When someone says “forty days and forty nights” do you think of a)
the Bible b) an old Schoolhouse Rock cartoon or c) a non-stop out of control Las Vegas binge involving vast
quantities of mescal and several never-to-be-repeated stories about things that happened around the hotel
pool? Well, if your answer is a, then
here’s a story for you (for those who
answered “c”, read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and/or get yourself a one-way ticket to Sin City on Jet Blue).
Aside from its ancient towns and the bustle of Yerevan, Armenia is riddled with enough mountains, hills, gorges and
valleys to keep yourself busy; and if you want to pop over to Turkey and make a go for
Mt. Ararat, the (rumored) final landing
place of Noah’s Ark, you ought to do so. It’s supposed to be an excellent climb.
It all makes a very unusual, but fulfilling, destination for the engaged traveler. The Armenians have one of the
oldest living civilizations, and, historically speaking, Armenia is a fascinating place, recently dominated by the
Soviet Union, that is making a comeback as an historical destination and that is quite cheap. Very few guidebooks
mention it, but Armenia is worth as trip if you have the time.