Traditional ARMENIAN MARKETS Tour & Food Tastings | Yerevan, Armenia

She's making me a cheese sandwich here. And do I put this inside too? Everything, just go all out here? Whoa. Oh my God. Is that good? Good morning everyone, this is David Hoffman from David's Been Here in beautiful Yerevan, Armenia. Today I'm very excited because I'm doing a dual market tour. I'm going to be visiting two of the most famous markets here in Yerevan. It's called the Gul Market, which is right behind me. This is a produce market. I already ate breakfast, but they told me I might be able to try some stuff, maybe some cheese, some bread, maybe some pomegranate juice, maybe some meat. So they have like dried fruits, vegetables, meat, cheese, endless stuff here. And then after this we're going to the Vernisazh Market, which is like the flea market. And there you can basically buy crafts, souvenirs. So please come with me and let's explore the markets of Yerevan. Let's go. Rita and Vanuhi are going to be my guides today. We're going to explore together. Let's go. Yes, let's go. Wow. Wow, look at all these dried fruits. This is amazing. Oh my God, so many things. What do they got? Can I try all of these? I can try? Wow. Oh my God. Walnut, honey, orange. That was so delicious. This is fig and walnut. Walnuts with sweetness of grapes. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wow. Yeah, it's like an Armenian sneaker. So it's basically walnuts wrapped in grapes. Grapes like paste. Oh my God. It's amazing. And this is all here? Yes. Dried peach. Dried fruit of peach. It's quite sweet. If you want, I will give you two tries. I'll have one. Is it peach? Yes. Mmm. Oh wow, delicious. Super dried. Mmm. A little bit of textures. It's a little sweet. It's amazing. So this is lavash from plum. You can try. Plum lavash. Whoa. It's basically plums that have been flattened. Wow, that's good. I eat plums like every day. What else do you have? You have so many things. Whoa, what is this one? This is a kind of date, which is like typical Armenian. So it's unab. Date. It almost tastes like an apple. It has the consistency of an apple. This is a dried apricot you were saying. It's the only one that's... It becomes dry like on the tree. On the tree. Okay. Oh, it's pretty good. The only problem is it has a seed inside. So you have to be careful with that. So like eat around it, right? Very sticky. Mmm, nice though. There is no chemical here. Super organic. I love the figs. Can I try one fig? Like this. That's amazing. Whoa. Almond. With dried cherry. Let me try one. I've never seen this. Almond with a dried cherry. It's so beautiful. I love it. By the way, the contrast between the almond and the sticky cherry. Very interesting. There are more than 20 vendors in this market and each of them is selling different kind of products like dried food that we were trying just a few minutes ago. Like a lot of people, they are selling Armenian bread, which is lavash. A lot of people are selling like Armenian cheese, typical cheese, cheese of goat, cheese of different kind of animals and we should try. Also fruits, like not dried food but fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and also a lot of kind of spices we should try. It's that part. And kind of some souvenirs but it's not a souvenir market. It's a small place that people are selling souvenirs because there are a lot of tourists here. So we can go and explore everything. So this section we have all the fruits. Fresh ones. This is like an amazing peach right there. Oh my god, the figs, these are like plums, the apples, pears, more figs. Wow, it's fig season I'm guessing, right? Because there are so many figs. And here, look at this. I haven't seen grapes this tiny. Look at this. I'm about to like eat them. No, no, no, I'm joking, I'm joking. She's not gonna be happy with that. This is basturma, typical Armenian meat. This is prepared from the cow meat. And soju is prepared from the meat of pork and cow meat. Wow, nice piece my friend. Wine, pomegranate wine. Taste? Wow. This is amazing. I know, look at this. It's like peppery and salty at the same time on the outside. Inside is a nice piece of meat. This is crazy good. Pomegranate wine. So they say it's pomegranate wine but it's really like pomegranate juice that has alcohol, right? So it's been fermenting. This is really good my friend. Whoa. Anush. Thank you. This guy's a man. His food is phenomenal. The wine was so good. The hospitality here in Armenia is incredible. That's one thing I love about this part of the world, the hospitality. It's always up there. Look at this. What is this? This is honey. It's honey? Yes. What? This part. And these are gems of different murabba. Armenian murabba and gems of different Armenian fruits. For example, this is from cherry I guess. Yes, this is from cherry, this is from mulberry, this is from pear, this is from strawberry