After our visit to Karashamb, we visited Dilijan, which is in Northern Armenia. It is a large city surrounded by green mountains. We spent most of our time at the city park. The playground was located in the far end of the park, and the path was green and tree-lined. It had old Soviet playground equipment, an old Ferris Wheel and a ticket booth. Ilya’s favourite attraction was a yellow metal truck. I saw many parents and grandparents there and Ilya played with Russian and Armenian children.
We stayed in a small cabin which was previously a Russian summer house. It had two twin beds, an old cabinet and a table with two tea cups. Nearby there were a few small markets, a bakery that sold the famous “Khachapuri” pastry and a fruit and vegetable shop. I finally bought myself a jacket and the woman in the shop spoke to me in Russian. Ilya was quite interested in the bra section and the shop assistant found it very funny. She was a pleasant woman and was eating cake for breakfast. She inspired me to do the same the next day.
After Dilijan, we took a taxi to Bjni, only 15 kilometres away from Karashamb. We were back in the land of walnuts and apples. The cherry trees were all in bloom. The man who owned the guesthouse was a trout farmer. Ilya watched the fish swimming swiftly in circles. In the middle of the village was a river. We walked over the bridge to see the famous Armenian bread “Lavash” being made. We stepped onto the floor of the bakery, which was covered with flour, and watched an elderly woman measuring and rolling the dough. The dough would be passed to another woman who tossed it gracefully into the air, spreading it onto a special pillow and tossing it against the walls of a wood-fired oven. They were making mountains of like-sized Lavash to feed the people of the village that night. They were doing all this while laughing and chatting away. Ilya was given fresh bread to try. He stuffed the whole piece in his mouth.
Dinner that night was a homemade Armenian meal which the guesthouse owner’s wife prepared. We had tabbouleh, yogurt soup, chicken with rice and cake. Ilya spent the rest of the evening playing with cars while I wrote in my journal.
musafira 