August 3 - In Yerevan we trust

I slept really well and got a good breakfast at Albert House. It was time to discover Yerevan by daylight and by foot - after all my bike was at the shop, supposed to be ready by 1 pm. I found the city very impressive, worth a visit for sure. The thing that struck me was the large number of shops for clothes, I even found a bazaar with a maze of streets offering T-shirts, jeans, all kinds of dresses. Then I got a delicious smoothie, got my hair cut, wandered around the elegant streets - soon it was time to pick up the bike.

Republic Square

Well, it wasn't ready, in fact, they hadn't even started. The mechanic was hospitalized, that was what they told me and that I should return by 4 pm. Lonely Planet's website came to the rescue, one of the highlights is the Genocide Museum, showing the murder of Armenians by the Turks between 1915 and 1917. It was somewhat outside the city, so I took a marshutka, a local bus. I steppedvin one at a red light, got scolded at, guess I should have gone to a station, like everyone else, they still took me to my destination. The museum was quite impressive, taking the visitor in a historic underground circle. 1.5 million Armenians supposedly perished.

The Genocide Memorial

Back at four pm at the shop, the bike was still not ready, but at least it was being worked on. The second mechanic could not repair the brake, there were no issues with it, but he decided to change something on it, so well that it was no longer functional. He ended up sending me to another bike shop, to the other part of town...

View of the town, with Mt. Ararat in the background (one can hardly see it...)

Getting there, the mechanic was already waiting and I got priority service, in front of Johanna and Michael, two bikers from Nuremberg, who were on half-world tour, on their way to New Zealand. Their bikes were vandalized, and were trying to get things back together, I felt sorry for them. Michael then felt sorry for me, when he pointed out that my spokes were not set up properly. With my brakes fixed, I went back to the first shop, after some pressure the mechanic agreed to fix things. It was close to seven by the time I got a working bike - was not really happy, as you can imagine, losing an entire day. I made a weird decision and took off from the town, it was close to sunset.

Whatfollowed was a huge, three-lane road curving steep uphill from Yerevan. Stinky old trucks and buses passed me sometimes just inches away, I was cursing at the world while swallowing their fumes. It was dark by the time I reached a hotel I did not really care for - and for quite a high price got a room. Well, it was actually quite OK, a 4-star place, but it felt a bit worn down. The lady must have felt my disappointment, as she got a tray of apples and some tee. As soon as I closed my door, a huge thunderstorm came down, so it wasn't all too bad that I had cover over my head.