Now, you must be reading that title and wonder – where on earth is Gyumri, Armenia? Honestly, if you had asked me a week ago to point it out, I would not have been able to. Of my recent adventures, this probably has to be one of my favorite side quests.
This is a story of blindly trusting strangers, taking a leap of faith, and saying “YES” to everything. It’s proof that some of the best travel moments happen when you abandon the plan and embrace the unknown.
Tbilisi Central Train Station
This journey actually started online, from my home in Norway. Just figuring out how to buy a train ticket from Georgia to Armenia was an experience in itself, trying to understand the difference between “modernized” and “non-modernized” trains, the various cabin options, and navigating a ticket system that seemed designed to confuse travellers.
Anyways, the real story of my journey to Gyumri starts in Tbilisi, Georgia. I have this weird obsession with old school Soviet era trains and I can appreciate slow train travel. So border crossing on the overnight sleeper train from Georgia to Armenia was a no brainer.
After wandering around the slightly confusing layout of Tbilisi Central Station, I eventually found the train attendant, showed my e-ticket and proceeded to board the train.
I had booked the third class open air sleeper cabin. Honestly the perfect setting for meeting like minded people. Sitting opposite me were two Armenian ladies. Unfortunately, little words could be exchanged with the ladies as suddenly all the Russian I previously had learnt seemed to vanish from my head. We had to settle on the simple exchange of smiles, which seemed to work. Across the aisle was an American couple (Mary and Christian) on their gap year and introductions were made.
Building Connections
Once we start settling in to what would be our homes for the night, a young Armenian lady appears. Turns out the two other ladies were her family – her mom and aunt. She had gone to grab some snacks for the journey ahead. This charismatic lady starts striking up a conversation with us English speakers. We start introducing ourselves and our stories. She introduces herself and her nickname is Star.
All throughout the conversations, she was working double time to translate between us and her family. The train attendant ends up sitting with us for a bit and has a conversation with the ladies. Eventually, he recruits Star to be the carriage’s unofficial translator. It wasn’t long until Star found two eccentric French travellers, whom joined us. They shared some beer with us and this social lubricant led us to start turning the cabin into a language exchange party. We were learning Armenian phrases and tongue twisters. Now, I will not attempt to try remember what we had learnt but what I will say is, wow. Armenian is a difficult language.
Star’s aunt starts teaching us a local song about shirts. Words simple enough that all of us manages to sing along. Safe to say, we were running amuck on this train. Star starts showing us pictures from her home town of Gyumri and telling us about it. Her mom and her casually invites us to visit their town. The invite was so genuine that I was kind of taken aback. While I didn’t immediately say yes, I knew deep down it was a fantastic opportunity to create genuine connections. Once we had done the hour long border crossing from Georgia into Armenia, we exchanged contacts and dozed off to sleep.
The last minute decision to head to Gyumri
Initially, I had only planned two days in Armenia. Way too little time for such a beautiful country. The morning we had arrived to Yerevan, I headed straight on a tour to visit Khor Virap monastery and some surrounding sites. Me being as sleep deprived as I was, was very much useless in planning or making any decisions. However Star had contacted Mary + Christian and really kindly given them the train times.
My train of thought was: Yerevan will be there for next time, this invitation to Gyumri would not. The choice was very clear. So Day 2 in Armenia, running on little sleep, we took the 0755hrs train to Gyumri. The journey was 3 hrs long through Armenia’s desert like landscapes, a a completely different expecerience seeing what we had missed on the journey the night before. Guess who was waiting for us at Gyumri Train Station? A welcoming party of Star and her mom!
Spending the day in Gyumri
Gyumri is Armenia’s second largest city and the district capital for the Shirak region of the country. Comparatively smaller than Yerevan, it is home to approximately 100 000 people.
What stood out immediately was the warmth and hospitality of Armenias. Star and her mom took an entire day to show us around their city and refusing to let us pay for anything, treating us like old friends. There was never a dull moment and it was filled with stories and laughter. Our first stop was: Vardanants Square.
On 7th December 1988, Gyumri was hit with a powerful earthquake, registering 6.9 on the Richter scale. 25 000 lives were lost, injuring tens of thousands. Two churches on opposite sides of the square had collapsed and been destroyed. Both had been reconstructed. Remnants of their cone domes still lie outside of the entrances as a reminder of the lives lost. We were told about how Hermine wasn’t in Gyumri but she was in a different town and could still feel the shocks.
