“Armenia 🇦🇲 ~Scenic Gyumri to Vanadzor and General Info”

• December 10, 2020
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

We got snowed in, in both the towns of Gyumri and Vanadzor. Not much to do, but wait it out, in both cases. Luckily, WIFI is pretty good in Armenia. I do a lot of, reading.whenever I have extra time. I have a kindle, which saves the weight of real books. The rest of the time, we are like lazy hibernating bears. Daryl is a napper, but I am, normally not. With the snow and cold weather, with limited things to do, even I can take a slumber in the daytime on occasion.

Fuel is pretty cheap, and we have been running on $40 with for about two weeks. Our small rental gets pretty good gas mileage, given the mountains we’ve been climbing. The car rental for a month is $347. Accommodation prices are all over the place. Hot showers won’t be better at $50 a night, versus $16. In Vanadzor we paid more than $20 a night and the heat wasn’t working very well. We did not think the $40 a night was worth it, though new and clean. We were the only guests, and the heat might have refused to run on a limited basis. Nobody was staffing the hotel, so we called to order food phone number to order dinner.

Food is okay, here in Armenia. The best we have had was at the Artson B&B in Vagharshapat, which was superior, compared to everyplace else. Since then, we have had to stress low salt. Meat and potatoes fair are the staples. Not enough vegetables. Most foods are prepared fresh, and ingredients are homegrown. Soups are popular and the bread and butter are fresh. I crave a good hearty stew, over brothy soup, any day of the week. When I cook, all my soups are thick like a stew. Then, when I cook stew, it’s VERY hearty! (It’s the Irish in me)

After our great day of success, seeing the Dijian National Park and the Haghartsin Monastery Complex: Here is the link if you missed this blog: https://2gypsiesinthewind.com/asia/armenia/armenia-dilijan-national-park-haghartisin-monastary-complex-and-sevan-lake, we drove on over to Lake Sevan to find a place to stay. As is the norm, everywhere we have bone, we are the only guests. This can lead to some good rates, most of the time.

After arrival, and deciding to stay for three nights, and while our cottage heated up with the gas heart turned on, we went to the restaurant for dinner. There was no heat in the dining room, so we wore our jackets. The view was nice, though. We both got very excited to see Lamb Stew on the menu. We love Stew! Imagine our surprise, when the Lamb Stew arrived and it was a plate of cooked meat on bones. We asked what that was and we were told Lamb Stew. I was in shock and forgot to take a photo. Daryl asked where the vegetables and potatoes were, and the staff said; “there are none.” (which was abundantly obvious).

Tonight, we will not order Lamb Stew. It’s a trick!