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Armenia and Georgia Trip Report, Jun 9 - Jul 1, 2021
My wife and I traveled to Armenia and Georgia from June 9th to July 1st, for 21 nights. We had planned on visiting Armenia years ago, but those plans changed and this was our opportunity to get away at a time when few places were open to visitors. We planned at first to only visit Armenia, but when I heard about the Svaneti region of Georgia, I felt I had to include that in our plans. The fact that my wife worked for a Georgian movement theatre (Synetic) in Arlington, VA meant that we were able to connect with a movement theatre company in Tbilisi.
We were not sure what to expect. I knew we would see some spectacular scenery, but I felt in the dark about what traveling in the Caucuses would be like. Even now, I find it hard to put into words all that we experienced. We were often left speechless. Unlike anything I’ve experienced before; terms like vacation or trip hardly do it justice. It was an unfolding of long, deep conversations, meeting passionate folks with a sense of ancient history, love of traditions, an eye to economic development, the sorrow of genocide, and troubling contemporary geopolitics. I knew I was in for some good food ( a requirement for me), but had no idea just how stupendous it would all be. Fabulous feasts were laid out on our table, and while we were digging in, they were still cooking MORE food. I can easily say that I have never spent three weeks of eating better and trying new things. It was ri-DIC-ulous. For us, this was an experience for the ages. One mention about what is happening today. The Azeri have entered Armenian territory and are on the move. There is no conflict because the Armenians are not putting up resistance. It is a soft war. Conflict over the now-closed Artsakh Province is over, The Azeri now have complete control of the region which is culturally and historically Armenian. The largest field of kachkars (stone crosses) in Artsakh have been destroyed as not being compatible with Islam. They were a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site. I know a lot of people plan on doing three countries in 2/3 weeks when traveling to the Caucuses, but for us there was no question. We would not visit Azerbaijan. You can make up your own minds. There is also some consideration to comparing Georgia and Armenia. Right now, Georgia is the larger country by area and population. It is also not as poor as Armenia and the roads are paved and in much better condition. The mountains are even bigger and lusher than in Armenia. Georgia is prettier than Armenia. It was absolutely fantastic visiting Svaneti and Tbilisi. But try to find resources for Georgian to English! The language and culture is far more obscure than Armenian, as the Armenian diaspora is so large. In the US, Armenians are everywhere, especially Glendale, California which has become a magnet for Armenian Americans. . It is likely that anyone reading this knows someone with Armenian heritage. So it is also a question of being able to relate to what you are seeing and doing. In following posts, I will try to recount as best as I can what our three weeks was like. I will also include some photos and a link to a Flicker photo album. For us, we feel changed in a way I could not possibly expect. |
Our flight got into Yerevan about 40 minutes late and it was night. It took us three flights, 19 hours of transit plus 8 hours time change.My wife was already nervous about what to expect and the confusing scene at the airport didn't help any. So I made the first smart decision of the trip and we went out to eat at a 'secret' garden cafe in the back of the Dalyan Art Gallery. I say 'secret' because plenty of places to eat in the Caucuses have no sign or indication they are there. If you walk by the front of the gallery, all you'd see is a souvenir stand. The scene in the garden was pretty, sophisticated, wonderful. We also found a gorgeous ceramic to buy, based on an Armenian carpet design. The food was extraordinary, for us, but as we were to find out par for the course in Armenia. It was a great start.
Pardon for the food talk, but that is a major focus of my travels. We started off with two foods I read about in preparing for the trip: rejena and gavurma. I read that rejena was a 'baked milk' dish (which I did not understand), and it was served in scoops that looked like ice cream and tasted like milk-flavored butter. Awesome. Gavurma is meat preserved in butter. It is dry, crispy, slightly salty .... and then all that butter. Heavenly. We went on to a soup of red beans, walnuts, and parsley and a stuffed eggplant. All was right with the world. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...5c2251fcde.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...68e93e1aec.jpg |
Looking forward to reading more about your trip! I loved my visit (too long ago) to Georgia and Armenia (perhaps Georgia a bit more than Armenia...) I did make it to Nagorno-Karabakh, so have been very sad to read about the fighting (https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...n-keep-silent/ )
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That's so great that you had the opportunity to visit that region. I was frustrated during trip planning that I heard about historically important and visually stunning places that were off limits to me.
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Glad you enjoyed what still feels like a hidden part of the world. Looking forward to reading more.
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Originally Posted by shelemm
(Post 17258983)
That's so great that you had the opportunity to visit that region. I was frustrated during trip planning that I heard about historically important and visually stunning places that were off limits to me.
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The Svaneti region can be problematic to reach under the best of circumstances. We had a guide/driver, which I was torn over, but it turned out to be a good idea. Construction on the roads to Ushguli means that driving is a wild card. You never know how difficult it will be or what delays will come your way. Of course, rock slides can happen independent of construction, so there's that as well. If we didn't have a guide, we almost surely would have turned back.
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In two full days in Yerevan, we had two disappointments and two wonderful discoveries. In between, a couple of places that every visitor must see: the Armenian Genocide Memorial and the Cascade Complex.