maybe? Yes, this is strawberry. And what I like about it is that you actually have the fruit inside. So it's like the jam with the fruit. It's not just the jam. It's actually better because it gives you a little more flavor, right? Yes. Wow, and this is all honey? Yes, this is the honey. Wow, I love honey. I'm like a honey addict. Oh, that's with the honeycomb? Yes. Wow, this is really, really nice. Incredible. So we have tried a lot of things like basturma, dried fruits, so it's time to try Armenian cheese from goat and from cow. And I think that David is fond of cheese and he's looking forward to tasting every kind of cheese. So, as you know Armenians are hospitable and they will be very happy to treat us with Armenian cheese. Exactly. So it's cheese and also there's like meats and chicken, poultry. Yes, and also we will try to find dried Armenian lavash. Oh, dried Armenian lavash. Okay. So here we have the poultry, so you got chicken, more chicken, more dried fruit. Wow. Wow, this is a beautiful market. Very clean, very open. I love the ceiling heights. A lot of light coming in. Yes. So you don't need extra light. Oh, and here you have all the spices. Look at the spices. Wow. So many spices. When it's part of the world, it's like spices is king. You know, so... Not all of them are just typical Armenian spices. Okay. Oh, it's too good. So right here to the left we have the meat section. As you can see, they're like just butchering away, cutting up all the meat, putting it to the side, and it's really, really authentic. You can see they're hanging pieces of the cow right here. Huge pieces. They cut it up, you know, with a knife and then an axe. And usually how it works here is that you order a piece, you know, you want something and they'll cut it up for you unless they already have it here and it's ready for you, you know. So all this is really cut fresh. One of the best things about this is that this is all like, you know, farm to table. So that was like, you know, they kill the cow today and you're eating it today. Can't get fresher than that. Here at the meat market, they don't just have cow. They also have pork and lamb. This is the country of meat. Meat, wine, and cheese. Yes. That's what this country is all about. And over here we have more fresh vegetables. Wow. I mean, the smell is amazing. And the aroma. Hello. Pani is cheese? Pani. And the cheese right here. Huge cheese section. Wow. So right here we have goat cheese. Whoa, that's so fresh. It literally just like evaporated in my mouth. That's how like soft it was. Wow, it's delicious. Oh my god, it's a little strong too. So they have like cheese with herbs, cheese without herbs. They have sheep cheese. They have goat cheese as well. Let's get some more. From cow? This is actually easier. The other one is strong. Mmm. Whoa. This is like too good. It's too fresh. You know what I mean? This is like made today. It's a sheep with herbs. Mmm. I like it. It's strong, but you have the it's almost like a minty taste to it. A little different. Whoa, that is phenomenal. So I guess you have endless cheese here. You can try whatever you want. They also have string cheese. Look right here, string cheese. Can I try one string cheese? Can I grab a piece? Whoa, whoa. Look how long this is. I just need a piece. Sorry guys. Just gonna grab one little piece. Wow. That is fresh. Oh, it's with bread. Oh, this is with bread? Cheese with bread. Cheese with bread? Oh, what's she doing here? Oh my gosh. She's making me a cheese sandwich here. And do I put this inside too? Everything? Just go all out here? Whoa. Oh my gosh. Fluffy bread, salty cheese, and you have the burst of the grapes. She's too kind. She's too kind. This is my second breakfast, guys. Mmm. Mmm. This cheese, whatever it is, is so different. And what is this? I eat this? Yeah, it's great. It's called parkun. Parkun. Mmm. And it's very great with cheese, actually. With cheese? Yes. So just like put it in here? Whoa. That is very minty. This one's minty. Mmm. With the bread and that, mmm. Basically, they gave me a delicious cheese sandwich, some grapes, some herbs. I mean, this is ridiculous. I've never had a sandwich like this. The cheese is very strong, but the herbs inside it, mixed with the bread, oh, this is incredible. This is just juice from fresh fruits. Wow, so refreshing. This is pear. So this is the Armenian fruit, the quince. It's super refreshing. It's very light. It tastes very similar to a pear, though, but wow, it's just like a delicious water. Mmm. It's so good. The hospitality here is ridiculous. I mean, I can literally sit here and get full. Just like cheese, bread, drink, I'm gonna get some pomegranate wine, some more meats, right? Oh my God, the sun. This man, he's asking me what else we can treat David, because they want to treat everything, everything, so what else you want, David? So they are gonna