Those who are walking in the center of Yerevan in the evenings will most likely be pleased with our capital, with open-air cafes, restaurants, pubs, music, delightful smells, multilingual voices. I do not think that in this respect Yerevan is inferior to any European city. We also have a lot of advantages. First of all, the vast majority of entertainment venues work until late at night, and some are twenty-four-hour. Second, unlike many other cities, it’s safe here, you can walk on the central street, at least at 3 or 4 at night, and there is little likelihood that something will happen to you. However, it is also unlikely that any tourist will arrive in Armenia only for a walk in the center of Yerevan. And with the rest of the standards, we are behind both the neighbors and Europe.
Flights to Yerevan are more expensive than to Tbilisi, or, especially, to Kutaisi, which is why, by the way, especially our young people prefer to fly from Georgia. Medium-class and high-class hotels in Armenia are more expensive than similar hotels in Greece and Spain, not to mention Georgia, Turkey, and Egypt. The road to one of the main sights of Armenia, Garni Temple, is plainly said wearisome. Several other roads are in the same sad condition too. Also, we were not able to build a high-speed highway, while in Georgia this highway stretches hundreds of kilometers.
But there is a problem that does not require huge investments, and which, however, is not solved in Armenia. So, this is about hygiene. Suppose I’m a disciplined tourist or not a typical Armenian and clean all the waste of my party at the river, collecting them in a sack to throw in the trash. But there are no “public” garbage bins on our highways, “objects” have their bins, but you cannot throw your after-party trash into those. So, you have to drive to Yerevan and use the “Sanitech” service. “Sanitech” does not serve throughout the country.
The condition of the toilets is worse. There are lavatories in petrol stations and gas stations, but you cannot get in without the antifreeze there. The “pair” of the well-known bio-toilets, let’s remember, cost 314 thousand dollars, and at that amount at least ten normal toilets could be built. But the normal ones act “with local peculiarities.” Suppose you want to go to a toilet in an area near a sightseeing site. The mechanism is as follows: you tell the car-park worker, the latter tells the security worker about your wish, he loudly calls Mrs. Vardush, who comes from afar, shaking the piece of toilet paper in the air. The tourist immediately loses the wish to go to the toilet.
So, the problem is not only the lack of a sea.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
