Globe and Mail, Canada
July 8 2007
Avant-garde Armenia
JANET FORMAN
>>From Saturday’s Globe and Mail
Yerevan, Armenia – Finding the gas gauge in the trunk of my Lada
should have been a clue. The commendable bottle of Armenian cabernet
sauvignon for $1.70, versus Internet fees three times that price,
should have been another hint.
But it took repeated encounters with companies such as Lemon
Rent-a-Car, Viagra Bar and Mafia Pizza, (we won’t even discuss Barf
laundry detergent) to realize that in Armenia, my "cultural disparity
alert" ought to be set on "High." Even its location can be in
question: Some atlases include it in Europe, others in Asia, while
its borders with Georgia, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran seem to place
it in the Near East. Armenia can be a confusing place.
Which is why after reading that the Avan Marak Tsapatagh boutique
hotel was located "65 kilometres from the Sevan peninsula’s hustle
and bustle," I wasn’t entirely surprised to be driving an hour past
Armenia’s small resort region – stopping every 20 minutes to check
the gas gauge in the trunk – along a road so remote that a service
station, a postcard stand, even a peddler hawking cheesy gewgaws
would have been welcome.
Two hours from Armenia’s capital city Yerevan, the monumental
fieldstone walls of Avan Marak Tsapatagh finally appear against the
lonely lakefront.
This and two more stylish boutique hotels are the idiosyncratic
vision of rug manufacturer James Tufenkian, a 53-year-old prosperous
Los Angeles-born diaspora Armenian, a descendent of those who fled
the genocide here a century ago. Now, six million Armenians live
outside the country as opposed to three million inside, their
devotion toughened by 70 years of isolationist Soviet rule that made
visiting difficult, and a chaotic political transition in the early
1990s that left Armenia bereft of even bare essentials such as food
and power.
Tufenkian, who built his successful international enterprise on a
combination of business acumen and design savvy, is determined to
help rekindle Armenia’s economy, partly through high-end tourism, and
partly by reviving the artisan skills that withered with
industrialization; artistry still visible in richly adorned vintage
rugs, elaborate metal work and feathery carvings in the pastel-hued
volcanic Tufa stone.
Settling into my duplex suite, I discover a subtle harmony between
the remote environment and these inventive design elements that
appear wrested from the earth: closets enclosed by a weathered iron
cage, rough stone tabletops, a stairway bordered by stout iron spokes
that recalls a medieval dungeon.
Meals under the cathedral ceilings of the hotel’s restaurant, Zanazan
– which means "various," to reflect the local multi-dish serving
style – draw on tradition with country foods such as matsun, mountain
yogurt that can be runny as tart buttermilk or unctuous as crème
fraîche; palate-teasing rose-petal jam, which is like eating flowers
off the vine; and a treacherous-looking sword piercing the whole
crisp-skinned Ishkhan lake trout.
Still, for all its avant-garde style, at the time of my visit, Avan
Marak Tsapatagh had no working phones, fax or e-mail and I feel a bit
unmoored heading north to Tufenkian’s hotel, Avan Dzoraget, in the
pine forested Lori, a region that promises moody medieval ruins,
untrammeled hiking trails, but little hope of encountering an
Internet cafe.
Lori’s deep mountain valleys create a kaleidoscope of microclimates
that wash swiftly from alpine to forest to desert, which according to
Jeff Tufenkian, head of the family’s Armenian Forests NGO, has
spawned one of the most species-dense regions on Earth, with 100
types of flora and 365 varieties of birds.
In the valley below, the Avan Dzoraget hotel rises like an improbable
postmodern fortress on the banks of the rushing Debed River, filled
with fanciful design notions such as lamps made of brushed steel
wrapped in gauzy wool shades, distressed metal twisted into
headboards, desks, even "Do Not Disturb" signs and yellow
faux-leather chairs beside weathered nickel pots and a 200-litre clay
butter urn in the lobby.
The kitchen puts a sophisticated spin on rustic dishes such as yogurt
omelettes with honey, and crisp lavash pancakes with apricot jam,
while just outside the hotel’s front door, villagers fill water pails
from a spigot, freshly shorn wool dries on lattices and chickens
scurry across the square.
So after a stirring but challenging week immersed in peculiar
cultural pairings, I’m happy to be on the smooth multilane road south
to Yerevan.
My fragile taxi needs three running shots to scale the hill at
Tufenkian’s most urban property, Avan Villa, a pink Tufa stone
mansion fronted by wrought iron gates. Although the location is a bit
inconvenient to Yerevan’s flaming club scene, where young Armenians
kick open cultural doors to the West at raucous rock venues like
Stop, the 20-minute taxi ride seems fair trade for my room’s
expansive mountain views. This genteel townhouse on the edge of a
hardscrabble city evokes Armenia’s heyday as a prosperous Silk Road
trading state with thick carpets, walls lined with rare 19th-century
flat-weave kilims, and elaborate handiwork such as knitted bedspreads
and museum-quality carved walnut furniture casually offered for
everyday use.
This is a rare moment to visit Armenia – for those who don’t mind
quixotic communications and flights landing in the dead of night
while the airport is upgraded – before ghostly relics of 12th-century
churches become sanitized tourist sites, while stylish hotels still
boast of "hot and cold water 24 hours a day," and before Armenia
joins the West in becoming rational, sensible, predictable, or the
least bit tamed.
Special to The Globe and Mail.
GETTING THERE
British Airways has the most humane schedule to North America;
Lufthansa may have the best business-class sleeper seats.
WHERE TO STAY
Avan Marak Tsapatagh: 34 rooms including 18 duplex suites on the
shores of Lake Sevan. Single rooms from $66. Airport pickup $115.
Credit cards not accepted at this hotel.
Avan Dzoraget: 34 rooms in the mountainous Lori province, near UNESCO
Heritage Sites Haghpat and Sanahin. Singles from $62. Airport pickup
$139.
Avan Villa, Yerevan: 14-room mansion overlooking the capital. Singles
from $95 including airport pickup.
Reservations for all Tufenkian Heritage Hotels and tours: 374 (1 )
547-888, 542 707; [email protected].
TOURS
Tufenkian’s iconic 12-day "Armenia Reborn" tour is $1,058 per
person/double, plus 20 per cent VAT, which includes accommodation in
Tufenkian hotels, ground transportation, airport pick ups, breakfasts
and museum entry fees. Book through: [email protected], 374(1) 547
888, 542 707.
DON’T MISS
Kima’s Place /Restaurant Getik: 374 (2) 680-3076. On a road outside
the Alpine town of Dilijan, accessible to Tufenkian’s Avan Dzoraget
hotel. No reservations; just turn up any day between 9:30 a.m. and 10
p.m. for Klima’s
Rock club Stop 37, Moskovian Street, Yerevan; Phone: 374 (1)
056-0780. Entry $2.53. A basement cave where Armenian hipsters and
young expats gather
Vernissage Flea Market: Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
MORE INFORMATION
Armenia visitor information:
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http://www.theglobeandmail.co
www.armeniainfo.am.