Duration: 4 hours
Price: 13,900 AMD pp (stay at Envoy Hostel Yerevan pay 12,900 AMD)
Operates: Monday, Wednesday & Saturday
Includes: English-speaking guide service, entry fees and snack
Departs: 10:00 am from Envoy Hostel & Tours | Yerevan
Returns: 2:10 pm to Envoy Hostel & Tours | Yerevan
If you prefer a quick video overview without the history details… Take a look at this short video of the tour:
Envoy Hostel
54 Pushkin St, Yerevan 0002, Armenia
FIRST STOP – Hrabarag / Republic Square
This famous square used to be called Lenin square and had a huge statue of Lenin in the middle of the roundabout .. quick pic from the past below…
There are beautiful towering buildings around the square and all of them are made with local “Tuff” stone – which has different varieties of black, orange, white and red
For this reason, Yerevan was known as the pink city
Bit of history…
Armenia was under Soviet rule from 1920 through 1990.
There is soooo much history going back with little ol’ Armenia but as this is a soviet tour ill stick with that side of things… after being pushed and abused by the Turks and after the successful battles of Sardarapat and Bash-Aparan, Armenia declared its independence on 28th May 1918
This was short lived as the Turks and Bolsheviks, Armenia was forced to sign treaties that led to the loss of its territories and to its becoming a Soviet republic and was under Soviet rule for 70 years
As you walk the streets you can most definitely see the soviet touches on buildings and artworks and on the statues around the squares
PROTESTS – After many more protests and unrest for Kharabagh and wanting this land to be reunified with Armenia again, these demonstrations happened in Feb 1988 and on 28 May 1988, on the 17th Anniversary of the independence of Armenia was celebrated for the first time since Soviet rule
MASSACRES continued – 1988 huge protests for Karabagh continued and included some general strikes but in Nov 1988, Azers continued massacre of Armenias in Azerbaijian, leading to huge refugee problems in Armenia – Azerbaijian began a blockade of Armenia
EARTHQUAKE – to add to this problem, in 1988 an earthquake hit Armenia in Dec 1988 adding to refugee and economic problems
MOSCOW CONTROL – Jan 1989, a commission to administer the Karabah region to be under direct control of Moscow was established
REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA – was officially recognised to be 28 May as the anniversary – Nov 1989, the Armenian National movment held its first congress
FURTHER MASSACRES – Jan 1990, more armenians massacred in Azerbaijian, Baku and Kirovabad
IDEPENDENCE – 21 SEP 1991, during spring elections, members of Karabagh commitee and soviet dissidents came to power in the parliamentar elections, Republic of Armenia gained its independence!
STOP 2 : SASUNTSI DAVIT STATUE & YEREVAN TRAIN STATION
Also known as Sasuntsi Davit Station, its located 3km outside of the city centre
Link to their website : https://www.railway.am/
Yerevan didnt have a main train station until 1956
The Soviet regime wanted to connect and make Yerevan a hub so began the construction of a large train station in their own Soviet style architecture, large, strong and imposing
But as you get closer and explore the detailings of the buildings you can see there is also an incorporation of Armenian design and elements which adds beauty to this
The old Soviet Armenian coat of arms is still sitting at the top of the long pillar sticking out from the top of the building
Sasuntsi Davit Statue – holds prime position in this square
He was a local folk hero from the Middle Ages, there was a poem written about him which came from his exploits back in the 8th c. BC where he used to live around the Sassoun Town in the Van area – he was also know to have driven the Arab Egyptian invaders out of Armenia
The interior is so very stoic and plain as I would have expected from a Soviet building
The ceiling is the most detailing around the inside and its beautiful and dominant, crisp and clean!