treat you with everything. Armenian hospitality is the best. Hey, man, thank you so much. Thank you. But I'm okay. I'm getting really full. I mean, if I keep eating, I'm not gonna eat lunch. The cheese here is just incredible. So many different varieties. Here, this, I haven't even seen this. It's like, it looks more like, almost like Swiss cheese, right? But it's Armenian cheese. This lady is too funny. She just gave me a peach. Oh, I love peaches, and this one's like super, super sweet. Alright, one more, one more. This is like a strong mozzarella. It tastes like mozzarella, but it's strong. That's a strong one. This is really an epic market. I highly suggest coming here with no breakfast. So come here on an empty stomach. You can try different cheeses, you know, meats, try some pomegranate wine, some juices. I mean, it's an endless market. Easily, like, 50-plus vendors. A lot of the dried fruits, a lot of cheese, a lot of bread. They also have a never-endless meat section. You can go here and buy, you know, if you really want to buy stuff. If you're staying here in town for a few days, you want to buy some poultry or some meat to make at home, you can do that as well. I highly recommend just coming here, just exploring, trying some of the dried fruits. It's the best. It really is the most delicious. And the cheese. The cheese is so good. By the way, lavash is their side. We can go to... Lavash? Yes, like fresh one. Let's go see the lavash. Oh, wow. Oh, some more. So we didn't finish here. This bread. Here we are in the lavash section. So we can see different kind of lavash. So the colors are different. The difference is that this kind of lavash is kind of red. It's prepared of red flour. This one is prepared from white flour. And the difference between this one and that one is that this is prepared in the, like, stone tony. And this one is prepared in the, like, wooden, like, in the wood. That's why they are the same kind, but the... So one's done in the stone tandoor, the other one's done in the wood tandoor, which is basically the oven. Folks, are we trying something? Yes, sure. Okay, guys. She gave us way too much lavash. So as you can see, it's like super thin flatbread. You know, different varieties, different flour. Gonna break off a piece right here. Usually you put cheese inside. You can put some, you know, some not jam, but you can also put some, like, different things inside here. Like yesterday we had some walnut paste, which is amazing. Phenomenal bread. Right now I'm really full, but I'll try it. Why so much? She gave me a whole packet for free. Armenians are the best. No more bread. No more bread. I'm done eating. I can't eat any more food. Let's go to the other market. Where is it? How far is it? Oh, it's not far. It's actually... It's like it's from two to three kilometers. Let's go. Here we go. This is the entrance to the Vernissage, the flea market. Over here to the left we have swords. Over there we have lots of souvenirs. You got, like, chains, jewelry, you know, religious stuff. And then we have never-ending, never-ending vendors. Let's go explore the Vernissage. Everything. Everything. Like Christian stuff. Oh, I love the t-shirts here. Look at these t-shirts. Really cool. Yeah, so they're all, like, ancient Armenian in a way, right? Wow. They got bracelets, like never-ending bracelets. This is very, like, Asia, like the crossroads of Asia, you know? These are, like, handmade wallets. This is nice. Armenian print. This is awesome. Oh, yeah? Oh, wow. This is cute. This is, like, for my daughters. What is inside here? Oh, this is, like, for glasses, right? For glasses? What about for kids? Okay, this is really cool. So they have scarves with the Armenian flag, right? So this is the Armenian flag. Is this wool? Or what is this? Cotton? Do you know? Oh, this is nice. Is this how I'm gonna be in the villages? How much? How much for this? Yeah, two pieces. How much? 4,500. And what about that? But all of this, how much? One price. Okay, I'll take it. I'll take all of it. So total price came out to 9,000. 9,000 is exactly, like, 20 U.S. So I got right here, what? 20,000? So I have, like, $40 right here? Okay, where'd she go? My friend. So this is it. This is 20. This is the biggest bill? No, no, no, it's a bigger bill. So she gave me a little discount. She gave me, like, 500 off, which is good. I mean, she already said it's already a low price, so she lowered it a little more because I bought three pieces. 10,000. 