Visiting Armenia

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Armenia is not like all other countries!

"I rarely visit the same country a second time. But Armenia is not like all other countries. This is the only country on my list that I have visited three times," a travel blogger says.

Rohan Direkz, a travel blogger from Sri Lanka, visited 86 countries on all continents in ten years. And he has visited Armenia three times already.

The blogger admits that the hospitality of the Armenian people and the tastes of Armenian cuisine make you come back here again and again.

"There is a proverb in Armenia, according to which a guest is a gift from God. For any happy occasion, Armenians immediately set the table to treat friends and relatives. That is why I say that from wherever part of the world you are, whatever language you speak, in Armenia you feel at home, among your own people," adds Rohan.

Rohan Direkz managed to be present at the "khash ceremony" - at the ceremony of eating an Armenian traditional rich soup made of beef legs and tripe, which is certainly eaten with vodka. And the travel blogger was delighted with it.

"I will never forget the tastes and colors of Armenian cuisine. This is a real paradise for gourmets. Traditional dishes are very varied, and the many combinations of herbs and spices make them taste amazing," the traveler says.

“Also I learned that it was Armenia that was the first to adopt Christianity as a state religion. Today, religious monuments can be seen everywhere in the country,” he says.

The blogger believes that historical monuments, as well as breathtaking views make Armenia very attractive and impressive even for avid travelers.

And a good mood and positive emotions in Armenia, as Rohan notes, will be ensured by "the wonderful people of the country, their generous hospitality, friendliness and cordial attitude towards guests."

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An American guy walks aimlessly through the streets of Yerevan and shoots 4K video with audio encoded for binaural listening.

I don't know why, but when I look, I have a feeling of unreality of what is happening, like there is a some kind of computer video game with good graphics and with some unknown and mysterious plot.

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In one week in Armenia I learned to live like an ordinary citizen of the country.

Camillo Biancofiore, a guy of Italian-Polish origin learned via the Internet to speak perfectly in Armenian and he even managed to master the spoken Armenian language, although he was only once in Armenia.

In the video below, Camillo in surprisingly good Armenian language talks about his story.

"I entered the university in 2009, but in 2011 I dropped out. In 2011, I was in a very strong depression and I did not want to live, I did not study and did not work and I could not find any meaning in life at all, and then my Ukrainian friend, she already knew a lot about Armenia, she saw that something was wrong with me that I am not okay, she asked what was wrong with me, I replied that I didn’t want to live and was even thinking about suicide, then she told me that she had Armenian friends, I didn’t even know anything about Armenians and Armenia then and I could not even show on the map where is Armenia, and she offered to introduce me to these friends of hers, I thought, why not, I can meet new people, maybe it will cheer me up. I certainly did not know a word of Armenian then, but I studied at the linguistic university where I studied English and French, in addition, I knew Spanish, a little German, of course, my native Italian, as well Russian, Polish (my mother is Polish), that is, I was already a polyglot, and my first Armenian friends knew English Russian and Spanish , and we communicated in these three languages. I wanted to find Italian-speaking Armenians, but at that time I could not find, and at that time I had a desire to learn Armenian language and to find out what Armenia is in general. At first I was even frightened of the Armenian alphabet, I began to study on the Internet , through videos from YouTube, I met through the Internet with guys from Armenia who knew only Armenian, the first books on the Armenian language I had in Russian, I taught grammar and phrasebooks of the Armenian language from Russian-language books, and I downloaded these books through the Internet. But in the books, after all, there is only literary Armenian, but Armenians speak to each other in colloquial Armenian, so I switched to Facebook to learn the spoken language as well, and it is very difficult to learn the spoken language because you cannot find the translation of the spoken language anywhere. I even began to write down for myself the lexicon of Armenian spoken language, where I wrote down all words, even abusive words, in order to understand everything.

I came to Armenia for the first time, I even remember the date exactly, in 2013, on July 4, I lived for two months, I had already before my arrival learned Armenian language and already understood about 60%, but during this time I also received a very a lot of new things already in the country, and during this time I alone traveled around the country as an ordinary citizen and not as a tourist. And in one week in Armenia I learned to live like an ordinary citizen of the country, and I began to understand the language much better, and even the dialects of Armenian language.

As for the people of Italy and comparison with the people of Armenia, I myself am from Southern Italy and Italy is a very diverse country, for example, an Italian from Turin or from Milan, he is not similar in mentality to an Italian from Sicily. Armenians are more like people of southern Italy because they are similar in mentality, they both value family very much, unlike people of northern Italy who have a different mentality and are more like French, Germans. For example, in Milan, in Venice, local Italians are very cold and this is very noticeable. Italians are not as patriotic as Armenians, Italians do not have general Italian patriotism, we do not love Italy as a whole, we love our region, say, a resident of Rome only loves Rome, he is not interested in Milan or Turin or Palermo, this is not his region and not his city".

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Night walks in Yerevan

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Armenia's Independence Day is celebrated by everyone, from Armenian SU-30SM fighters to motorcades and columns of cyclists.

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A woman from the Philippines who lives in Armenia made videos in which she answers some questions, how to obtain residency in Armenia, how long can one stay in Armenia without a residency, is it very cheap to stay in Armenia, etc.

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[Armenian Bishop]

First resident ambassador of Netherlands presents credentials to Armenian President:
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1028567.html

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. The new Ambassador of the Netherlands Nico Schermers presented his credentials to the Armenian President Armen Sarkissian on September 23 in Yerevan.

“I am happy to be the first resident ambassador of the Netherlands in Armenia,” Schermers said, conveying King Willem-Alexander’s greetings to the President of Armenia and the Armenian people.

The Ambassador said he expects productive and effective work for the benefit of the development and expansion of bilateral partnership.

The President of Armenia congratulated Schermers on starting his diplomatic service in Armenia and expressed certainty that the ambassador will use his experience for further strengthening the friendly relations between Armenia and the Netherlands.

Prioritizing the deepening of commercial partnership, the Ambassador underscored that various Dutch companies from different sectors are showing interest for Armenia.

Sarkissian talked about his ATOM (Advanced Tomorrow) Presidential Initiative – a project aimed at developing science and new technologies in Armenia. As many major tech enterprises and scientific centers from around the world have expressed desire to cooperate as part of ATOM, the President told the Ambassador that he would be happy to cooperate with Dutch companies, universities and scientific centers also.