Days 1–2. “Cascade” and “Children’s Railway”
By the evening of the first day, we felt rested and decided to go for a walk.
We headed to the Cascade. It’s a huge staircase overlooking all of central Yerevan. Didn’t take a photo this time — here’s one from December 2022:
Going up:
View from the top:
Going down:
A few photos from past trips:
At the bottom of Cascade there are sculptures by various world-famous artists, donated to the city by an Armenian billionaire who lives in the U.S. He even owns Yerevan’s airport.
The sculptures are pretty cool. Makes me think how lame the ones back home are.
The Cascade itself has several levels, with fountains and more sculpture compositions.
To reach the top, you have to climb exactly 555 steps.
On a clear day, you can see Mount Ararat from the top.
The center of Yerevan was designed by architect Alexander Tamanyan. One of his ideas was that a main street would run through the entire city — starting from the Cascade and heading toward Ararat. Back then, Ararat was still part of Armenia and had always been an important national symbol. Until the Soviets gave it to Turkey.
Those days we mostly walked in the evenings, when the sun went down a bit. During the day it was around 32–35°C.
I’ve walked around Yerevan many times, and I was surprised to find a pedestrian tunnel right in the center — I’d passed by it countless times before.
Armenia is fascinating because so many things from the past are still here. They’ve aged, sure, but they survived. Mostly because after the USSR collapsed, Armenia had a tough time and no money for “modernization.” That’s what helped preserve these artifacts. This tunnel felt like one of them.
The tunnel is carved right into the rock. Actually, all of Armenia basically sits on solid stone :-) You can even see the rock slowly shifting.
I really liked the lighting — how it shines toward the ceiling and diffuses. It’s warm, and the lamp shapes look like electric sparks. I’m a fan 👍
The entrance from the other side:
We arrived at the Children’s Railway.
The railway opened on June 9, 1937, as one of many pioneer railways in the USSR. It’s still technically there, but half-abandoned. As of 2024, it’s not operating: locomotives broken, stations closed. Like other Soviet pioneer railways, it was run by kids under adult supervision to get them interested in railway work.
There are several trains here, including a diesel one:
And a steam engine (Anton couldn’t get it started):
The trains have been standing there for ages. Huge trees have grown up, lifting the tracks and cars with their roots.
It might look like a cool cloudy day in the photos, but it was actually evening — almost sunset — and a really hot day.
The station sits at the bottom of a gorge, next to a mountain river.
Impressions: a nice, atmospheric place. A gorge. Tall trees giving shade. A mountain river. Views of the cliffs.
The area’s abandoned and unkempt, but people still hang out there. Locals were grilling by the river.
I imagined — if they fixed up the gorge, it could be a perfect park. You could walk a couple of kilometers along the river and the railway. In short, it’s a potentially amazing spot for walks, sports, barbecues, and relaxing.
Later we had some wine — celebrated Anton’s university admission and me getting my residence permit.
Selfie of the day:
16‒17 August 2024