The Land of Ian

Yerevan is a city of fountains. They sit in front of Republic Square, in front of the opera house, at the intersection of streets and in the many community parks. Drinkable, constantly-running water fountains also punctuate street corners with many an Armenian seen leaning over for a drink. The only issue is that as winter approaches the fountains get turned off before they freeze over. So if you visit Yerevan in the off-season, like I did, you don't see fountains but instead many large, empty bowls spread over the streetscape.

For an Armenia that was shrinking further each decade, Yerevan was the capital. Armenia was the ancestral homeland of salacious socialites like Gladys Berejiklian and prolific public figures like Kim Kardashian. I knew very little about the land of the '-ian' but was pleased by the mixture of Soviet and modern architecture and the omnipresent water vessels, even if they had all been turned off for the winter.