Barev dzez from Yerevan - capital of Armenia! Now - i discovered on arrival that Armenia has its own alphabet - devised in 405ad by Mesrop Mashtots - initially with 36 characters but three additional ones were created in the 12th century, so they now have 39. Makes our 26 seem a bit meagre, doesn't it?

The original 36 characters were also used as a numbering system but, luckily for us, the Armenians seem to have adopted Arabic numerals somewhere down the line....

So in addition to signs in Armenian you'll also see signs in Russian and English. Although they aren't that keen on giving street names away - hmmm.....

I must congratulate BMI on getting us here 2 hours late. Loading a plane you know to have a fault is a stroke of genius. Although, when they finally located an "engineer" it turned out to be just a fault in the cockpit display. Quite why they hadn't thought of getting an engineer - or engineers - to inspect the plane prior to boarding i don't know. The only explanation i can offer is that the "B" in BMI stands for "British"........

Arrival into Zvartnots International Airport was straightforward, as was customs & immigration. Although there were some students conducting a questionnaire - at 3.00am??? - but the questions were few and not at all taxing :-)

It seemed that the whole city had turned out to greet the arrival of flight BD965 - the place was teeming with people. I had previously arranged an airport transfer - but the driver had parked quite a long way from the terminal - although i did eventually decide this was down to lack of facilities rather than some kind of punishment for being so late.

Allegedly the drive to the city centre only takes 15 minutes but it did seem longer. You go past lots of casinos & nightclubs covered in garish neon. Very sweet. Very Blackpool.

Anyway! On Wednesday, my first day here, i just went wandering around the city, trying to get my bearings and generally just gawp. The centre of Yerevan is a very nice place to wander around - essentially there's a grid within a circle - the circle being a ring-road, although different sections have different names - so not as banal as "South Circular" and "North Circular". There are lots of fine buildings - quite austere Soviet-era ones; squares and gardens laid - out although some of these are quite shabby and unkempt. One of these is a complete wreck - but the area turns into a street market (flea market) at weekends, called Vernissage - so will go next weekend & see what it is like. At the other end of the scale, they are creating a pedestrian shopping street called Northern Avenue, that runs down from Freedom Square towards Republic Square (stops just short it) . It's really quite impressive - not completed yet although some of the shops are trading. They have some designer fashion stores like Armani & Joop (sorry, Joop!) and other, smaller, boutique fashion stores and - er, Clarks.....

One thing you notice about Yerevan is that - at weekends and in the evenings - the locals like to promenade - families and friends - there are lots of cafes and outside bars & eating places - very sociable....

For fans of Russian vehicles there are lots of old Ladas, Volgas, Moskvich plus assorted ropey old trucks, vans, minibuses and buses. Out in the country you see decrepit Russian tractors. These old Russian vehicles add to the atmosphere in Yerevan, where the traffic can border on the chaotic but generally isn't too bad. There are lots of 4x4's - i'm assuming the big shiny black ones are owned by the gangsters judging by the deference these vehicles are shown. In fairness the roads are not that good - so having a 4x4 is not entirely illogical. They used to have trams here but removed them. Public transport is largely provided by marshrutka - privately run minibuses, which seem to go everywhere - even covering the country. I don't quite understand why the government doesn't get an IMF loan and replace all the old trucks, buses, taxis and minibuses with new Euro-spec engined models - they could cut pollution & fuel consumption at a stroke. Here you are, Armenia, here's $10bn - tidy things up!

