Day 3 April 15, 2026 Yerevan Armenia
We got to our room about 5:00 am. The get aquatinted meeting is set for 10:00 am on the third floor. Getting to our room was a bit challenging. We are staying at a Marriott on the main square. The hotel was originally multiple buildings and we are in the second one. That means duck under one staircase and look for the correct elevator. Watch your step because there are ramps and steps along the way.
We got two hours of sleep before getting up for breakfast and our meeting. The guide met us going into breakfast and said she would start slowly to let us catch up. We were the last to arrive in the meeting room. There are 17 of us all together. Everyone is from the US and well travelled. We will have a short break before heading out for the day.
Our first stop is the Matenadaran Manuscript Museum. Quite sure we have never been to something quite like it. The statues on the outside are of various scholars throughout Armenian history. The largest in front is Mesrop Mashtots who developed the current alphabet. The original alphabet had 36 characters and was developed in 405 AD. In the Middle Ages two more characters were added to accommodate European sounds. Numbers were not originally in existence so letters were used to represent them. The main exhibition displays manuscripts of all kinds and ages. Some on animal skin as well as those on some form of paper. The facility also researches all kinds and sources of manuscripts. To really see this facility would require at least a couple of hours. Our guide Nana gave us so much information that our minds couldn’t retain it all.
From here we walked down the street a few blocks and around the corner to see the Cascade. The idea for the Cascade first appeared in the master plan for Yerevan, developed by architect Alexander Tamanian in the 1920s. He envisioned connecting the city center with the northern hills of Kanaker through a system of terraces, waterfalls, and flower beds. However, at the time, the project was deemed too ambitious and did not receive funding. It is still not totally completed but is a very popular place to visit. There are 600 steps to reach the top. Thank goodness we took the seven escalators instead. The view at the top was beautiful. The city stretches out before you with Mount Ararat in the distance. We were very fortunate to see it today. It is often in the clouds. The mountain is actually in Turkey. It is most known as the mountain where Noah’s Ark landed. The mountain actually consists of a very large peak and a smaller one to the side. Both are snow covered. The mountain is very important to the Armenian people so they are not happy it is now a part of Turkey.
We now had about an hour to do as we pleased to include lunch on our own. Lots of restaurants line the park area leading up to the Cascade. Some very interesting statues are on display in the park. We weren’t very hungry so we just had dessert and a coke. Very tasty for sure.
We drove some through the city and up the hill to the statue of Mother Armenia. The roads are mostly very small. Intersections have streets coming from multiple directions. Cars park along the sides making the roads even smaller. The drivers are crazy. They drive all over the road. Hard to believe there aren’t more wrecks. We got to the top with another view of the city. An eternal flame burns here commemorating lives lost during World War II. The statue was originally of Stalin. That statue was removed in 1962. In 1967 the Mother Armenia statue was erected. The statue is 72 feet tall and the pedestal is 95 feet for a total of 167 feet.
We returned to the hotel where that evening we had our welcome dinner. These are usually well worth attending. This one didn’t disappoint. We had all local dishes the names of which we don’t know. The meal included bread (no butter), salads, meat dishes, dessert, wine, coffee and tea. Way more food than we could possibly eat.
Spoffords Travel 