What to expect
If you step off Yerevan’s bustling avenues, you can journey to a place where time seems to have stood still in the 1600s. This self-guided audio tour will lead you from the winding alleys of Kond, Yerevan’s oldest quarter, and through Amiryan Street and Republic Square to Vernissage, a vibrant open-air flea market. The tour starts at St. John the Baptist Church, Kond’s oldest structure and the ancestral chapel of the Melik-Aghamalyan princes who ruled this district. You’ll walk along narrow streets where daily life continues behind stone walls, peering into courtyards and noticing details that are easy to miss. I’ll tell you how Armenian, Persian, and Soviet architectural traditions have intertwined in Yerevan, and why this city is known as the “Pink City.” You’ll walk through Khachkar Park where intricate “cross-stones’ tell stories of faith, and end our walk at Vernissage, where Armenian crafts come to life in the hands of skilled artisans.
