Day 3 (July 1, 2023):

It was 5:15AM when we arrived at our hotel room (10:15PM Halifax time). Having left our house exactly 30 hours before, and having last slept 46 hours before that, we were exhausted. We decided to get a full seven hours of catch-up sleep before starting our exploration of Yerevan. So it was 1PM before we got up and close to 2:30PM when we left the hotel to start sightseeing!

Despite a truncated touring day, we managed to see a fair number of sights. Thanks to the local ride-share app called “Yandex” and its cheap rides, getting a car was a snap. 

We had been worried about excruciating heat, but it was a pleasant 28C and, after Halifax’s rainy, foggy weather, the sunny blue sky was greatly appreciated. 

We focused on seeing Republic Square, visiting the History Museum of Armenia, and taking in Victory Park’s two large monuments, then having our first Armenian meal.  Our first day in Armenia was simply wonderful.  We are loving this place already!

We are staying at the newish Holiday Inn Express in Yerevan, a 13-storey hotel across from Nova Park. It’s a 800m walk to Republic Square, the centre of Yerevan. 

Novy Park is a wonderful place - filled with cafes and fountains that serve as a splash-pad for kids at day and transition to a musical light-show at night (see last photo in today’s blog entry).  

Novy Park has several green-fuzzy figurines. The adults apparently love them as much as the kids do!

The next few photos show Republic Square, designed to serve as the focal point in the city’s urban plan. It was built between 1926-1958.  The stone pattern in the middle of the square represents an Armenian carpet. A huge nuclear war bunker for Soviet officials sits beneath the square (closed to the public). 

The History Museum of Armenia with its musical fountains that operate after dusk. 

This building on the southeast corner of the Square is a government building. 

The grandeur of Republic Square’s edifices. 

The iconic Soviet ‘sickle and hammer’ emblem adorns the entrance to one of the grand Republic Square buildings. 

The collonaded entrance to the History Museum of Armenia in Republic Square. The museum has an incredible collection of Bronze-Age artefacts that were excavated near Armenia’s Lake Sevan in the 1950s. Our personal highlights of the museum follow. 


This is a 5500-year old leather shoe, discovered in an Armenian cave in 2018. 

This wooden chariot contains the skeletal remains of an elite ruler from the 15th century BC! The elite were buried with elaborate shows of their possessions. 

This massive cauldron dates to the 8th century BC! How on earth were they able to create something so large back then?


Typical Armenian dress of the late 19th century. 

Armenia, as with may other countries in this part of Asia, are known for their fine carpets. 

The artistry of this church door really struck us. Armenian churches have five doors. This wooden door was made in 1486 and is from the Monastery of the Holy Aspostles. 

Late afternoon, we decided to make our way to Victory Park, which overlooks Yerevan to see two of the city’s important monuments…

This is the Mother Armenia Statue in Victory Park.  The current statue replaces a monumental statue of Joseph Stalin that was created as a victory memorial for World War II and was unveiled in 1950. In 1962, the statue of Stalin was removed, and in 1967 the statue of Mother Armenia was installed in its place. It is 22 metres high. 

The 15-minute Ferris wheel ride in Victory Park was quite enjoyable and provided great views of the city. 


From Victory Park, we had a wonderful view of Mount Ararat in Turkey, where a team claims to have found the remnants of Noah’s Ark.

From Victory Park we had a good view of the Yerevan  TV Tower, a 311.7-metre lattice tower built in 1977 on Nork Hill near downtown. It is the tallest structure in the Caucasus Region and the fourth-tallest 

tower in Western Asia. 

The second monument we saw was the Memorial of the 50th Anniversary of Soviet Rule in Armenia. Completed in 1967, it reflect the “Brutalist Genre” of Soviet construction. It is a 65-metre obelisk whose top symbolises a crown from the Urartian period, which dates back to 860BC. 

We had dinner at a Anteb, a Western Armenian restaurant highly recommended by Lonely Planet. The kebabs, stuffed grape leaves and bread - including this paper-thin pita balloon bread that David is pretending to blow up - were all delicious. 

We ended our day watching the fountain light show, across the street and 13-storeys below our hotel room, in Novy Park.