Yerevan - The Pink City, Yerevan, Armenia

Yerevan, the capital of Armenia is called "The pink city" because of the color of the stone used for building. Indeed, while driving through Armenian countryside you can easily spot that the houses along the way blend into the pinkish hills. Yerevan is a great example of the architecture from the Soviet Times. The buildings are concrete, heavy, and massive, streets are wide and the center city square is very spacious. After the world wars, the city of Yerevan was supposed to become 'a perfect city', designed by the architect Alexander Tamanyan. Yerevan is completely different than the neighboring capital of Georgia - Tbilisi that has medieval charm and wooden architecture with distinctive balconies leaning out over the cliffs. It' good to visit the two cities one after another, this way you will be able to experience the clash of two different eras even more.

Yerevan is connected very well with all major European and Middle East cities by air. Another great option is to get here from Tbilisi in Georgia. There are daily overnight trains or very frequently operating mini buses (marshrutkas). The journey with marshrutka will take around 5 hours and cost around 7500 AMD (14 EUR/18 USD). Along the way, you will admire spectacular views of gorges, canyons and also the sad reminders of the past, falling apart Soviet factories and abandoned, crumbling buildings. Don't try to get to Armenia from Azerbaijan because the conflict between the two countries is still on and most probably you won't even be able to cross the border. Turkish border is also closed due to Armenian-Turkish tensions. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).