The station is owned by Russian Railways and operated by South Caucasus Railways
TRIPS OUT FROM YEREVAN STATION:
Unfortuately, there is not much of a selection of cities which is a shame, especially internationally
- Yerevan — Batumi (from June to September)
- Yerevan — Tbilisi (from December to March)
- Yerevan — Gyumri
- Yerevan — Ararat
- Yerevan — Araks
- Yerevan — Yeraskh
STOP 3 : METRO -> to GORTSARANAYIN
The Yerevan Metro is all thanks to the much loved Karen Demirchyan and is now the most effective mode of transport in the capital as the traffic is becoming worse and especially during peak hours
The metro is 13 km long and bean operating in 1981 ad is nowservicing 10 stations and a few more stations are in plans
Daily 50,000+ passengers use the metro system – the fare is 100 dram any one way per ride
Operating hours are 7am – 11pm
Frequency of trains is between 4-10mins
We headed down the stairs to the tunnel leading us to the metro station under Yerevan Train Station
The metro line map – doesnt compare to London but not bad for a city with 1m population
- Garegin Nzhdeh
- Shengavit
- Gortsaranayin
- Sasuntsi David
- Zoravar Andranik
- Hanrapetutian Hraparak (Republic Square)
- Yeritasardakan
- Marshal Baghramyan
- Barekamutyun
- Charbakh
The underground walkways of Yerevan – in many of them especially those tunnels leading to the metro there are shops that line the sides and the locals love them
These ponchiks were good! we obvously enjoyed them
Hanging out with the English, doesnt matter what time of the day it is its beer o’çlock 😛 Beer with sweets ew lol
Just go up to the counter and buy a 10 dram neon orange token – insert into the turnstile and venture in!
Trains are frequent so you wont be waiting more than 10mins
The soviet looking escalators are my favourite part of the stations
And you pop on out to your desired station exit 🙂
Easy and cheap
STOP 4 : BUS -> to NAIRIT CHEMICAL PLANT
We ended up at Gortsaranayin metro station, a quiet area
Our next stop was further outside of the city centre
We jumped onto the waiting bus…
Our awesome guide was funny and very informative obviously knows his history and loves this subject as well, more like a bunch of friends taveling than a bus full of strangers 🙂
Nirit is 7km from Republic Square and is a derelict rubber factory that was opened in 1936, it takes the area of 160 hectares! its huge!
It supplied 34 kinds of chemical products to the Soviet Union and Soviet bloc countries in its high days
Nairit was the engine of the Soviet Armenia’s economy and industry providing jobs for thousands of people and 40% of the country’s income
Because of National change that happened in 1988, it put a stop to the 50 yr long running of this plant
Many accidents have come from this plant – last acident ws in 2017 an explosion and fire of the plant”s lacquer ethanol storage, 4 iron concrete containers burnt for hours with thick black smoke being emitted for hours
Many ex-employees still havent been paid and still waiting for it! – the government however assures all wages have been paid.
Conclusion and background:
The decision to stop Nairit’s production was made on June 25, 1989 by the Supreme Council of Soviet Armenia. This was annulled after two years, on April 17, 1991 by the elite of the Armenian National Movement (ANM), one of the pioneers fighting for the stop of the plant. Henceforth, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Armenia adopted a new decision – to reopen the plant. Аnd it was re-launched in 1991-1992.
According to various sources, for the second time, the plant stopped functioning because of the financial crisis in 2008-2010, as well as by the private owner’s abandonment of the plant. As a result, more than half of the 2500 employees remained unemployed, while others waiting for their unpaid wages.
And due to consistent rallies and sit-down strikes at the government building and presidential office, in August 2015 the government paid the employees 18-24-month salaries amounting to $ 12 million.
However, the salary was only a small part of the plant’s loan. According to various estimates, the plant had accumulated debts totaling $ 300-500 million over 2006-2011, which resulted in a suit by the CIS Interstate Bank at the end of December 2011, claiming 90% of the Nairit Plant’s shareholder, Rhinoville Property Limited demanding penalties and fines for not paying off its debts.
Failing to pay, the plant became the property of the bank in 2012. According to RA Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Yervand Zakharyan, after long negotiations, in December 2015, Nairit was returne to the Armenian Government
In 2010, through the contribution of Nairit’s intellectual resources and certain equipment of the third production line the launching of the Armenian-Chinese company “Shanxi-Nairit” took place in China. A 40-percent stake in Shanxi-Nairit, according to the Ministry of Energy, holds Nairit Plant.
