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Summit Daily News , Colorado
March 24 2012
A different sort of adventure
Exploring Armenia and Georgia
By Bill Penoyar
Special to the Daily
Editor's note: This is the second in a two-part series on travel to
Armenia and Georgia.
During February and March, I had the opportunity to spend seven weeks
working in Armenia and visiting Georgia. On the third weekend that I
was in Armenia, I went with a friend to one of the oldest churches in
Christendom; the Khor Virap church, located near the Turkish border
and Mt. Ararat. According to Armenian history and Wikipedia, this area
was a Roman Empire outpost (before the church was built).
The Kingdom of Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as
its religion when St. Gregory the Illuminator converted King Tiridates
III and members of his court, an event dated to AD 301. Details of the
conversion may be found in Wikipedia. However, the short of it is that
King Tiridates made the conversion after Gregory restored the king's
health, even though the king had imprisoned Gregory in a pit for 13
years. When Gregory healed Tiridates, he immediately declared Armenia
to be a Christian nation, becoming the first official Christian state.
Armenia and Georgia both claim being the first Christian country.
I had an opportunity to climb down into the pit where Gregory was
imprisoned for 13 years, but declined. In retrospect, I should have
taken a look.
According to legend, Noah and his Ark eventually ran aground on Mt.
Ararat. I've re-read the story of Noah in the book of Genesis and
didn't find any mention of this. However, that's the legend.
The city of Yerevan, Armenia, likes to remember Noah (Noy) in many
ways. The most common reminder is one of two predominant cognacs
(brandies) that are distilled here. A weekend tour included the Noy
distillery. When I saw the old stills used for making the cognac, it
reminded me of my high school extra-curricular chemistry activities.
At the conclusion of the tour we had the opportunity to taste some of
their product. It is pretty good!
The only weekend that I had no other engagements, I did a walking tour
of Yerevan. It is a typical ex-Soviet city. However, it does have its
unique history, culture and places to visit.
One interesting place was the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, built
into the side of a very large hill and terraced into different floors
and art galleries. The benefactor of the center is Gerard Cafesjian,
who is an Armenian-American success story. He made his fortune in the
publishing business and used his wealth to finish a project, the
`Cascades,' which was started by the Soviets, and now houses the
center.
The most interesting aspect of the center is its very large private
collection of glass art by a Tacoma, Wash., artist, Dale Chihuly. I
was surprised and pleased to see Tacoma, represented by Chihuly's art,
half way around the world in Yerevan. I also spent an interesting
couple of hours touring the long, turbulent and sometimes tragic
history of the Armenian people at their National History Museum on
Republican Square, not far from the apartment where I was staying.
One of the nice things about the career which I recently retired from
is that, after a few years and a few different assignments around the
world, good friends whom I've met in one country are re-discovered in
a very different time and place. The reunion with these friends is
always a treat and frequently, their familiarity with a new location
makes the experience that much more rewarding.
While in Yerevan, I met two friends, John and Maria, whom I knew and
worked with 10 years earlier in Kyiv, Ukraine. Both have lived in
Yerevan for several years and know the area well. Soon after we
re-connected, they invited me to join them for a Saturday day trip to
a pre-Christian temple; a 1,500-plus-year-old monastery and another
ancient church on Lake Sevan in northern Armenia.
I also had the opportunity to hitch a ride to Tbilisi, Georgia, with
colleagues. They drove down to Yerevan and were returning to their
home on Friday in Tbilisi. I never pass up an opportunity to visit a
new place on the cheap, for a Saturday of site seeing in a very
picturesque capital city. Tbilisi is only a five hour drive over the
mountains from Yerevan.
Since the Rose Revolution, which took place in 2003, when Mikheil
Saakashvili, a Kyiv, Ukraine University and George Washington Law
School educated Georgian lawyer inspired the population to peacefully
protest against the rampant corruption of the existing government of
President Eduard Shevardnadze on Nov. 23, 2003. He succeeded in
creating a more democratic and far less corrupt new government of
Georgia. Saakashvili has had his share of problems. But, he has done a
good job with transforming a dangerous and corrupt country with a
stagnant economy into a reasonably safe country with a growing
economy. In addition to the very picturesque drive to and from
Tbilisi, my one day walking tour (perhaps 6-8 miles) was well worth
the trip.
I stayed at an inexpensive hostel for $40 per night, which is what I
usually do when I'm traveling alone. I much prefer to visit more
interesting places than to spend three times as much to stay at
Western hotels which look the same in Detroit or D.C. as they do in
Tbilisi or Yerevan. Besides, the people that I meet along the way are
far more out-going and interesting than the usual three- or four-star
hotel crowd.
