Stepanakert, Karabakh - Askeran Region

"Stepanakert - View from above" © 2000 Raffi Kojian, All Rights Reserved

Nestled in a bowl of mountains, Stepanakert is the capital of Nagorno Karabakh. Karabakh has a population of well under 200,000 people, which means the capital of Stepanakert, with an estimated 40,000 residents is more a large town than a city. There is not too much to see in Stepanakert, but it is centrally located in the republic and makes the perfect base for day trips to any site. You can stay in other cities to cut down the daily drives, but only if you are camping or willing to stay in backpacker style Soviet hotels.  For day trips out of Stepanakert, I highly recommend you use the main highways which go through occupied lands (via Mardakert or Martuni) rather than the horrible internal dirt roads.  Even if the distance is doubled, you will get to your destination twice as fast.

The main tourist site in Stepanakert is in the outskirts near the approach to town from Shushi. It is the monument called popularly "Mamik and Babik", an old Armenian man and woman hewn from rock. They represent the mountain people of Karabakh. Aside from this there is also a small museum (tankaran) near the main open market (shuka).

For official information on Karabakh, visit the government web site at www.nkr.am (which is supposed to be mirrored on the more reliable server www.artsakh.org although oftentimes neither works) or e-mail the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: info@mfa.nk.am 

In Stepanakert there are a number of choices of places to stay. There is the cheap two or three dollars a night Hotel Stepanakert which was built in Soviet times. The rooms are sparsely furnished and clean, with very questionable shared toilets at the end of each hallway unless you get the "lux" room which comes with its own bathroom. Hot showers are usually available on the ground floor for a dollar upon request. As with all Soviet hotels, parking costs about a dollar a night. Another well known hotel is the Hotel Lotus. At about $50 or more a night, you will get normal accomodations which you are accustomed to in the west. In the summer of 2001 the new western standard Nyree Hotel opened up at 14 Hekimian Street (Yerevan Tel: 28-64-15 ext 1503) e-mail nyree@arminco.nk.am

There are a number of restaurants in Stepanakert to suite various tastes and budgets.

-Tsitsernak restaurant is in the outskirts of town, and has nice traditional khorovadz for a few dollars a person. When pomegranates are in season (fall) you must try the pork khorovadz which comes with fresh pomegranate and lemon juice to make a very delicious light and fresh tasting Armenian sweet and sour pork.

-There is a restaurant across from the open market (shuka) in a section of a larger building that is no longer used. This restaurant has excellent borsht (cabbage and lamb soup), belmeni (Georgian raviolis) good khorovadz and actually a good atmosphere, with a kind of seaside, fisherman theme. This restaurant costs about a dollar a person, depending on meals.

-There is a little eatery inside the the open market (shuka) which has excellent meals for under a dollar. It can be hard to find, and often times you just eat whatever they have decided to prepare that day, but you will really like it. They often prepare sandwiches, mashed potatoes, cutlets, and other simple dishes and great desserts, while you can just about always order eggs and such. To find this eatery you should enter the markets right side entrance, where they sell lavash bread and often jingala bread (a local bread with greens inside well worth a taste). From the entrance, go the short distance to the right and start walking along the shops on the outer edge of the market until you are approaching the back of the market. Around here is the hard to spot eatery on your right, with a counter which usually has a cake or two on it, a few tables, and a stall to change clothes in.

-Green Bar has pizza as well as a number of other dishes at medium prices with a menu in Armenian and Russian.