And so back to Yerevan after 7 days of driving around Armenia. What a beautiful country!

Best times to come are May/June and September/October. If you come in June you'll see the wild flowers - no matter how hard your heart, however cynical you are - to see fields of red, yellow, pink, purple, blue and white flowers will refresh your spirit - plus all the butterflies and the birds....

Do you know, Yerevan only has about 6 pairs of pigeons - top marks, Yerevan! It makes such a nice change to be in a city and not have to put up with skanky pigeons everywhere....

As i've said before - Yerevan is an easy city to walk around - friendly and with lots to see. Two notes of caution, however:

Pavements are - well, let's just say that they need careful navigation - the usual uneven surfaces; missing flagstones; cracks; holes and dips - but the kerbs are high, which is a blessing as drivers aren't tempted to use them....

Crossing the road. Keep your peepers firmly peeled & alert even when crossing on the green signal at pedestrian crossings. Believe me, you do not want to get blood on any shiny-black Prado; Cayenne; X5; Touareg; Range Rover and G-Wagens. Keep your amazement at seeing so many of these shiny-black beasts until you are safely on the pavement. That Armenia has 90% of the world's Mercedes G-Wagens should not be of concern while one is hurtling straight towards you. If you are underneath one then it will be far too late to care, anyway. They - and the big shiny-black 7-Series; S-Class; Phaetons (yes, i know); Bentley Continental and Lexus - all have heavily tinted windows. This means they can't see you - they don't need to. Cross with care....

Around the country i saw so many Swifts! Ok - i thought they were Swallows but the RSPB website has put me right - just amazing to watch - swooping and darting. It does of course mean i ought to go back & correct my earlier Swallow errors.... - i saw a few Hoopoe, too - go on - look it up on www.rspb.org.uk - what a natty little bird - great plumage - so, a great country for ornithologists - see www.armeniabirding.info .

I saw more Zaprozhets in Armenia than i've ever seen before; I saw a Pobeda - which i'd never even heard of - plus a couple of very old Moskvich from the 1950's...

The food throughout was lovely - lots of fresh salads; fresh bread (lavash in particular); barbecued meats; fresh tomatoes; peppers; aubergines; cheeses; fishes; fresh herbs; funny little green apples - 3 bites & they're gone; cherries; apricots - yes, i tried some - they were apricoty - you won't go hungry :-)

Armenian women are lovely - goodness me - yet another reason to go there - there's not a lot of English spoken - if you know some Russian you'll be ok, as it is the second language - Armenian even better, obviously...

Armenia is a small country now - about the same size as Albania - and it is quite easy to simply stay in Yerevan and do a series of day trips to see churches, fortresses and monasteries. However, i am glad i did this tour and believe i gained a better understanding of - and feel for - the country. One thing to remember is that roads outside the city are generally poor - they aren't that great in Yerevan - so the driving can be slow & tedious - oh, and bumpy :-)

Change your drams BEFORE going through passport control at Zvartnots International Airport on the way home as there's no currency exchange after (and no sign to tell you!) - so i have 27,000 drams if anyone would like them (54 euro)...

I decided to leave early - so got a flight out on Saturday morning - BMI getting it absolutely right this time - on time departure; their refurbished A321 interior - very comfortable - nice food - we even had rose Champagne :-)

I have a new job to start on Tuesday 7th - so wanted to get back in good time to recover & get ready.....

Armenia has a pretty complicated history - some of it tragic as you probably already know - see Christopher J Walker /http://www.armenia-survival.50megs.com/ for more details -

Armenia's heyday seems to have been between AD14 - AD428 when its empire under the Arsacid Dynasty stretched from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. From 428 - 652, the Marzpanate Dynasty, it shrank - losing access to the Mediterranean and Black Sea. By 884 Armenia had no coast line. You might like to look up the Tondrakians and Paulicians - they didn't like the power of the church and favoured an egalitarian society - a bit radical even by today's standards - needless to say they were put down. It was a volatile period in history and there were battles - invasions - counter-invasions - treaties - alliances - with the Byzantines; Sassanids; Seljuks; Mamluks; Mongols and by the time Tamerlaine came along Armenia had ceased to exist as a separate country and was an autonomous kingdom within the empire du jour.

During the 16th, 17th & 18th centuries Armenia was caught between Persia, Russia & Turkey who seem to have been perpetually at war with each other (egged-on by the British, no doubt). By the 19th century things became more serious - indeed perilous for Armenia and its people. Between 1894 - 1896, Turkey's last Sultan - Abdul Hamid - orchestrated the massacre of between 100k - 300k Armenian people. The Ottoman Empire was in its final stages and the Sultan was replaced by a regime known as The Young Turks - full of nationalist fervour and between 1915 - 1917 it is estimated that around 1.5m Armenians were killed as part of a campaign to eradicate them from Western Armenia - controlled by Turkey. The Kurds, who had taken part in the killing of Armenians in 1894 - 1896, also found themselves being attacked by the Turks.

In 1918 Armenia managed to pull an army together - defeated the Turkish army and created an independent state in what had been Eastern Armenia. In 1920 the Soviets took control and the usual mindless arrests; disappearances & mass murders took place during Stalin's regime. Finally, in 1991 - Armenia proclaimed itself an independent republic.

The tour I did was with Adventour - www.armeniaexplorer.com - and went like clockwork - a very good introduction to Armenia.

Go visit!