Unlike Yerevan, Tbilisi has retained its historic, 19th century
architecture and buildings, and ensured the new architecture
complimented what was already there. Yerevan removed most of what may
have existed prior to 1920. So, although Yerevan is a very pleasant
walkable city, it doesn't have a fraction of the charm that Tbilisi
does.
During the Spring Equinox, the Iranians celebrate their New Year. Many
use this time of the year to travel on vacation to neighboring, less
restrictive Armenia and Georgia. I noticed many cars and busses with
Iranian license plates full of families on holiday. Perhaps some
Americans, who are influenced by the hype from some American TV
networks and hawkish politicians, think that Iranians are very
different and have very different values than the U.S.
Interestingly, the Iranians that I observed, as we toured the same
places and stopped at the same rest stops between Armenia and Georgia
are, surprisingly, just like Americans in appearance, family values
and civility. I enjoyed watching Iranian children play near an ancient
Georgian church and wondered what Sen. McCain was thinking when he
said, `Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.' These kind of threatening
statements that are made by U.S. politicians to please the unknowing
and unthinking Americans among us certainly seem immoral when watching
these innocent children at play.
My final weekend in Yerevan was capped by helping organize the
walk/obstacle course/run for the drinking club with the running
problem, the Yerevan Hash House Harriers. It was a nice Saturday and
an amicable group of hashers.
The trail was set along, over and under the river in the gorge that
ran through Yerevan. A fellow hasher used his pedometer to measure the
distance start to finish, being about 3.6 kilometers. Since I had to
do this twice, once to set the trail and next to walk it with the
hashers, plus walking halfway through the city to the YH3 meeting
place, I was pretty tired by the end of the day and ready for the
drinking part of the activity. As always, the Hash House Harrier
outing was fun.
If you're looking for a different sort of adventure vacation that
combines a different mountain scenery, history, gracious people and
relative safety, Armenia and Georgia may be two interesting small
countries to consider visiting.
Bill Penoyar recently retired from the U.S. Agency for International
Development. In addition to enjoying the Colorado winter from his
condo in Silverthorne, he is completing an action/adventure movie
script inspired by his experience working in the Iraq Provinces during
2009-2010. You can contact him at [email protected].
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20120325/AE/120329883/1078&ParentProfile=1055
March 24 2012
A different sort of adventure
Exploring Armenia and Georgia
By Bill Penoyar
Special to the Daily
Editor's note: This is the second in a two-part series on travel to
Armenia and Georgia.
During February and March, I had the opportunity to spend seven weeks
working in Armenia and visiting Georgia. On the third weekend that I
was in Armenia, I went with a friend to one of the oldest churches in
Christendom; the Khor Virap church, located near the Turkish border
and Mt. Ararat. According to Armenian history and Wikipedia, this area
was a Roman Empire outpost (before the church was built).
The Kingdom of Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as
its religion when St. Gregory the Illuminator converted King Tiridates
III and members of his court, an event dated to AD 301. Details of the
conversion may be found in Wikipedia. However, the short of it is that
King Tiridates made the conversion after Gregory restored the king's
health, even though the king had imprisoned Gregory in a pit for 13
years. When Gregory healed Tiridates, he immediately declared Armenia
to be a Christian nation, becoming the first official Christian state.
Armenia and Georgia both claim being the first Christian country.
I had an opportunity to climb down into the pit where Gregory was
imprisoned for 13 years, but declined. In retrospect, I should have
taken a look.
According to legend, Noah and his Ark eventually ran aground on Mt.
Ararat. I've re-read the story of Noah in the book of Genesis and
didn't find any mention of this. However, that's the legend.
The city of Yerevan, Armenia, likes to remember Noah (Noy) in many
ways. The most common reminder is one of two predominant cognacs
(brandies) that are distilled here. A weekend tour included the Noy
distillery. When I saw the old stills used for making the cognac, it
reminded me of my high school extra-curricular chemistry activities.
At the conclusion of the tour we had the opportunity to taste some of
their product. It is pretty good!
The only weekend that I had no other engagements, I did a walking tour
of Yerevan. It is a typical ex-Soviet city. However, it does have its
unique history, culture and places to visit.
One interesting place was the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, built
into the side of a very large hill and terraced into different floors
and art galleries. The benefactor of the center is Gerard Cafesjian,
who is an Armenian-American success story. He made his fortune in the
publishing business and used his wealth to finish a project, the
`Cascades,' which was started by the Soviets, and now houses the
center.