By the way, the Armenian-Chinese joint venture company is the third on the list of top rubber producers.
https://ampop.am/en/nairit-plant-en/
STOP 5 : MALATSIA AGRICULTURAL MARKET (BANGLADESH)
Malatia Trade Market is the largest street market in Yerevan and situated in the Malatia-Sebastia district
This is one of the last truely locally grown market remaining in Yerevan
Its known locally as the Bangladesh market – originally, because it was so far away from the other districts and city centre, the locals would joke and say they are going to Bangladesh (as if its like traveling to a faraway country!) now as Yerevan has spread out its not that far away but the name has stuck!
Due to the popularity and ease of shopping at large SAS supermarkets now, a lot of the markets have closed which is really sad as the local farmers make their living out of these markets
The interesting thing about these markets is that the farmers keep their old cars inside the markets and use them as storage and sell fruit and veg from
I loved walkng past all the colourful fruit and vegetables and the smells were full on!
Beautiful colourful herbs and spices!
There are colouful legumes and beans for sale
Everything gets dusty in Yerevan but its expected 🙂 more cars that live in the market
The markets are 24/7 and farmers from nearby vilages start arriving from 4am
I would love to visit it at night one day!
STOP 6 : 16th DISTRICT – NORASHEN
We got dropped off nearby to District 16 (scarily sounds like from a sci-fi movie)
Is a local neighourhood with a lot of playgrounds and Soviet “micro blocks”
There is a 23 sq m 2 room apartent for sale I found online thats going for US$34,000 including outdoor covered parking
The shape of the C’s can be made out from above
Edgar bought us Russian icecream and we learnt that ice cream was taken to Russia by an Armenian, Anasdaz Migoian who was a politician, he worked well with Lenin and some other Russian leaders, wasnt seemed to be liked by the Armenians though
Grand Candy one of the Yervantsis favourite sweet store is owne by Russians
We stopped and found an old head of Lenins hiding behind some statues and shrubs
Usually we are not allowed to see old Rusian / Soviet statues that are left over so not many people know where all of them have been hidden
STOP 7 : SOVIET CHILDRENS RAILWAY
Last bus ride to the Soviet Childrens Railway
This railway is right next to the Hrazdan Gorge, was built in 1943 and is a 3.1km long railway with 3 stations
The idea of creating this park was put forward by Aghasi Khanjyan in 1935 who was the secretary of the CPA – the architect was Mikael Mazmanyan
At the moment the building looks derelict but it does operate in summer and 1 station only – originally there were 3 and the childrens train runs between those 3, now it just goes to one station and back again
The building inside is still so beautiful!
This railway is one of the few railroads that was built in the soviet era and still continues to operate
The idea of the childrens railways originated in USSR and they used them to educate children on the functioning of railways and to learn railroad professions
STOP 8 : KOND PEDESTRIAN TUNNEL
This is an interesting place to visit on your trip to yerevan!
it is an underround tunel around 1/2 a KM and connects the city centre with Hrazdan Gorge
Ive been to Yerevan 5 times but this visit is the first I heard of this tunnel!
One of my favourite places in Yerevan! stinky and all over the place but I love this tunnel!
Modernist, Soviet architecture, former USSR – Developed in the 1920s by architect Alexander Tamanyan
We had a friendly street dog lead us through from the beginning
We ended up finishing our tour at Diana Abgar Park at the end of the tunnel – if you arent looking for this tunnel you can easily miss it as usually this car park is full of cars and the tunnel entrance is not easy to see
we were sooo close to Dargett Craft Beer and cos we were with a Brit we couldnt say no to a beer!
And ended up chatting with new friends and enjoying the nice weather while sharing travel stories
Whole heartedly recommend this tour to those who have a passion for Armenia, Armenian history, Soviet history or want to see some random Soviet sites – so worth every cent and evey minute
I found in my research, this statue and its in the courtyard of the History museum but no one is allowed to view it! 😦
The Wandering Passport 