They have the most delicious barbecue, but pig breeding has slumped after the last cholera pandemic. They are known as Russian-speakers, but few speak the language nowadays. They count the inhabited houses not by the smoke coming out from the chimney but with laundry spreads. 

Welcome to Marts, a village in the Lori region of Armenia. Or, as grandma Olya says, “the united village” of Marts. 

Marts is well-known for its legends. According to one of them, a few nearby villages have been established by the people of Marts. Debet is among the latter. Whenever these two villages participate in a competition, the villagers of Marts joke, saying, “The grandfathers play with their grandchildren.”