A circular from the Marriott in my room had advised that Republic Square and the adjacent streets would be closed on the 21st but didn't explain why. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Armenia held a referendum on 21st September 1991 and proclaimed its independence. There's a Wikipedia article here. So Friday 21st September 2018 was the 27th Independence Day and a National Holiday. 'Golden Eagle' had arranged a separate buffet breakfast for their group in the hotel's Cucina Restaurant. This was available from 6.30 a.m. and, although I didn't present myself until after seven, I'd finished before anyone else arrived.
The view of the square from the restaurant revealed that there were going to be some sort of festivities so after my meal I wandered round the square. It was quiet with a few pedestrians and smokers, plus a small group of presumably stray dogs. However, there were dozens of uniformed police and police cars with not much to do.
Yerevan, Armenia: Republic Square at 7.25 a.m. on Independence Day.
It was clear that music was going to form part of the show: there was some pretty serious loudspeaker equipment around (the flight cases they were transported in were marked 'PAL Line Array Bull Series Model 2D' which I think is equipment of Chinese origin).
Yerevan, Armenia: Some of the sound equipment in Republic Square.
There were a number of the portable stages as used at pop festivals and for a short while I watched one of these being erected.
Yerevan, Armenia: Stage being erected in the street for Independence Day.
It was eerily quiet with no through traffic. I assume on a normal day the area would teem with traffic. Certainly the wide roads with multiple lane markings suggested that. But, on this day, all was peaceful (until the audio engineers started doing sound checks). It all seemed very leisurely - some of the craft, food and drink stallholders were only just starting to set up their offerings. It was hard to believe that the event was happening today. I decided to go back to my nearby hotel, work on the computer or rest and return to the square later.
I was back in the square just after noon and the situation was transformed, now thronged with people (mainly Armenian as far as I could tell) enjoying the holiday, the 28 degree Celsius weather and the loud 'pop' music playing.
Yerevan, Armenia: Independendence Day 2018
So many scenes caught my attention: a large area of road surface had been given over to children and areas had been roughed out to allow chalk artistry to be practised. This was usually of a generally patriotic nature using the national flag (or its colours).
Yerevan, Armenia: Childrens' artwork, Independendence Day 2018
I was charmed by the rapt attention of the children and the obvious pride of the watching parents. At this moment, one of the ambulances stationed on standby found it necessary to slowly drive out of the square, over the artworks but nobody seemed to mind too much. The energy of the various young dancers appearing on the one stage to upbeat music also impressed me. After a short 'set', another group would take over or, sometimes, a single female singer. That stage always commanded a large, but varying, audience. There were other attractions, not least the food and drink stalls. Young artists were displaying paintings, presumably for sale. A large figure of a giant, manipulated by three people, posed for pictures with children, taken by friends and parents with the inevitable Smartphone. Some of the craft traders' stalls had demonstrators in what I assume is traditional ethnic dress. One stall demonstrated hand corn milling and the preparation of wool by a variant of 'carding'. Another stall showed spinning and weaving on a simple weaving frame.
I'll try to expand on this later but tomorrow morning we check-out and, after a day sight-seeing locally, board our private train. I'm not sure when I'll have internet access again so I may go silent.
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my 'Golden Eagle' Caspian Odyssey trip, starting with Travelling East.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Caspian Odyssey reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Caspian Odyssey reports.
My albums of pictures
Yerevan, Armenia.
Marriott Armenia, Yerevan
All my pictures in Armenia can be found in the collection of albums Armenia.
[Minor changes, pictures added: 3-Oct-2018]
