July 18, 2011
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The Silk Road Overland
Saturday 16 July 2011
We were woken up just before 6.00, plenty of time before the 7.20 arrival in Yerevan – only to discover that there was yet another 1 hour time difference, this time between Georgia and Armenia, and the train came to a halt at the station even before we had got out of bed! Well, this means that south of the border, in Turkey, they are two full hours earlier then we are. I guess the Armenians love light summer evenings.It’s always interesting with first impressions of a country. In the case of Armenia, my impression was of minimalism and grandeur. The train station was splendid, but had not a single outlet like a mini-market, cafe or a kiosk. It didn’t even have a toilet! I’m not kidding. However, as I said, the station was fabulous, and you could…well, buy train tickets there.
Several of the hostels in town we tried were full – I’m now totally doing the Bahrom-thing of sleeping in dorms and stuff! Eventually, we managed to squeeze into the Yerevan Hostel and then quickly got on with the schedule for the day: doing the Lonely Planet city walk.
As we came across a travel agent early on during the walk, I asked about flights to Almaty in Kazakhstan. As I checked one flight via Aktau – on the Caspian Sea – Bahrom mentioned that there are trains from there to Almaty. And with that, the thought entered my mind that maybe – after all – I could do an overland journey across Central Asia. Not sure what to do, I didn’t buy a ticket today. I’ll think about my different options over tomorrow, Sunday, when everything is closed.
The impression of Yerevan is that it is much more modern than Tbilisi, with a lighter, sprightlier atmosphere. However, one thing I could not find today was the equivalent to Tbilisi’s atmospheric old town. During our city walk, the one thing I really liked was the Cascade, a new grand out-door project of steps and art. I also liked the gorgeous Katoghike chapel, a real mini-church if I ever saw one.
By the time I had reached the Kino Moskva cinema, Bahrom and I had split up and I took the opportunity to catch one of the Yerevan Film Festival movies – a Polish movie called Splashes. As I was clueless as regards to the context of this film and I had arrived ten minutes late, I left half way through, only to discover that there was a torrential downpour outside. So, I was stuck for quite while, drinking Diet Coke and watching the power come and go at the cinema cafe. Bahrom was stuck at his end at some market, but in the end we both reached the hostel.
There’s some kind of Welcome Home to Armenia programme (as a taster) for Armenian youth in diaspora and all of them seem to either live or keep their luggage at our hostel. But as long as I have my own bed, my own recharger socket for iPhone/iPad/camera and people are reasonably quiet, I’m happy – all of which is true (at the moment).
Before I went to bed, I checked the Aktau-Almaty train online. It’s 67 hours! Hmm, should I really go for this and put “overland” back into my summer travels? I read some stuff about stinky toilets and stuff.
I’ve got to sleep on this.