The most interesting aspect of the center is its very large private
collection of glass art by a Tacoma, Wash., artist, Dale Chihuly. I
was surprised and pleased to see Tacoma, represented by Chihuly's art,
half way around the world in Yerevan. I also spent an interesting
couple of hours touring the long, turbulent and sometimes tragic
history of the Armenian people at their National History Museum on
Republican Square, not far from the apartment where I was staying.
One of the nice things about the career which I recently retired from
is that, after a few years and a few different assignments around the
world, good friends whom I've met in one country are re-discovered in
a very different time and place. The reunion with these friends is
always a treat and frequently, their familiarity with a new location
makes the experience that much more rewarding.
While in Yerevan, I met two friends, John and Maria, whom I knew and
worked with 10 years earlier in Kyiv, Ukraine. Both have lived in
Yerevan for several years and know the area well. Soon after we
re-connected, they invited me to join them for a Saturday day trip to
a pre-Christian temple; a 1,500-plus-year-old monastery and another
ancient church on Lake Sevan in northern Armenia.
I also had the opportunity to hitch a ride to Tbilisi, Georgia, with
colleagues. They drove down to Yerevan and were returning to their
home on Friday in Tbilisi. I never pass up an opportunity to visit a
new place on the cheap, for a Saturday of site seeing in a very
picturesque capital city. Tbilisi is only a five hour drive over the
mountains from Yerevan.
Since the Rose Revolution, which took place in 2003, when Mikheil
Saakashvili, a Kyiv, Ukraine University and George Washington Law
School educated Georgian lawyer inspired the population to peacefully
protest against the rampant corruption of the existing government of
President Eduard Shevardnadze on Nov. 23, 2003. He succeeded in
creating a more democratic and far less corrupt new government of
Georgia. Saakashvili has had his share of problems. But, he has done a
good job with transforming a dangerous and corrupt country with a
stagnant economy into a reasonably safe country with a growing
economy. In addition to the very picturesque drive to and from
Tbilisi, my one day walking tour (perhaps 6-8 miles) was well worth
the trip.
I stayed at an inexpensive hostel for $40 per night, which is what I
usually do when I'm traveling alone. I much prefer to visit more
interesting places than to spend three times as much to stay at
Western hotels which look the same in Detroit or D.C. as they do in
Tbilisi or Yerevan. Besides, the people that I meet along the way are
far more out-going and interesting than the usual three- or four-star
hotel crowd.
Unlike Yerevan, Tbilisi has retained its historic, 19th century
architecture and buildings, and ensured the new architecture
complimented what was already there. Yerevan removed most of what may
have existed prior to 1920. So, although Yerevan is a very pleasant
walkable city, it doesn't have a fraction of the charm that Tbilisi
does.
During the Spring Equinox, the Iranians celebrate their New Year. Many
use this time of the year to travel on vacation to neighboring, less
restrictive Armenia and Georgia. I noticed many cars and busses with
Iranian license plates full of families on holiday. Perhaps some
Americans, who are influenced by the hype from some American TV
networks and hawkish politicians, think that Iranians are very
different and have very different values than the U.S.
Interestingly, the Iranians that I observed, as we toured the same
places and stopped at the same rest stops between Armenia and Georgia
are, surprisingly, just like Americans in appearance, family values
and civility. I enjoyed watching Iranian children play near an ancient
Georgian church and wondered what Sen. McCain was thinking when he
said, `Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.' These kind of threatening
statements that are made by U.S. politicians to please the unknowing
and unthinking Americans among us certainly seem immoral when watching
these innocent children at play.
My final weekend in Yerevan was capped by helping organize the
walk/obstacle course/run for the drinking club with the running
problem, the Yerevan Hash House Harriers. It was a nice Saturday and
an amicable group of hashers.
The trail was set along, over and under the river in the gorge that
ran through Yerevan. A fellow hasher used his pedometer to measure the
distance start to finish, being about 3.6 kilometers. Since I had to
do this twice, once to set the trail and next to walk it with the
hashers, plus walking halfway through the city to the YH3 meeting
place, I was pretty tired by the end of the day and ready for the
drinking part of the activity. As always, the Hash House Harrier
outing was fun.
If you're looking for a different sort of adventure vacation that
combines a different mountain scenery, history, gracious people and
relative safety, Armenia and Georgia may be two interesting small
countries to consider visiting.
Bill Penoyar recently retired from the U.S. Agency for International
Development. In addition to enjoying the Colorado winter from his
condo in Silverthorne, he is completing an action/adventure movie
script inspired by his experience working in the Iraq Provinces during
2009-2010. You can contact him at [email protected].
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20120325/AE/120329883/1078&ParentProfile=1055