Impolitic Platan Tree in Nagorny Karabakh | The Family Without Borders

Impolitic Platan Tree

There is such a place in Nagorny Karabakh which doesn’t care if you are Armenian or Azeri. The giant 2000-years old Platan Tree, you could hold a party inside the core.

It’s not far away from village Karmin Shuka, maybe one our drive south from Stepanakert. Big, proud tree, with a table: 2000 years old (only God knows when was it put!).

So in this totally impolitic place we ate lunch with… two soldiers. And their families. The story goes like this: road to the tree was one of those where our Renault said “no”. Too muddy to get through without 4D. But because we knew that it cannot be far – we decided to walk.

As commonly known, pregnant women are not crazy hikers, so we were walking, let’s say, slowly. And first car passing by on this tiny road stopped and offered us a lift. Nothing nicer I could imagine at that time. Jeep brought us to the tree and made a second round to take more people waiting at the beginning of muddy road. All in all it was a nice family with friends, having a picnic at the tree. And instead of having short look at the tree and coming back, we spend some hours with them, first grilling the food and then eating. And talking, of course.

Kids speaking all: Armenian, English and Russian. Grandfather: colonel from army, singing for us there, at the nature, Italian operas. At the same time an owner of this jeep, in which he is listening to Bob Marley.

Another guy, which finished economy at some American university, had to sign the contract with Armenian Diaspora organization sending him there, that after finishing he will for many years work only for Armenian state, nowhere else. His wife waiting for a baby, in 6th month pregnancy.

War stories, life stories. Plus good meat and good cognac. Our nice surprise at Platan Tree.