On Thursday we went to the history museum at the new City Hall and to Matenadaran - which houses ancient manuscripts in an impressive Russian designed building. These two were covered by the tour company (AdvenTour - www.armeniaexplorer.com) - but i went by myself to the State Museum of National History - which is in Republic Square. This is much more interesting and with many more exhibits than the one in City Hall. A good 10% of the descriptive signs and boards are in English - which means you realise you should have bought a guide booklet when you're a third of the way round. Don't worry about following the arrows, though, as there aren't any - so the museum staff continually point people in the right direction. But it is interesting! The same building in Republic Square (by the fountains) houses the National Art Gallery, which is very impressive. You buy a ticket on the 1st floor but start by taking a lift to the 7th floor and work your way down. Again, there are no signs pointing which direction you are supposed to go in - and as in the museum below there are enough staff to tell you when you're going - or have already gone - wrong! There are lots & lots of paintings - so be warned. Art enthusiasts will love it - but for the rest of us the novelty wears off by the time you get down to the fourth floor :-/ The entrance to both is only 800 drams each - less than 2 euro - so very good value. The Republic Square used to be called Lenin Square but was renamed in 1991 with the advent of the third republic. Armenia - or rather, what was left of it, ceded from Turkish rule in 1918 and announced independence. The Soviets took over in 1920 until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 - hence third republic.

On Thursday afternoon we left the city and went out to Garni to see the Temple of the Sun. There has been a temple on this site for about 4,000 years - but this one, which has been restored, was built in the first century BC and then used as a summer palace after 301AD, which is when Armenia converted to Christianity. The setting is fantastic and the scenery - hills, valleys - mountains in the background - is stunning.

After Garni we went to Geghard to see the monastery of the spear - named after the spear that was allegedly used by the Roman Centurion to stab Jesus on the Cross. The spear is no longer here. The current church was built in 1215 and then 3 further chapels were added - carved into the mountain adjacent to the church - quite remarkable - and the uppermost chapel has amazing accoustics. The church here is at the head of a valley - again another lovely setting.

On Friday morning we went out to Echmiadzin - what they rather sweetly refer to as the Armenian Vatican - given the enmity between the two..... - anyway, there's a beautiful cathedral and museum. The museum houses the spear - or rather what's left of it, which is the business - or pointy - end. And - oh yes! - and! - a fragment from Noah's Ark which - as you'll recall - came to rest on Mount Ararat (not far from Yerevan)........

The Armenian Apostolic Church was founded by the Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus - Barnabas was an Apostle but like these two not one of the original Dozen - anyway, it is a branch of Christianity but a separate church and not, as i thought, an Orthodox church.

For some reason our tour does not take us to the Genocide Memorial and Museum. I will write about that separately, but the Armenian genocide by the Turks is regarded as the first genocide of the 20th century. Today there are 7m Armenians living around the world and 3m in Armenia - with 1m in Yerevan.

I used my Lonely Planet guide to not find the Caucasus Tavern on Hanrapetutyan Poghots - but did eventually find the Cilicia restaurant on the same street. Cilicia corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Armenia that stretched from the Mediterranean - to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The national flag is red, blue & apricot: red for blood; blue for the three seas and apricot for - er, apricots. Apricots originated in Armenia and the apricots here are apparently the best in the world. They aren't in season yet - so i'm not going to be able to put that to the test. Anyway, the Cilicia restaurant is a typical Caucasus-themed restaurant - i was the only person having lunch, which was a bit eerie - the food was ok, though. There's a similar map of Cilicia on the wall in the Armenian restaurant in the centre of Manchester (which is very good, by the way - so next time you're in Manchester)...

I then found the Caucasus Tavern that evening - just a few doors up from Cilicia. So i went in - it's another themed restaurant and wasn't really interested in a lone-diner (not many restaurants are!!) - but the food was nice & i had a couple of very good beers called Erebuni. The following evening i went for dinner at Old Erivin - another themed restaurant - that was likewise recommended by Lonely Planet. This time i went with Colleen & Leo from the tour group. The menu looked good & reasonably authentic and the food was ok - the Saperavi only so-so - but since the last edition of Lonely Planet they've obviously tried to go upmarket & really only want business or expense-account clientele. We weren't made very welcome....

We went to Dolmama's on the last night here - a very nice Armenian restaurant, tucked away off Abovyan Poghots on Pushkin Poghots - very nice indeed - so top marks to LP for highlighting that one. I never did find Bukhara - an Uzbek-themed restaurant or Colour of Pomegranites (also recommended by LP) - despite walking round Yerevan for ages looking for them - but that probably says more about my orienteering than anything - as the Caucasus Tavern debacle rather sweetly highlights...