10,000, nice. Perfect. Thank you so much. Welcome back. It was a little too hot to keep the scarf and beanie on, so I took it all off. But as you can see, it's, like, really just never-ending souvenirs here. You have over here to the right, you have cups, more pottery, you have some clocks there, you also have over here, like, what is this? This is cool. This is, like, crafts, huh? Whoa, this is awesome. I like this. This is, like, this is where they had the cheese earlier. They put it into here. The cheese was in here. Tea set right here? Handmade tea set? Wow. And then, what is this guy? A guy who is playing duduk. Duduk is Armenian instrument. Musical instrument. This is duduk? Yes, so we can go and see the music now it's playing there. Okay, here you can see very wooden stuff, like crafts. It's Armenian khachkars, very well-known. And here you can see Armenian churches. As you know, like, Armenians were first Christian countries, so that's why you can see a lot of Christian stuff here. Here is Armenian church, traditional one. Like, church from Karabakh, Tehran, notes and a lot of stuff. We are trying to keep Christian stuff as much as possible. So, one of the most famous things here in Armenia are these types of churches. They date back to the Byzantine time, right? These, right? So, easily, like, 1500 plus years. Wow, they're really, really beautiful. And the thing is, you know, the rock, the turf? Turf? The turf rock has, yeah, it's the pink snow, but it has 40 different colors. That's why all the buildings look a little different. You can see here Nardi. It's Armenian traditional game. Like, men, mostly men, they are playing this game with two people. And you can see the one, how they did. And it's actually made by wood. Yeah, so, like, I saw these beautiful wooden carvings with the lion. And I was like, wow, what is that? And they were like, oh, it's actually a board game. It's not, like, a table. I thought it was a table, but it's a board game. So, the guys sell the board game here and they have the dices right here in front. And they have, oh, and they have this as well. So, the dices is to roll, right? And then these are, like, the actual chess. Yeah, so you play, okay? And then what is this? It's like a, it's a pipe? Oh, it's a pipe? This is cool, man. It's a weird pipe. And they have, like, rosaries for men. These are all rosaries for men. So, very similar to the Greeks, they have the rosary, you know? Just, like, doon, doon, doon, doon. Basically, they just, like, count it, right? They're just counting it. As you can see, this market is endless. Forever. I mean, there's so many different things here. Over here to the left, we have some, like, coffee makers. And behind me, you can see right here, we have, like, basically small barrels for brandy. This one is really unique because the barrel, right? And then on the side, you have the cups. So, you fill it up, then you pour the brandy. And if you guys didn't know, Armenia is famous for their brandy. The Arat Brandy Factory is, like, the most famous one. I'm actually going there in a few days. I'm super excited about that because I haven't tried brandy here yet. But hopefully, we can try some wine around here. I really want to try a cup of wine or maybe a beer. Maybe some Armenian beer. Look at these chess boards. Incredible. I mean, the craftsmanship that goes into this. And how much does this cost? Can you ask them how much does one of these cost? $45,000. So, like, $100 for this? I mean, and look at the craftsmanship. Incredible. And it actually folds open and this is how it looks outside. And you were saying that the world champion of chess is from here? What's his name? Levon Aronian. Alright. Shout out to him. Now, we are moving there where Armenian national musical instrument, dudik, is playing. This is just an instrument which is made of, like, apricot tree. Again, this is typical Armenian music. Spasiba. It's really hard to say thank you here. In Arabic, it's very easy. It's chokran. In Italian, it's grazie. This is like... It's easy. It sounds like a really, really long phrase. So, right here, we have Armenian ceramics. As you can see, these are, like, for the wall. And in the center, we have this beautiful piece. It's like an angel, really, right? It's an angel with the wings. And it's an angel, but also has a spear and a shield. I love it. And this was $60,000. Was it $120? $120? That's not bad. Yeah, I know. I mean, it's handwork. We've now entered the painting part of the market. As you can see, this is, like, a huge row. Easily, like, 50 different vendors selling paintings. I love some of these, but over here, to the left, we have some incredible ones that is really, like, Armenia. The churches of Armenia with the mountains in the backdrop. Look at these. These are incredible. It looks, like, really vivid and real, you know? Man, these painters are amazing. The painters are behind there? That's the painter, right? Or not? Some of these guys are the painters. I mean, the painters are always next to their section, though, right? No? He's the painter. Yeah, I'm sure. Usually, it's how it is, right? The painters are always with their stuff. How much is, like, one of these? How much does that cost? $60,000. Wow, $60,000. That's not a bad price. So, it's $120 