Armenia: It is Beautiful!

We decided to visit Armenia during the season of Mellow Autumn where the country is at it's most colorful state.

Flight

Booking was at ease through Cleartrip.com, as it is giving more flight options, it also give us 0% installment options which is very helpful for travelers on a budget. We flew through FLYDUBAI as we are flying from Dubai, United Arab Emirates at a very reasonable price.

Visa

As Filipino Nationals you can get your visa on arrival at the Zvartnots International Airport for $7.00. They only accept few currencies so better bring USD with you. There could be a long queue so better have some light snacks handy as we arrived at about lunch time.

Accomodation

We stayed at Hotel Merien, it was pre-booked by our tourist guide Naira Shahnazaryan (you can find her on facebook or through her local number +37491955422). It was a pretty decent hotel apartment as we are three in the group so she managed to give us a 2 bedroom connecting hotel apartment. You have an option to avail breakfast or you can buy some food or bring with you as you can cook in your room.

Food

We are Filipinos and we love rice which means it is advisable for you to bring uncooked rice, our hotel has a cooker which made us cook this.

They have similarities with Arabic food and they also have fast food but not that much.

Funny thing also, due to language barrier, in our hotel, we requested for spaghetti and of course we assume that it has sauce in it, but they just gave us cooked spaghetti without anything on it. They might have not understood us that is why we had a quick trip to a grocery store and try to salvage it.

Their grilled meat is a must try!

The hotel tried to accommodate us considering our palate and here is their free breakfast.

 

As we stroll around the City, we had this quiet lavish meal which suits for a CEO as the name of the resto is called CEO.

Freshly picked fruits :-)

Coffee shops are readily available round the streets of Yerevan, below is next to the Cascade Complex.

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

We went to historical places in Armenia and it's outskirts. Had long drives but all worth it.

Republik Square, Yerevan

 

Streets of Yerevan

Freedom Square

Overlooking the City of Yerevan

My mother with Mother Armenia

A snap at some of war vehicles located at Mother Armenia

St John the Baptist Church (Abovyan)

At the sides of St John the Baptist church

Tsaghkadzor Ski Resort

Go Kart at Tsaghkadzor Ski Resort

Kecharis Monastery, Tsaghkadzor

Lake Sevan, Armenia

Sevanavank Monastery

View from Sevanavank Monastery

Lake Parz, Dilijan, Armenia

Matenadaran

Overlooking Mt Ararat

Khor Virab Monastery

Field View

Apple Picking with the owner (we can only bring much)

How about some grapes

Noravank Monastery

View surrounding Noravank Monastery

Vernissage for souvenir shopping

Monuments in Armenia

Cascade Complex (one tiring adventure for 572 steps up but worth it)

Cascade Complex (night view)

Garni Temple

Geghard Monastery

PEOPLE

People are quite friendly if not for language barrier, you would want to talk to them as they are so accomodating.

lunchin with the locals

goofing around with some kids

Our tour guide Naira and the Hotel Owner

WINES

It's really affordable with a lot of variations.

The place we dine have there home made wine at their own cellar.

Famous winery is just next door, Areni Winery

Thoughts

Armenia is a great place with rich history and architectural places to go around. We've been there for 5 days and it seemed not enough, we hope to have another chance to go back. I'm not a fan of super cold weather which makes the October season suitable for roaming around and enjoy the beautiful Armenia.