The Subway Experience in Armenia: Part 1

by Isabelle Adourian

July 1, 2019

Part I

In Armenia pedestrians usually get around by foot, by bus, by trolley or by taxi. However, others prefer the subway. I will pause here and let you imagine what the subways in Armenia are like. Now, I have no idea what came to mind, but my first subway experience was quite different than what I expected. Unfortunately, however much either one of us might want to, I can’t ship you to Armenia and bring you to the subways. So I will do what I consider the next best thing, write about it from this cafe I am sitting in (while eating a remarkably good cake…). Enjoy!

I would start by saying it’s a nice day out, but unfortunately to you everything seems to radiate heat. Well, not only to you. Everyone is wiping their brows or resting in the shade. The moment you stepped outside, you regretted it. Minding your own business you continue walking, when you come across some stairs. Now this isn’t exactly the small narrow staircase you would be nervous to enter in the middle of the night, this is a wide staircase that people are casually climbing. Curious by nature, you decide to take to venture down the stairs. Then you see it. A water fountain! You must decide between the water and the stairs. There seems to be a long line for the water so you reluctantly take the stairs. The stairs are made of stone and there are railings on each side. Your fingers slide along the railing as you climb down the stairs. Then all of a sudden you pull your hand back, gasping. You hesitantly touch the railing again, however it is unbelievably hot. The sun has been beating down on the metal railing all day,  you realize. You finally  make it down the stairs and immediately sigh a wistful sigh.

A gust of cold air surrounds you, the weather of your dreams. You must be underground. There are escalators to your left, and a booth to your right.  There is a small line in front of the booth so you head over there as well. Someone thanks the person in the booth and walks away with a small neon orange coin in their hand. The person in front of you pulls out a 100 dram coin (0.2 USD) and hands it to the lady in the booth. She then hands him a small neon coin and he walks away. You fish around in your bag for your wallet and pull it out. You hand the lady your money, and she takes it without meeting your eyes. In fact, her eyes are glued to her phone. She almost automatically hands you a small neon coin and turns her attention back to her phone. She must have been sitting there for some time, handing and collecting coins. It must get pretty boring. Someone ahead of you puts their coin in a machine and a light turns green as they walk through. Looking down at your coin you notice its worn out edges and imagine how dirty it must be. You slip it through a slot in the machine and walk through. You approach the escalators. You have to pause and look again, to make sure you are eyes aren’t betraying you. You suddenly fill up with nervous fear.

The escalator descends deep a long way down, the people at the end remind you of the figurines you used to play with when you were younger. Okay, I might be slightly exaggerating, but the escalator is still pretty long and steep. You look down and realize it is moving pretty fast too. What if you slip and fall? What if you don’t make it on in time and stumble? Your head starts to fill with many what-ifs, each containing a different scenario. However, not many of them end well. This is going to be exciting. You watch the tiles appearing and sliding away. People are casually getting on, not really caring about how steep the escalator is, or how fast it is moving. You look down again at the tiles. You’ll take the next one, you think to yourself. ‘The next one’ keeps coming but you are still not on the escalator. Counting to three, you keep a tile in sight, but it is quickly moving away from you. It’s okay, you missed one. You’ll catch the next then. You leap onto the first tile you see and are suddenly being rushed down a steel man-made hill. Grabbing the elastic railing you look around. Anywhere but down is fine!

There are ads framed in the wall, for your own two-story house. Wow, that would be a treat. The cities in Yerevan are all packed with soviet buildings made of crumbling rock and scary elevators that you are pretty sure don’t even work half the time. It is so tempting to look down. Biting your lip, you look down. You haven’t even made it halfway down! At this pace you thought you would have at least made it halfway! Suddenly you realize you have been holding on to the railing so tight your knuckles have turned white. Looking around to see if anyone noticed, you sheepishly loosen your grip, but don’t let go. The air gets cooler as you descend down, but you don’t complain. You have started to consider taking the subway solely for the cooler air. Finally, the end is near. The end of the escalator, that is. You jump off a little to early and end up stumbling onto the floor. You slow your pace, and look around.

You are in a wide, long, room with subway tracks on either side of you. There are benches back to back in the middle of the room, and pillars separating you from the tracks. A red line is drawn a foot or two away from the tracks. The room is a little dim, but cool. And remarkably clean for a subway station. It seems rather empty as well, for such a big room. People are casually leaning on the pillars, and mothers with children are occupying the benches. Overall it is rather quiet, or so you thought. A low rumbling sound fills the room. At first you think you are imagining it, then it grows louder. The other people either haven’t noticed it yet or don’t care, however you think the latter is the case here. The sound keeps on growing, you start to think if there is an earthquake. The huge room fills with the sound, and you look around, starting to panic. Then you notice the tracks are no longer empty, they have been replaced with an orange – ish white blur, bringing with it yet another gust of cold air. The subway train slows down to a halt and the doors slide open to reveal worn out orange seats. People get out, heading towards the stairs. A message plays on the subway speakers. You don’t pay much attention to it until — What?!? You were about to get on, but the doors close. At least there was a heads up. You will pay more attention to the message in the future. Oh well, guess you’ll have to catch the next one.