My Armenian Sandbox: Farewells to Yeghenadzor and a Final Hello to Yerevan

The twenty third of July was a very sad day, as it was the last day in Yeghenadzor and in Areni. We started the day in the cave, finishing our work, and ended the day at lunchtime. After a goodbye photo shoot we went home to shower and pack our bags for Yerevan. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Yeghenadzor and living at the dig house. The owners of the home who gave up their main floor to us were so kind and hospitable. Yereghnadzor was a fantastic place. I felt completely comfortable walking around the village. I will miss the little corner stores and the lounge with the Ferris wheel, however, the thing I will miss the most is the beautiful view of the mountains from our dinner table, and also the fresh fruits and mulberries we had every day.

After saying our goodbyes to those we wouldn’t see again we all piled into the van and headed to Yerevan. After settling into our apartment we all decided to out and experience Yerevan nightlife one more time. I love walking the city at night; it’s all lit up and gives off an entirely different vibe. We found a cafe and a Persian night club and decided to eat. I ended up having Buffalo chicken wings; something familiar was more than appreciated. The night club looked great, but the cover was extremely high (close to thirty dollars) so I left with some of the guys as cover charge was even higher for them.

The next day I decided to split from the group as I didn’t need to go back to the market or vernissage and I had wanted to go back to the National Museum as our first time there was extremely rushed. The shoe from our cave that had been making headlines before our arrival had also just been put on display and I had wanted to see it at least once before I left as it was such an important discovery made at the site which I had become so attached to. I really enjoyed walking the museum by myself at my own pace. From there I met up with the group for lunch at the Lahmajoon (spicy tomato and meat paste on lavash) place. I am going to miss lahmajoon a lot!

After I hopped in a cab and went to the indoor market, which is a cross between a spice bazaar and an organic fruit market. It is a huge market with many vendors and each one wants you to try their products. I was given so many free dried fruit and nut treats I could hardly stomach it all. I had to try to not make eye contact for most of the time because they vendors would constantly be giving you food, or making you spell bags of rose petals. Each vendor would insist they had the best products and would get offended when you did not want to buy their products. I ended up purchasing almost 100 dollars worth of saffron petals for about five dollars, paprika, and curry. One of the ladies I tried to purchase paprika from, as paprika is grown all over Armenia, put the curry I asked for in a plastic bag and told me “500 drams” which is like two dollars, but then she began asking me to smell other spices and before I knew it she was adding random spices to my bag, shook it, and then said “much better, now 2000 drams. Just how it works at these markets, they always get you to buy more than you asked... but now I have an amazing mix of Armenian spices, so I really can’t complain. I also purchased dried fruit and nut snacks and dried mint tea leaves.

My last stop for the day was back to the National Museum to look at the Art Gallery. I have never been to a proper art gallery before so I was excited to see some recognizable names like Donatello. However most of the museum consisted of Armenian artwork, which was also beautiful to see.