Children’s Railway – Smallest rail terminal
One of my favourite parts of Yerevan in the summer is the Children’s Railway. You can find it by going through the pedestrian tunnel which starts under Saryan street and gets to the Hrazdan gorge, turn left, walk through the small luna park, and down a long set of stairs.
The Children’s Railway was once one of many similar miniature-yet-fully-functioning railways which dotted cities across the former Soviet Union and Eastern Block. Sadly, it is now one of the few remaining such attractions.
The railway system includes 3 miniature train stations, each of which an architectural marvel in of itself. Tickets usually cost less than a dollar, while trains depart on the single 2km-long track every 15 or so minutes (depending on how full it is).
Though the railway is primarily intended for families with children, everyone is welcome. It’s just a unique thing to try while you’re visiting Armenia.
Afterwards, you can always picnic on the wooded slopes leading into the river.
Uninhabited yard
Do you like abandoned places that have not been touched for years, especially in the city center? So here it is! You go down Yeznik Koghbatsi Street to the Buzand intersection and turn left on that street. On the right sidewalk there is construction, on the left there are old houses that have escaped, but are more and more endangered day by day, some of them even fixed with a mortar of clay and straw. The first few still live, there are even loyal dogs in the yard, who will attack a stranger without thinking, but 4-5 houses beyond there is an open door, which will enter the yard of an abandoned house. A narrow path on the right leads to the main courtyard, which is separated from the adjoining courtyard by a unique curtain. The mossy floor proves that no one has set foot here for a long time, and the small balcony with its dilapidated sofa is no less attractive when it is possible, not where you came from, but with whom. By the way, I would advise you to come at night for safety, otherwise the wrong eyes of the residents of the neighboring houses and the workers working on the construction site may deter you from the temptation to invade a «foreign» area.
Under the Kievyan bridge
As you descend to the right of Tumanyan Park, one of the pillars of the bridge is directly in front. You go down the steep and rocky slope to the base, somehow climbing to a base about 3 meters above the ground. The arches rise on both sides, on which the small pillars supporting the bridge are attached. There are steps on the arches, if you can call them that, with almost no hold (fear of heights, sit at home), and there is a door that opens for each small pillar to pass through. Or rather, there was. It was 4 years ago when my friends and I climbed under the Kiya Bridge. In fact, 4 years ago I climbed for the first and last time, because at that time the doors were open, you could easily reach almost the top of the arch, right under the bridge. Today those doors are firmly locked, probably so that adventurers like me do not eat their heads off. So the extreme of being under a bridge ends with reaching the first door. In any case, if you are not satisfied with the rest of the park, then a modest dose of adrenaline is waiting for you nearby.
Crane location
The Yerevan ropeway, which opened in 1967, operated for 37 years until the tragic 2004 incident. I did not have time to use the ropeway, instead I discovered it as a Yerevan sunset, a convenient and not crowded place to watch Yerevan at night. It is a pity that the windows of the circular building of the ropeway central station are no more, in that case it would be interesting to invent something inside the building, but today it is a structure without windows, broken and inconspicuous. As you climb the spiral staircase to the roof of the building, you find yourself in a small, round area with a sloping platform on one side that is very comfortable to sit in and enjoy the city view. Imagine for a second you were transposed into the karmic driven world of Earl.
The more dangerous, the better the view
Opened in Victory Park in 1959, the «Aragil» restaurant was not only another successful project of the great Armenian architect Rafael Israelyan, but also one of the symbols of the city. Everyone came here, from ordinary people to high-ranking officials and foreign guests. The restaurant was most attractive with a wonderful view of the city, which was especially luxurious in the evening lighting. It has not been used for a long time, it is in a dilapidated condition, but the view from the different platforms of the building to the city, of course, has been preserved. The metal stairs leading to the roof of the restaurant have been preserved, but during the day the park was too crowded so that we could «conquer» the roof without attracting attention. So, if you have in your mind to get there and enjoy Yerevan from an even higher point, do it at night.
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