Yerevan

To get to town from Anna's place, I had a handy bus passing exactly in front of her house, line 47. It was passing when I came down, so I hoped up and found a site. The driver was Dario Argento but younger. Like, a couple of years younger. The trip lasted around 30 minutes (less that with that damn taxi) and I got off at the famous Opera House.

Bit of trivia: here you pay directly at the driver, just before getting off, tossing the 100 Dram coin (one ride) directly in a container next to him (or you hand him the bill, if you need change). Would you imagine this in Italy? No, right? Neither I do.

I randomly walked a bit, when I saw some colours coming from behind some trees. That was, as I recalled reading in the guide, the Vernissage Market, next to Martiros Saryan statue (which I refused to photograph, as an ungainly pigeon was resting on his head), where painters show their works. Some were truly beautiful, some passable. I have to say, none were downright bad, but I have peculiar tastes in art.

After this triumph of colours, I needed something a bit more sober, so I went searching for an old church, one of the oldest surviving churches of Yerevan, which I knew was around, hidden between to unassuming streets. Completed in 1964 and once called Surp Astvatsatsin, it was recently renamed Surp Zoravor, because even Armenians realise that there is a limit to how many damn consonant you can cram into a single word. The most credited explanation, however, is that the name was changed in honour of Saint Vartan Mamikonian, because "Zoravor" is totally found inside the name.

I also made two friends, there.

The good dog...

...and the bad wolf.

After the church, I decided to go back to the very centre, and I followed the advice of a local friend from CouchSurfing, taking an Armenian telephone number. This is useful, as it will allow me to better keep in touch with the other two CouchSurfing hosts and to surf the Internet when not within reach of wifi (like now. I assumed you all understood that all these posts aren't exactly live. I'm already in Tatev, freezing and without wifi).

Anyway, off to the famed Republic Square (formerly Lenin Square), home to the National Gallery and the History Museum, which I plant to visit after my return from Tatev.

Republic Square, was a beauty to behold unfortunately my camera isn't the best choice for ample landscapes, but it's quite good to take picture of unsuspecting senior citizens with rad beards.

After Republic Square I went up again, in front of the Moscow Cinema. It's a nice square, equipped with a large chessboard you can walk on.

But what actually got me was this. I have no idea why this is here and who did it, but it immediately got my Seal of Approval.

This also, but it's not the same thing by a mile.

Later I met with Jasmine, a CS friend. She showed me a nice sport from Victory bridge, where sunsets are supposedly beautiful, but it was too late for that, plus it was starting to rain, so we got some shelter in front of the Church of Saint Sarkis.

The a friend of her, Roman, joined us and we went to a nice pub ("Friends"), where my attempt at having a glass of the famous Ararat brandy failed, as they didn't have anymore, so I got a proper Armenian coffee and some proper French fries, before heading off to take the 47 again. It passed almost immediately, so I almost didn't have time to say "bye" to them, as I jumped in. My shock, noticing that the driver was the same of that morning was great. Maybe all the 47 drivers are human-like robots, so it wasn't actually the same.

After a 30 minutes ride, I somewhat managed to get off at the right spot, but getting around in the maze of towers was another matter, so with my newly acquired Armenian number I called Anna, who spotted me by the window and proceeded to guide me. For dinner, we had borsch and I finally tried some fine Ararat, delicious if tasted with peach. Bloody strong.

We were all quite tired, so we all collapsed after dinner. The morning after Anna had to go to work and I had to go to Tatev. Good night Yerevan!