Yerevan, Armenia
You can get around the main sights of Yerevan, realize that you are in a gastronomic paradise, and fall in love with the noisy but smiling locals in a few hours. But in order to truly understand and love Armenia, to feel it through tastes, smells and landscapes, it will take time. And the right itinerary. So you can take a cheap car rental in Yerevan and start your journey in that amazing country.
On the first day in Yerevan, you need to walk around the city center. It is hard to imagine that Muscovites go for a walk every evening, say. Red Square, but Armenians love long walks in the same places. A favorite among the locals, the route starts from Freedom Square, which called Opera Square, and the nearby Swan Lake (in fact, it is a small pond in which only a few swans remain). On summer evenings, this place turns into an open-air cinema, and young people cozy up on the lawn and benches around the pond, helping themselves to ice cream from neighboring cafes.
Then take a walk along Northern Avenue, built several years ago – this is the most fashionable part of the city with expensive boutiques, cafes with beautiful summer verandas, and street musicians that have already become a local attraction.
Leaving the “new” quarter, you will find yourself on Republic Square, where the Armenian Parliament and ministries are located. Every evening, tourists and locals admire the singing fountains here. You can go this route several times a day, each time noticing something new: here is a sculpture of a flower seller, in whose hands a live flower is always fresh, here is a drinking fountain, which the local’s funny call “pulpulak”, and here are apples in caramel, tastes exactly the same as in childhood.
Armenian food
In general, food is a cult in Armenia, so the number of cafes, restaurants, and fast-food outlets is growing exponentially every year. To try delicious meat or fish, it is not necessary to look for a national restaurant – the secret of the success of Armenian catering is natural and exceptionally fresh products. The latter is especially popular here – take the time to go to the famous “Khinkali” on the main street Tumanyan. In addition to traditional khinkali with meat, it is worth trying boiled and fried khinkali with cheese and Adjarian khachapuri (21/1 Tumanyan str.).
True, when travelers arrive in Yerevan, the first thing they look for is a delicious barbecue. It is pointless to ask the locals for addresses: every Armenian is firmly convinced that it is he, his brother or father who cooks the most delicious meat in the world. If you can’t get to a traditional homemade feast, feel free to head to Artashi Mot, To Artash (Armenians, like the French, like to call restaurants by their names) – perhaps one of the best places with national cuisine in the city (St. E. Kochar, 9/5). The alternative is Dolmama (10 Pushkin St.), the most expensive restaurant in Yerevan. The local khashlama (boiled meat), dolma (minced meat in grape leaves), and tzhvzhik (fried liver with vegetables) were admired, for example, by Charles Aznavour.