The churches are very different in style. St All Saviors Church had intricate paintings on the wall., depicting biblical stories. Unlike a few of the Armenian churches and monasteries I had visited, the church had rows of seats.
In contrast to Surp Astvatstsin Cathedral (Our Lady of Seven Wounds), the walls were less intricately decorated and worshipers had to stand. It did have an organ on the second level and we were lucky enough to experience the bell ringing. A gentleman had two ropes and when it was midday, he used all his might to ring the bells while reciting a prayer. Outside the church was a golden cross riddled with bullet holes. The statue commemorative of a group of clergymen who were executed in 1937, a sobering reminder of past conflicts.
The Streets of Gyumri
Our next stop, we walked down the boulevards and streets. As a result of the earthquake, buildings in Gyumri are not allowed to be built higher than 5 stories as a safety precaution. A lot of the buildings in the city are built with a type of black tuff stone, local to the region. The dark stones gives the city a unique, almost gothic appearance. I had initially thought there might’ve been a fire to cause these blackened stones.
We had made a pit stop at one of the local artists stores, B 612. Art Place. Here, there’s a small boxed man who is the symbol of Gyumri. As a fitting tribute, we had “Gyumri Mom” written on ours, since Star’s mom had in a way became our mom in Gyumri.
Trying Qyalla – a local dish
Our lovely hosts steered us to a taverna. The interior was decorated to mirror someone’s home, filled with trinkets. This is where an exercise of trust comes in. We entrusted Star and her mom to order a delicious and amazing spread. I finally learnt how to eat the lavash (Armenian flatbread) with the different cheeses, matsoi, and plate of herds. Turns out you kinda of make a little cheese and herbs wrap.
The atmosphere of the restaurant was great, they were playing local music and we had an impromptu dance party learning a couple of steps from the traditional dance. We also tried some local Armenian wine and oghi (local spirits made from fruits/berries – known as Armenian vodka).
However, the star of the show was the qyalla. Star had spoken about it the previous night on the train and I honestly was not expecting that they would actually order it. Lo and behold — the waitress brings out a sizable qyalla. Qyalla is goats head that traditional would’ve been cooked under ground. What really surprised me was the presentation. Two peppers stuffed on the back of the head and leafy greens in the mouth. It truly was a sight!
The waitress had taken it to the back and carved up the meat and served it on a large plate. In all fairness, once it was carved up, it removed the visual of head and you could easily treat it like any sort of meat cut. We dug in and as much of how it was a bit of a shock factor, I actually didn’t mind it. We also tried tongue. Not something that I would’ve thought I would ever have. But you know what my tagline is — made of adventure, beer, questionable food and no fear. I wasn’t brave enough to try the eye but Christian was a great sport and tried bits around it.
Continuing the Adventure around Gyumri
Our hosts were really responsive to our questions and we had plenty of great conversations understanding more about the Armenian way of life, the history and relationships with the neighboring countries. Out of respect to our conversation and our host’s privacy, I won’t divulge the details.
With full bellies, we continued to explore the city visiting Sev Berd or Black Fortress. This fortress is an abandoned Russian Imperial fortress, it was built as a response to the Russo-Turkish war. Now, it is a cultural heritage monument.
A nearby monument was a Mother of Armenia statue built in 1975. It was different to the one I had visited in Yerevan. It was built as a memorial for the Great Patriotic War (1941 – 1945). From the front, Mother Armenia is standing in a strong stance. From the back, it had been designed to resemble a wolf’s face. This was to entice fear.
A famous part of Gyumri is the balcony from the movie: Tango of my Childhood. Opposite the balcony is another arts store. Here – you can paint your own doors of Gyumri and join in one of the local pottery classes. If you’re lucky, you might see a local celebrity roaming around. His name is Aslan and he is a dog with his own instagram following of almost 6000 and you can even get stickers of him!
Wrapping up
Towards the end of the day, we wandered back to Vardanants Square, where we had started our adventure. Before we knew it, we had to bid farewell to our gracious hosts and take a share ride back to Yerevan.
Looking back, this side quest happened due to the Armenian hospitality, choosing to say yes – trusting strangers (now friends), changing plans and embracing the unexpected. While Gyumri wasn’t part of my original itinerary, but it turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences of recent time. The best travel moments come from the most unexpected adventures.
Anyways, have you ever had a random side quest that you remember fondly? I would love to hear about it below!
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