27th September: Vanadzor, Armenia to Dilijan, Armenia
Early in the morning, I finished checking some potential train and hotel permutations for China. It does seem that we should be OK within our budget, if we travel slowly. This suits us anyway. I’m also feeling a bit better today after my digestion issues – what a difference it makes being able to make strong Turkish coffee in the mornings!
We made our way down the wide avenue to Vanadzor train and bus station, preparing once again to be ambushed by taxi drivers. Indeed, one friendly guy who we’d nearly gone to the monasteries with offered us a decent price to go Dilijan but it was still five times the marshrutka cost of 98p each. I was keen to try a marshrutka for the first time in Armenia, so tried my best to politely turn him down. Apparently, I’m now a bad friend! Two minutes into the marshrutka journey, I was wishing I’d been a better one! Seemingly, Armenian marshrutky don’t have any of the luggage space which they all had in Georgia. The driver scoffed at me standing with our two bags waiting for him, but eventually agreed that we could put them inside, as fortunately the van wasn’t full. Another difference was, having gotten in early and sat in decent seats, then being told we had to sit in assigned places – the middle two seats on the back row. The back seats bounce severely on marshrutky and are generally to be avoided. I couldn’t get my legs in to ‘my’ seat either and the guy next to us was sniffing and coughing. Neither of us could see out and were both on the verge of both car sickness and a panic attack when we finally got out in Dilijan. We’re looking forward to trains in China (and maybe even tomorrow, if we’re lucky)!
Immediately, we were approached by the biggest street dog we’ve seen, who came and lied down beside us whilst we figured out the way to our hotel. He must’ve been 50-60kg and would’ve been taller than my 190+cm on two legs. This turned out to be a theme here, as many must descend from the large animals bred to protect livestock in the hills.
Our accommodation didn’t look far but turned out to be up an incredibly steep hill. This then turned steeper around a bend and then, for good measure, steeper once more but this time without the road surface. Very kindly, the hotel staff let us check in 2 hours early (we’d requested in advance) and also upgraded our room. Free of bags, we descended back into the so-called ‘outdoor sports capital of Armenia’.
It was an inauspicious start, as we had to negotiate dusty resurfacing works with anarchic traffic and, actually impressively, one of the operatives doing wheelies in a telehandler! Eventually, we came across a park. This seemed underwhelming at first, but we soon realised that it was full of social enterprises and activities that people had set up themselves to improve the place and the lot of young people, many of whom were wandering the park. It was inspiring to see the civic pride, further outlined by a map pointing out all of the potentially interesting minor sites around town. I really enjoy it when places do this – for example, in Latvia, every town has something they’re incredibly proud of (e.g., a 1-metre-high waterfall), that to them is special and they cherish, even if it appears ordinary in the grand scheme of things. Dilijan feels like this.
Nearer the town, a dog was looking after her 8 puppies, whilst they all ran in different directions to investigate the world and say hello every passing person. This was obviously our highlight!
Up through the older part of town, there were a few more touristy elements, including the first tour bus we’d seen in Armenia. There still weren’t a huge amount of standout features – the hills around here are the primary attraction, and we’re feeling too last for that – but some pleasant 20th century buildings and squares made for an enjoyable walk. The views were great back down through the valley, especially the juxtaposition of the white monument to the 50th anniversary of Soviet Armenia against the misty green hills. We decided to try to get higher but were again latched on to by a cute young dog (Kaja says I’m the dog whisperer). Consequently, the bigger dogs further up the hillside wouldn’t let us pass. There is an ‘old town’ that tourists love to visit but it is actually a 1970s rebuild which is now an American-owned hotel. A lovely looking hotel, but not worth further comment.
Incredibly, there was a restaurant where everything was cooked in a traditional brick oven which had some really good-looking vegan options. I took the sliced seitan steak with pineapples, potatoes, and some spicy homemade sauces; whilst Kaja had seitan kofte with lentils and apricots, bulgur wheat, a plum sauce, and a tarragon sauce. We always share to try as many things as possible and I think I preferred her choice on this occasion! The fruity grains combined with the unusual tarragon was mouth-watering. My seared pineapple with the spicy seitan was pretty tasty too, mind. Definitely the meal we’ve needed for a few days.