Armenia is a country I had wanted to visit for some years and I finally got the opportunity during my trip around the Black Sea; strictly speaking we shouldn't have gone at all since Armenia is not on the Black Sea but I did not see the opportunity presenting itself in the near future.

We arrived by ovenight sleeper from Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. We were tired and filthy and without accommodation. The trusty Lonely Planet had some suggestions, however, so we changed some money and took the underground to the centre. With only one line and ten stops the Yerevan underground is a dream. Trains are frequent and while it is not the cleanest in the world, there are certainly worse ways to travel.

Yerevan does have lots of hotels but little for the budget traveler. All the main chains are represented and prices are on a par with any other capital city. Thankfully, some enterprising people rent rooms in their city centre apartments to tourists; these are mainly in excellent locations in the heart of the city but facilities vary. After a few tries we found a landladay with a vacancy. Annahit was a small lady, perhaps in her sixties; she looked slightly bookish with her round glasses and her navy blue beret which she wore at all times. Her apartment was wonderful; in each room were paintings done by her late father whose work was so noted in Armenia that many of his works are exhibited in the National Gallery.

There was one good thing about Annahit. She had a good knowledge of the city and she had plenty of recommendations to make. If it was not for her we might not have ventured out to see some of the sighs just outside the city that we had previously thought we too far away. She also told us - in he bizarre mix of Russian, German and a little English - a little about some of the famous artists from Yerevan and where we could see examples of their work around the city.

To be honest most independent tourists looking to explore would be disappointed if they saw only the centre of Yerevan although it does have a handful of interesting and attractive buildings. However, it is pretty soulless and could be anywhere in Europe with its international brands and fast food joints. It does have a couple of impressive squares with fountains and government offices but the really interesting things to see are towards the edge or completely out of town.

Reaching the summit there is a short walk to Mother Armenia - a giant statue that watches over the city. Sadly, it is virtually impossible to get Armenia's matriarch into a single frame such is her height and the size of the plaza she sits on. Underneath her pedestal is a small exhibition dedicated to the war in Nagorno Karabakh, the breakaway region of southern Armenia where there was terrible bloodshed in the eighties and nineties. It is almost entirely captioned in Armenian or Russian but it is still moving and the photographs manage to convey much.

The monument consists of a striking set of basalt pillars in the middle of which burns an eternal flame. The background of snow-capped Mount Ararat seems fitting giving that Armenians have always considered it their symbol and that it lies today within Turkey. To this day Turkey and Armenia do not have active diplomatic relations and the border between them remains firmly shut. A museum under the monument is one the best I have ever visited and I recommend a visit for anyone in this region.

Erebuni is a Urartian fortress which dates from around 780 BC; it was built to defend the city against attacks from the north Caucasus. Erebuni is on the edge of the centre.

Garni has two interesting sights; the church and a small Parthenon-like edifice erected in the first century AD by the Armenian king Tiridates using money given by Emperor Nero. Geghard is an ancient monastery and is partly carved out of a mountain.

Yerevan, like most capital cities, has a host of international restaurants - Chinese, Lebanese, Italian and an absolutely wonderful sushi restaurant where Russian businessmen flaunt their wealth by ordering the most expensive sashimi and washing it down with copious amounts of vodka.
We struggled to find anything authentic until we came across what is known as "Khorovadze Street". Khorovats is a traditional Armenian dish and is basically a big chunky kebab. Many Armenian houses have barbecues built into the exterior boundary wall of the property and on this street they all face onto the main road. Some people have converted part of the house into a dining area, some have built terraces that would never get planning permission in the UK. As with the British traditional of barbecuing, this is work for men and theses joints have name's like "Artoush's Place" - a woman is not trusted to cook khorovats! A good Armenian beer like Kotakya or Killikya goes down a treat with khorovats and you may well be offered some Ararat brandy, made in Yerevan. The factory can be toured but we found it impossible to find the correct information and it seems like organised groups might have more luck.

In spite of the fact that Armenia is rapidly modernizing and attracting new investment (Lycos moved its headquarters from Paris to Yerevan!) it is still quite difficult to find people who speak or are willing to speak much English in Yerevan. It is likely that the people that, as tourists, you are most likely to meet (waitresses, taxi drivers, etc) do not speak English and those who do have managed to find such good jobs that they are not interested in speaking to tourists. We met one or two friendly Armenians (including a trio of young men who offered us a lift up a very steep hill in an old Lada) but on the whole we felt quite isolated there.

The centre can be navigated on foot; taxis are cheap enough to use when needed; Yerevan has countless bus stations, do not take a bus unless a trusted local shows you which bus station to leave from. Conflicting information is the order of the day!