“We are Daniel and Yelena. After years of traveling across different countries, we have chosen Armenia as the country where we want to settle down and raise our children.” This sentence was the beginning of my acquaintance with the young family.
To get to know Daniel and Elena better, I traveled to Voskevaz, where José María Daniel Pérez Bellido and Elena Pérez Bellido have settled down.
They greet me at the arched entrance of a beautiful, old house built of pink tuff, giving me a tour of the house and telling me interesting stories about their family’s past.
Daniel is Basque, Yelena is Russian, they met through “Odnoklassniki” social network when they both lived in Israel. They got married in the Czech Republic and then had another wedding in Israel. They joke that they had an almost Armenian wedding with two hundred guests. Daniel and Yelena also lived in Berlin, London, Moscow, and Smolensk. The events of February 2022 forced them to move from Smolensk to Yerevan.
“Back then, we received many calls from different countries, our friends were asking us to come stay with them. We had long wanted to move to a warmer country, besides, I have always had warm feelings towards Armenia. I have also had many Armenian friends since childhood. Wherever we lived, we were always surrounded by Armenians,” Daniel says.
Photo: family archive
During the conversation it becomes clear that Daniel is quite familiar with the habits of children who lived in Armenia in the 90s, which may seem strange to those who know nothing about them.
“I had a friend, Arsen, who was a boxer and won medals at various World championships for Armenia, but was forced to move to Moscow for work. Every time I visited, I saw him doing the same strange thing: turning the lights on and off during breaks. Once, I got angry and asked him why he was doing it. He said that when he was a child, the electricity was often cut off, so he and his friends would stand guard to make sure they didn’t miss the moment when it was turned back on.”
From Smolensk to an Armenian village
After moving from one place to another in Armenia in search of an apartment, they finally settled in a small village of Oshakan and began integrating into the life of the village.
“One day, our youngest son Erik came running into the house and said half in Armenian, half in Russian: Mom, will you give me an apple? (мама, дай хндзор, he said the word “apple” in Armenian). I asked surprised: What? “Mom, give me an apple,” he said again. That’s how we started integrating,” says Yelena.
While living in Oshakan they were looking for land, although there was an unwritten rule in the family: if one of them even mentions buying a house, the other must put an end to it.
“We always dreamed of having a house that would be closer to nature, but we also understood that taking care of it would be pretty hard. Since our wishes aligned this time, we didn’t stop each other. Having lived in Oshakan for 4 months, we returned to Yerevan, but after a while we went back to the village, this time to Voskevaz, with the intention to buy a house. It was then that we saw our future house, which had been waiting for us for a long time,” Yelena says happily.
Photo: family archive
The street where Daniel and Yelena’s house is located was inhabited only in the middle of the last century. The new houses were built from large stones quarried in the same street. The villagers say that about 40 houses (including the village’s House of Culture designed by Gevorg Tamanyan) were built from the stones extracted from the site where Daniel and Yelena’s house now stands.
“Our house is actually built from the stones quarried from the site where it stands. Construction began in 1958. Jars brought from Erzurum are stored in one of the basements; they were placed there before the construction of the house. At that same time, they began to make wine in those jars. As the previous owner of the house said, he made wine from his own grapes. The walls of the house still smell of wine. The last wine was taken from the jars in 1996,” Daniel continues.
Revival in the abandoned house
The plans of the new owners are inspiring. The young family is restoring the house, preserving its historical and cultural value, and is preparing to turn it into a unique center for the intersection of cultures.
The house is a classic example of the style popular in Ashtarak, Oshakan and Voskevaz. Such houses have been built since the middle of the 18th century, with an arched entrance and two basements on both sides of it. The first floor is non-residential, and, as a rule, there are three rooms with separate entrances on the second floor. This design can be found in many houses in Ashtarak, Oshakan and Voskevaz.
“The number of such houses is decreasing every year. But these walls are thick layers of architecture, culture, and history, aren’t they? Our goal is to preserve the facade of the house, the internal structure, adapting it to modern life. It is fundamentally important for us to not only restore the house and have our own roof, but also to preserve the cultural value. We want to show that it is possible to restore an old house, while simultaneously creating a modern and comfortable space, connecting the past and the present. We even have a motto: “Old roots - new fruits,” says Yelena.
Daniel takes care of the grape vine that has grown up the side of the house. This is perhaps the most beautiful symbol of the work he and his wife are doing.
The young couple say that the restoration of the house and the wine production is equally important to them.
Photo: family archive
The previous owner of the house, Militso, visited Daniel and Yelena after the sale of his ancestral house. Tightly clutching Yelena’s hand and sobbing, he told them how he had built the house and how happy he was that the new owners were not going to tear it down. That same evening, Militso’s health deteriorated, and he passed away a few days later…
Between old and new, Armenian and Basque
Daniel and Yelena have named their project “Golden Vine House”, started a YouTube channel and are now telling their viewers about the restoration of the house.
When talking about the future, they admit that they want to move into their house already this summer, see the house reach its full potential in a year, and have this year’s grape harvest in jars.
“We want our house to be an interesting place. Make wine downstairs, organize tastings, hold culinary meetings. I would also like to introduce the Basque cuisine here, which goes very well with wine, and to make Basque cider from local apples. Let our guests have the opportunity to interact with the old and new, Armenian and Basque worlds. Our house should become a cultural crossroads,” Daniel confesses.
His ancestors were among the largest olive producers in the Basque Country. Daniel tries to continue the traditions of his ancestors and grows European olive trees, adapting them to the climate of Aragatsotn region.
The nineteen young trees are thriving in their new home and are waiting for their moment of glory in their flowerpots.
Photo: family archive
Daniel and Yelena say that by their own example they want to show the possible harmony of heritage and innovation, and the charm of the Armenian village for life, investments and business.
Armenia, a land of freedom
Speaking about Armenia, which they came across by chance in their lives, the couple quote their youngest son as saying: Armenia is a land of freedom.
To understand how much the family has assimilated into the life of the Armenian village, you should walk with them through the hidden streets of the village, listen to stories dug from the depths of antiquity, witness their warm conversations with their neighbors, drink young wine offered by the neighbor’s daughter-in-law, and at the end hear the following question: “Nare, don’t you want to buy one of these old houses and become our neighbor?”
Nare Bejanyan
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