Well I can’t say that we weren’t warned about the lack of accessibility outside the city! One planned the route to The Genocide Memorial on Maps which looked pretty easy for Superbunny, however one forgot that we are in a former Soviet state. If you followed my travels around Riga etc, you may remember reading my quarrels with Soviet road design, mainly the construction of wide avenues that can only be crossed using underpasses with steps being the only way down and up. Granted, Yerevan has many more street level crossings and even a few stairlifts on some underpasses, however it still means extra planning.
Since I stepped foot in Armenia, society has been very welcoming and willing to lend a hand if they see you struggling or need help despite the language barrier. On our route to the Memorial, it was necessary to cross one of these avenues but unfortunately the stairlift down to the underpass was out of order. No worries though, a passerby pointed for us to cross the road and proceeded to stop 6 lanes of traffic for us (the drivers all seemed to adhere and stop).
Despite this, as soon as you step out the city centre, the road layout makes it difficult for even an abled person to cross, let alone an electric wheelchair…
The climax of all this happened when the pavement on a 6 lane road became too narrow for a wheelchair and the opposite pavement contained steps…we tried! It was thus back to the hotel for a change of wheelchair and a taxi (costing around £2) before eventually reaching the The Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex.
As we visited on Independence Day, the museum element was closed, however there is an accessible entrance. The memorial is situated atop of a hill overlooking the city of Yerevan and in the shadows of Mount Ararat (supposedly the resting place of Noahs Ark…fun fact of the day) hence providing majestic views…
The next mission was to reach the Dalma Garden Mall which is almost adjacent to said memorial, for some food, easy right? Well no, road designs strike again as there is a dual carriageway separating the two with the only safe crossing being a footbridge with steps, how many times are we going to dice with death on this trip? Dalma Garden Mall is just your average shopping mall containing a variety of shops and a food court, nothing special to see…
As one was using the manual wheelchair, we decided to try our luck using the ggTaxi app (the Armenian version of Uber) where 95% of the vehicles are big enough to fit such wheelchair, worked perfectly!
As the conflict with Azerbaijan worsens, it has been difficult to navigate the city without getting caught up in protests or road blocks so our eating options are limited this week, however, still enough to sample the Armenian cuisine.
The original plan for tomorrow was to catch the train to Lake Sevan (largest lake in the Caucasus), however the only train leaves at 8am with the station being a 25 minute drive from the hotel. As Superbunny is going to stay at the hotel regardless and the drive to the Lake is only around 67 minutes, we are now going to taxi it (costing around $17.50 each way), let’s see what Armenian motorways are like!