Travel in Armenia

 We left Tbilisi Georgia on August 19th. Dennis and Lynel had rented an SUV for our travels to Armenia. It was a big Toyota and comfortable for the 4 of us. Paul Steckler had left back to the US the day before. It took about 1,5 hours to reach the Georgia/Armenia border. Georgian formalities were quick and simple while the Armenian border held us up for over an hour. I had obtained an Evisa for Armenia. When I presented it with my Canadian passport, the border guard had obviously never seen such a paper. He called for the senior boss to come. He immediately told him it was ok. The others traveling on EU and British passports did not need visas that day!

We then drove for 2 hours to the beautiful city of Dilijan where we met up with our Armenian driver and advisor, Anna Hovasinian. She drove her BMW to pick Nico and me up, while the others continued south to visit projects as far down as the border with Iran. Anna is a very capable Armenian  Consultant and entrepreneur who volunteered to drive and guide us while we covered projects in Northern Armenia. We visited various women entrepreneurs on the way to decide whether to provide with support in amounts of Euro 500 to 1000. These were all very small operations. The grants given by HERA are always in the form of capital goods like sewing machines, mixers, The grants are given with the condition that the entrepreneur create 2 new jobs. We visited entrepreneurs who were sewing clothing, keeping bees, wanting to set up camping facilities. I took extensive pictures underway which one can see at:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wNkTSSoQSxnYzkfXA

https://photos.app.goo.gl/vfM6LvdbBXhkVS1B9

https://photos.app.goo.gl/YMpXkXBms1GDkCa99

The first night we decided to stay in the small city of Venadzor. We stayed in a huge hotel where very few other guests were staying called the Royal Palace. We drove to Gyumri that next day and overnighted in the Berlin hotel which had been converted from a hospital. In 1988, there was a terrible earthquake in this town and Germany donated a full hospital.  The rooms were nice but one could see that they had been hospital rooms. It was weird to be in the middle of Armenia and sleeping in a room that was totally equipped with German beds, showers, etc. On the way, we stopped in on a number of small operations, most of which were really only village community projects making basic clothes and curtains.

One group wanted to set up a camping operation on a nearby lake, another wanted a second sewing machine. These are small operations and really hardly viable. See some pictures taken on the way to Gyumri at:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/YLZKHQBvKkmkMh89A

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sLruWturi4e5Duh8A

The next day we visited various enterprises which were larger and sometimes more viable. These included a lady who wanted money to expand her shoe operation, a doll maker, a jewelry maker, a driving school. an NGO which trains orphaned girls and a young dress designer

See pictures at:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VzvrEzz9TqQRfzfG9

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bjiJTxu55k5paz7E9

https://photos.app.goo.gl/aQLQwDMAKJ2wSBo28

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uxXWQw6MhU65b17w6

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HohMufLUfPRvsvYJ9

Gyumri is a rather beautiful city and is a cultural center of Armenia, being the second-largest city. There are statues all over the place including a huge one for Charles Aznavour who was of Armenian blood.

You can see pictures of Gyumri at:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hU8B4Gh9WSpH2YP28

Everywhere in Gyumri, one can see huge empty factories which could not survive the fall of the Soviet empire as they were never able to compete. Thousands lost their jobs and most have left for other places as no new industry has been established. 

That evening, Nico and I visited a small village north of Gyumri which is being supported by the local Rotary club which is led by Alex Jan who is the manager of the Berlin Hotel and honorary German Consul.

They have established a small hotel and are bringing solar power to the village. The German rotary club to which Nico belongs also wants to help so Nico wanted to see the village. Pictures can be seen at:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/iB5BfemAP1XNb3iM9

Later that evening, Nico and I went to dinner at a restaurant out of town which is built around a fish farm. Interesting setting although the food was average. There were about 100 stairs down and up which was quite a climb. See pictures at:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/oNGo2387z6f8F3pL7

The same hotel manager arranged for us to visit the house of his carpet agent. We found the place which was well out of town. There, the wife had laid out about 10 carpets for me to see. My eye immediately saw a rather old silk carpet which is from Nagarano Karabahck, the region recently largely lost in a war with Azerbaijan. The lady said the carpet was 150 years old which is probably an exaggeration. The price was less than I had expected so I agreed and off I went with the carpet. You can see my carpet at the end of the Gyumri pictures.  I would love someone to give me an assessment of my carpet.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hU8B4Gh9WSpH2YP28

The next day, after a few visits, we headed south and east to Anna's village Byurakan just north of Jerevan. It was a beautiful drive around Mount Ararat, the symbol of Armenia. Anna insisted we stay the night in her village where her whole family lives. There are 1000 people in the village and she is related to at least 200 persons. Her grandfather had 10 sons. Her family runs a large fruit drying operation which seems profitable. The operation is all ECO with no chemical inputs. The hygiene standards were certainly rather loose but the hospitality was pure Armenian.

See pictures at:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kVyUx2J6A9w4uWobA

This evening we are in Jerevan where we will be for several days before heading back to Georgia and then home via Berlin.