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this
is called the iron fountain and this is
one of the few
buildings well it's a fountain
left standing after the devastating
1988 earthquake here in gumry
it leveled about 80 percent of the
city's infrastructure
and killed from 25 000 to 50
000 people in the northern region and
even though there was an abundance of
international aid after the fact the
damage really was done
where so many people had lost their
lives there was 130
factories in the area that were
completely demolished
170 000 people had lost their jobs
and gumry has really never been the same
in 1988 this area was actually supposed
to be
a new central hub of the city there was
supposed to be hotels
restaurants cafes you know
large beautiful apartment buildings but
basically this is the outskirts of the
city now
and there are just some shanty sort of
houses
and people still even living in the
rubble
that was left over but i will be taking
you guys to the actual new
uh center of the city as well which is
very nice um i think gumry is really
beginning to stand
you know on its feet again after that
devastation but i just wanted to
showcase
what this city had gone through and just
how strong and resilient the people are
another cool thing about gumry is that
anthony bourdain
actually visited the city in his show
parts
unknown so i'm gonna see if i can try
and find
the restaurant that he went to and order
a few
things that he did and then i also want
to take you guys to a soviet
amusement park that is still operating
here in the city
hopefully i don't die
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so here we are in the main square guys
uh
this is called varanas square
it's got all the main government
buildings as the one
behind me that you can see there's a
beautiful
fountain and two of the city's most
famous cathedrals
the um all saviors cathedral
and english and then the holy mother of
god cathedral
is just on either side and then also
right behind me over there is where you
would enter
old town which is probably the most
famous
part of the city that's where you'll
find a lot of
museums lots of great cafes restaurants
but yeah let me give you guys a little
tour around
the main center and afterwards i want to
take you to my favorite
little donut shop called a poinchou
muanchik
where i highly recommend you grab an
afternoon snack
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do
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all right guys so not only is this an
awesome lunch spot
but it is an absolute must for you to
come here
to try the donuts they are called
ponchiki
and they're just super well actually
they're not that light i was about to
say they're light but
actually this one's kind of heavy
depends on the kind you get
but definitely recommend trying one of
their uh original ones
i also got an americano coffee and then
this is actually fun
it's like a pear lemonade which i
haven't seen anywhere else
so if you come to goomery definitely
come to
fuenchik
so another interesting thing to mention
as you can see in the hotel behind me
gumry actually used to be called
alexandre boll
in the 19th century even before soviet
times
and then in soviet times i think the
name they had was
lenient i think lennon was really
obsessed with naming places uh
after himself but then after the soviet
union fell apart
gumry became gumry so where we are right
now is actually the local
market right behind me and this is a
fantastic place to go
for local produce whole bunch of
delicious food in this place
some clothes shoes whatever you need and
definitely the best prices in the city
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here we are in goomery's historical
district which i believe
is originally called kumari and what
makes this
area very interesting is that the
majority of the buildings
are made out of this interesting black
ash sort of uh rock
sometimes kind of this reddish burnt
color and it's actually this type of
volcanic
stone that is readily found in this area
this is also the area of the city where
you'll find a lot of
museums right in front of me is actually
their drama theater that is still uh
working they put on some uh you know
local sort of shows of course they are
all in armenian
but where i want to take you guys now is
actually one of the most famous museums
which is dedicated to two
armenian sisters who traveled all around
the world
in soviet times and did a lot of
art pieces to kind of document their
journey
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well i thoroughly enjoyed that
museum slash gallery you could say and
it is just amazing to think
of how much harder it must have been to
be those women
and traveling alone in those times
i'm no art buff by any stretch of the
word but i really thought that their
uh pictures were quite beautiful so
if you're looking for a museum to go to
i would highly recommend
so now it's about six o'clock
and unfortunately the weather is
slightly turning
i hope it doesn't rain but we are off to
central park the main green space of the
city
and as promised i want to take you guys
on these soviet rides that they have
here in the amusement park
and then
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and
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so
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do
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dear lord thank you for letting me live
another day
that was fun that was that was a good
time that uh
brought me back to my childhood
and uh i am actually surprised that
those rides are
still operating but now i think
it is time right before we go to supper
to anthony bourdain's restaurant of
choice
i want to take you guys to one last
place
it's kind of on the outskirts of the
city it's this huge
monument called mother armenia and while
there's not a lot of information
online from what i could gather it's
kind of a testament
to all the different uh soviet victories
in world war
ii and the actual mother armenia statue
itself
is kind of for the freedom and
protection of armenia
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well this is unfortunate um
it looks like the restaurant that
anthony bourdain ate at
this place right here is uh currently
closed
and i don't think it is just for today
so that sucks uh on google maps it had
said it was
open and there were reviews about three
four months ago so i just assumed
that it would be open today luckily
though uh there seems to be a restaurant
right beside it
that is just having a party
it's called florence so i think
we may as well give this place a try
and maybe it will be just as good
well cheers to a fantastic day i at
least ordered
the beer that anthony bourdain had this
is just called
beer a local brewery
it's good it's refreshing i mean if
you've been watching me for a while you
know i'm not a
lager sort of person but
it's good to start off with i decided to
get two
different sort of starters i got the
eggplant rolls
which look really really good and then
over here is some tabbouleh salad
which of course you can find in many
different cultures but i find here in
armenia
it is a bit different they make it with
bulgar
which is a bit of a different grain
instead of couscous so it gives it a bit
of a different taste
so i decided to get a soup for my mane
since anthony bourdain had tried oxtail
soup when he was in goomery
this is another traditional armenian
soup which is called
avalook it's a type of herb that is
found here in the north
and this particular soup is made with
chicken
so let's give the suit a try
it's very thick
it's pretty good it's actually very rich
i don't know if you guys can see i'll
give you a close-up here
it is like thick with
this green stuff
and grains but it is very good i had
never seen it before on a menu so
i would recommend oh boy
i am tired guys today was such
a fantastic but long day i've been up
since like
7 00 and uh just walking around the city
mixed with the heat i am ready to crawl
into bed but i hope you guys enjoyed
this video i think gumry is a fantastic
city
and definitely worth visiting um if you
come to
armenia you don't have to come here for
a whole week as i have
obviously i stay much longer in
destinations because
i'm filming them and learning about them
so thank you guys so much for tuning in
i hope you enjoyed the video comment
down below your thoughts
and as always keep being your own kind
of beautiful bye guys
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you