“Driving Through Armenia”

• December 17, 2020
• By Pen
• 2 Comments

Dashing through the snow, dodging potholes, not taking my eyes off the road. Seeing Soviet practicality; everywhere, even gas pipelines above the roads. Rust everywhere is turning into dust, making the views dark. 

Heading to the north, snow falling down, following the tracks. Don’t look around, dodge another hole. Oh, here comes the fog, hey, we made it! Rain is coming down, roads turn to mud, turn around now, before we slide down. I love to drive, but I like to look around. What are we doing here, it is cold, it is wet, then we start to sweat. 

Stop for food here, order up some stew, and get a plate of bones. Meat is salty, eggs are too, next time order salt free. Bread is good, butter great, but we don’t eat marmalade. 

We stop just before dark, near a Roman ruin, looking for a room, and rain is coming down. We stop at a hotel, now they are a just a restaurant. They send us to local artists who have a room. We will stay three nights. We walk to go eat, get lost in the rain, find the place again. The menu can’t be read, as it’s all Armenian, but they tell us what it is. The food was so good. Hot salad is so tasty.

Dessert so fun. We leave and jump puddles to go directly back to our room in the rain. 

We wake up to a dribbling sun, the day is going to be better by a bit. Our host shows off their lovely studio; art is everywhere. The sun came out for a hot minute, and the Roman ruin is within sight, right off the patio! (Garni Temple). On the property we are staying at, the ancestral house is still intact. We take a tour, going back in time, where the owners father was born. Original antiques from childhood fill the living area. 

A hearth is in the floor, to warm the house and fill the home with smells of fresh bread. The dough is slapped against the wall as we have seen in many countries. When the bread is done they pry off the bread and slap more dough on the hearth walls. 

A single size bed for two with a baby cradle and a toddler bed fill the corners of the room. All the cooking tools are displayed, 

Vessels and cooking areas must have made the home a warm place to live. What a joy to see this home spun museum. We get a warm feeling living a few days next to all this history surrounding us. Weather is still a controlling agent to our time here in Armenia. The next three days are forecast to be sunny.