The last day of the tour has arrived! It’s been such a full-on schedule that I’m kinda pleased that this is my last structured day for a little while. Touring is tiring!

8:45am we piled on the bus for a short trip up to a viewpoint over the city at Victory Park.

Yerevan has roots back to at least 782 BC but was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1692 so no historic buildings remain. Like all of Armenia it suffered in the 18th C. under Persian rule, 19th C. Russian rule, and the 20th C. under the Soviets. Only in the 21st C., the Modern Era, has it really come into its own.

Victory Park is a throwback to the Soviet Period as it was created in the ‘50’s to celebrate victory in WWII. There’s tanks and fighter jets on display and the huge monument used to have a big statue of Stalin atop it. He was knocked off his block in 1967 as the new leaders were trying to restore popular support after his oppressive regime and the Mother of Armenia statue replaced him. The architect pulled a fast one on the Soviets tho. It’s supposed to symbolize Peace Through Strength, but doesn’t the way she holds her sword look like a cross? A not so oblique reference to Christianity stealthily erected in Soviet times….

Next we visited the Matenadaran Manuscript Museum.  Armenia is very proud of its literary heritage and has collected over 20,000 manuscripts plus countless documents, most kept in deep, climate-controled storage, with over 100 scientists studying them. Not long after Armenia adopted Christianity back in 301AD strong influences from both the Ottomans and the Roman Empire threatened to fracture the country so they decided developing their own alphabet to match their language would unify the sides with a national identity. In 405 a single scholar created their alphabet of 36 letters, one for each sound in their language, and he did such a meticulous job it survives today (+3 more letters).

A bit of fun and fresh air next. We went to the Cascade Complex, a multi-terraced construction of stairs and gardens on the outside and a contemporary art museum on the inside with many sculptures both inside and out. The government paid for the building, an American-Armenian, Cafesjian, donated 5,000 pieces of art. As it was a warm day we conserved our energy and took the 7 sets of escalators up, and walked the 572 steps back down.

Our last official sight before lunch was the Armenian Genocide Memorial. Yerevan’s Tsitsernakaberd Memorial complex is dedicated to the memory of the 1.5 million Armenians who perished in the first genocide of the 20th century at the hands of the Turkish government. Completed in 1967, the Genocide Monument has since become an integral part of Yerevan’s architecture and a pilgrimage site.

Free time after lunch until our next feeding at dinner. An early meal at 7pm as most of my travel companions were having to leave the hotel at either 1:30am or 2:30am for their early morning flights. I have one extra day here (and an afternoon departure 😁 ). Just some food porn photos from our amazing last meal: