It is always a strange feeling arriving to new city at night. There’s very little you can see other than what the residents and city planners want you to see. You may be greeted with complete darkness, that the next day turns out to be beautiful snow capped mountains. Or the bright, neon lights indicative of a bustling night life, may conceal run down buildings and litter the next morning.

My first impressions of Yerevan, just outside of the airport, reminded me of a cross between the small towns of Brazil and some neighborhoods of Beirut. Low one and two story buildings, small stores made of exposed cinder block and lit by a single hanging light bulb, people just going about their Sunday evening activities getting ready for the week ahead. I can’t read a single word of Armenian, but I did notice a number of florists and a few clothing stores and gas stations. As we drove a little closer to town, we passed a few blocks of brightly lit casinos before we hit central, downtown Yerevan. The streets widened, the buildings grew a bit taller and there were sidewalks to stroll down lined by leafy trees.  I was reminded a bit more of Budapest or Vienna, though not a carbon copy of either.  Of course this was all seen after 10:00 PM on a Sunday night, so I’m curious to see the city by day.

View from my hotel balcony

For the next week, I’ll be posting photos, stories and random thoughts as I travel throughout Armenia as a guest of the country’s Tourism Office.  While I normally only post stories to this blog on Mondays and Thursdays, this week I’ll try to keep up with daily posts (provided regular internet access) so please stay tuned here and on Twitter, Instagram (ndhayward) and Facebook.