticed many men in Russian military uniforms and others that pretended to be just there hanging out but that clearly screamed "secret service" or "bodyguard". Was there some official or important thing going on?

So I entered the main church, which didn't seem particularly busy. It was, however, particularly beautiful.

After some minutes, I noticed some movement forming near the entrance. On the right, a line of young priests assembled, while higher ranking clergy started to show up.

I asked a few people what was going on, but answers came either in Armenian or Russian. No luck in finding a single English speaker. In the meantime, a long corridor of people formed outside.

Some kids, dressed in some traditional costume, were guarded by the Red Army.

In the end, a procession started from a building in front of the church. Preceded by high-ranking clergy in ceremonial garb was none less the His Holiness Catholicos Karekin II, Patriarch of All Armenians, surrounded by high-ranking gorillas in ceremonial garb. That kind of garb that makes them so inconspicuous that they could only go unseen at some Men in Black cosplay fest.

Here's a zoom on him.

After everybody went inside, I went to see the museum, where unfortunately I could not take any picture. Here, other than a lot of ritual items, all beautifully embroidered in gold and silver, there were several holy relics, the most important being the Holy Lance, the legendary weapon allegedly used by the Roman centurion Longinus to pierce Jesus's side and make sure he was dead. Well, everybody seem to have one of this, right? There's the Holy Lance in Rome, the Holy Lance in Vienna, the Holy Lance in Antioch, the Holy Lance in Krakow... To be honest, this seems to be the least believable one, as its shape, light and ornate, doesn't really suggest it could ever have been used as a weapon. Other than that, this is Dan Brown's wet dream. There's a piece of Noah's Ark, a fragment of the Cross and even a fragment of the Crown of Thorns. I'm a bit disappointed there was no tip of the whip used to drive the merchants out of the Temple, though. Karekin II, put some effort into this!

Before leaving, I could not help noticing again how orthodox churches are always surrounded by small gardens and flowers. Even remote faith outposts like the Tsminda Sameba church in Kazbegi, Georgia and the Tatev monastery I visited just a few days before had small floral areas in the immediate areas. This might be yet another small but valid reason why religion here is so successful.