for this. I think it's gorgeous. I mean, if you're really, like, Armenian and, like, you know, you have this in your house, wow, that one's awesome. Yeah, the Spirit of Armenia. And you can see this is, like, the Byzantine-style church with the tur rock. Tur volcanic rock. As we walk through the painting part of the market, you can see every single artist has its own style. Some are very, very vivid. Some are very different in terms of less, like, what they use. This one is, like, you know, more, like, abstract, in a way. Just throwing the colors together, you know, telling a story. So, the one thing I always buy my two nephews, because they love soccer. They're, like, soccer fanatics. I always buy them jerseys in every country I visit, whenever I can find it. And here, they have the Armenian soccer jersey. This is the official team jersey. The home team is red. For $6,000, which is, like, $12 U.S. dollars, right? $12 U.S. dollars. $12 U.S. dollars, you get the complete outfit. So, you get the shorts, right? And the jersey. Let me see that. Wow. And then, is this... He's the most famous player? Armenian, very good player. David, we are now in the silver part of the market. Here, you can see a lot of stuff, a lot of silver jewelry, a lot of jewelry with enamel, mainly. All of them are handmade, and with different kinds of stones, you can see. And the main, like, is the silver, and with enamel, with stones, and amazing, like, earrings, like, necklaces, like, bracelets, every kind of stuff. Silver, endless silver. I like this one, the turtle. It's for the chain, no? This one's awesome. You put it on the chain, like that. Oh, this is super, super nice. Oh, I like that one. Let me see. Oh, it's the ring. This is the part of Armenian carpet, and this carpet is... It's almost 125 years old, this carpet. It's so old, and this one is so the same age, like, all of this carpet are handmade. All of them are handmade. This is, like, $1,000. $1,000 for a 125-year-old carpet? That is so worth it. So, she has some really, really cool hats right here. These are Armenian hats, but they're saying, like... But she's saying, like, no one really wears this in public, like, I would look weird in public wearing this. So, I don't know if I'm gonna buy it, because I really... If I'm gonna buy it, I'm gonna wear it every single day. But they're really cool patterns in the same material. It's wool, right? These are all wool? Yeah. It's the same material as... Ooh, this one's tight. As the carpet. Let me see. This one's cool. This one's too big. I think this is the best size, actually, the one I wore earlier. Maybe that one? Let me try that one. Oh, this is nice. I like it. It's a really nice hat. How much? How much for this one? 5,000. 10 dollars. I have 6 and 7 husbands. You have 6 and 7 husbands? Alright, guys, so I think I'm gonna buy this one. It's 5,000, so like 10 US dollars, but it's very nice. I love the patterns. It fits me really well. So, there's different sizes. This is a 58. It's just right. 59 was a little too big. 57 was extremely tight. This one's the one. And, yeah, I think I'm gonna go with it. I'm not gonna wear it every single day. I'll probably wear it like here and there, but I like it. Alright, guys, so I decided to go with it. You know, whenever I go to any country, I like to dress like a local. Here, they don't really use it anymore. I mean, they do, but like not in Yerevan. It's mostly like in smaller villages outside. And, yeah, I mean, you should definitely do this. You support the economy by, you know, buying some goods, you know, dress like locals, eat like locals, and you'll have a blast. And, yeah, guys, I think this is the end of our tour here of the two markets. Incredible two markets. I mean, the gum market, we tried so many different things. My favorite thing, I don't know, the cheese is so good. The cheese. Also, the meat. The one that's salty and peppery. Basturma. Basturma. And then, pomegranate juice. I mean, so many delicious things there. Came over here, bought tons of stuff. I bought some jerseys. I bought a scarf, a beanie. Don't worry. Don't worry. A map. I mean, I bought endless stuff. I also bought this. And I think you should definitely do both these markets. I mean, they're must-do's. The other one's the produce market. This one's like, you know, flea markets. Souvenirs. Tons of souvenirs. You can really go shopping forever here. I highly recommend at least bringing at least like 100 US dollars so you can buy a few things, especially if this is like your last day, you know, in Armenia. Definitely come here and buy, you know, your family gifts. Well, guys, I hope you enjoyed this tour of the two markets of Yerevan. If you love this video, give me a thumbs up. Leave me a comment below. Subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content. I'll see you in the next travel food adventure in Armenia. Peace!