Not only is the genocide museum an extensive learning experience which will prepare you for the rest of Armenia (and life) , it is moving to see people enter the memorial and pay their own tribute to the dead. One family was singing hymns together. A father came with his young daughter, he dressed in the Manchester United jersey of Mkhitaryan, an Armenian soccer star. The Cascade Complex is thoroughly unique. A multi-level modern art gallery cascading up (or down) a steep hill. Each level has an outdoor plaza with recurring themes of a central sand clock and water eternally pouring forth from ancient urns. Inside, escalators take the visitor past modern works. At the bottom of the complex, an outdoor sculpture garden. The disappointments were: Matenadaran, a repository for ancient books. I was very much drawn to this, but found the display completely underwhelming. Better displayed and far more amazing were books from Matenadaran at Noravank Monstery. Vernissage is a flea market attraction, mostly filled with row after row of tourist shlock. But not the good kind.... the truly embarrassing stuff. I am not above buying a snow globe of a monastery that hasn't seen snow since the Ice Age, but this was worse. To be fair, we did buy some sheet music, a duduk (an Armenian recorder), a used cake knife from the true 'garage sale' section, and some fine silver Xmas ornaments. The connections for us began by visiting the Lusik Aguletsi House Museum. They also serve meals there, but I was unsure if they were open at all due to COVID so I reached out in advance and I was glad I did. As it turns out, they stayed open late for us. We were given an extensive tour and ate there as well. The tour gave us insights into Armenian mythology, traditions, and history. Lusik Aguletsi was an artist who always dressed in traditional garb she sewed herself. Her collection of costumes and crafts is astounding. Adhering to tradition, they offer in their garden cafe some old Armenian dishes difficult to find elsewhere, and dinner was extensive and great. We got to talk with a manager there (the fellow we reached out to) who is also an opera director and shared our love for theatre. They gave us gifts at the end – this would become a theme of our time in Armenia. We also went to the Mirzoyan Library, a one room library of photography books that had been expanded into a two-story coffeehouse and photo exhibition center wedged into a courtyard between residential buildings. There was little indication of what was there from the street, so walking down the alley was a mystery. The guy who founded it is a photographer and he showed us his photographs on display. They included a series on recent protests in Yerevan but shot in a style reminiscent of Prague ’68. Also a photo series taken from various city buildings with a window view outside, but he had drawn onto the windows somewhat comical UFOs attacking the city. Some photos from the Lusik Aguletsi House:https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...6c380eb8df.jpg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...c095db0499.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...b0147e7dfd.jpg |
Interesting - the cascade was under construction when I was there, just a concrete staircase. But it sounds like the market has gone down hill - this was my experience: "Down one side of Pavstos Byuzand Poghots an outdoor Home Depot gave way to souvenir stalls, then to clothes, while on the other side I found carpets and embroidery, flanked by glass and ceramics. I liked some of the wood carving, but I didn’t buy – too much travel still to go."
I did enjoy the Matenadaran, but I had a guide, plus there was a special exhibition of illustrated manuscripts from Cilicia. |
That sounds good about the books form Cilicia. A woman behind the desk at Matenadaran gave us some cherries... this was a gesture repeated in Armenia. We had coffee made for us in a small clothing shop and apricots handed to us while visiting Echmiadzin.
A guide always helps and for most of our trip we learned to say 'Yes and...' to everything, like Improv. So we wound up with some amazing museum tours, but we tried Matenadaran on our own and it didn't work. |
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We rented a car for the remainder of our time in Armenia, and for the next two days we visited five major tourist attractions. We got lucky that the Khor Virap B&B (aka Arekelyans Gastroyard) opened for us. We may have been their first visitors in a very long time. The Gastroyard program is comprised of about a dozen guesthouses around Armenia that focus in on traditional foods and teaching other crafts. They received money from UNDP to fix up their farm, build a tonir (traditional bread oven) and get it all prepared for guests. Our hosts spoke only a few words of English, but later in the day we were joined by their daughter and her husband who were fluent. We had a great visit and one of the best meals I’ve ever had. A true feast. While waling through their gardens, we got to sample many of the things they grow there.
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The wonder of Armenia is that every one of those monasteries is sited in an especially glorious landscape. If they were movie sets, I'd say the location manager really did a great job. In front of a towering mountain, at the edge of a plateau, or dug into a cliff, they each exist in a unique world all their own and are difficult to take in with just one view or perspective. They beg to surround you.
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On the way down to Goris we stopped in at two sites: One is an impressive collection of megalithic standing stones, and the other nearby is a whimsical work of contemporary art for which the viewer is meant to question if they are looking at something from a civilization lost or yet to be....
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We spent three nights in Goris. Although we were at the exact address of our hotel, we entered a building only to find a bunch of empty apartments. Turns out the hotel is off the driveway to the left side of the building, opening to a courtyard.
Back to where we first entered, among the empty apartments, we called out into the void to see if we could find anyone, We were eventually greeted by a young British woman who heard 'familiar' English being spoken. She, her husband, and their Karabegh son were with an international team of people 'stuck' in Goris for the last six months. They were part of an operation clearing land mines in the Artsakh region of Azarbaijan before being kicked out of the country. So they were in limbo. They were occupying the third floor of this building. Our first full day in Goris we headed down to Tatev Monastery. We used the aerial tramway and saw Tatev, the Harsnadzor lookout, and climbed down the trail under "Satan's Bridge." More on all that later. Our next day we tried to find the cliff dwellings of Old Goris which are accessible right from in town. But our guidebook was not all that helpful in finding the path. So we went to the local history museum/visitors center to see if anyone could help us. The woman at the museum didn't speak English, I don't speak Armenian, but she does speak French. Voila, a connection. Turns out there is a 100+ strong Francophone community in Goris thanks to a Twin City program with Vienne near Lyon. She introduces us to other members of the community who had helped setup a sewing room for refugee women from Artsakh. They were sewing purses and tote bags, and we bought a couple. (Search on Instagram: All_for_Armenia and Made_in_Syunik). Later, a young French woman who splits her time between Vienne and Goris took us on a walking tour to a church the community had restored and then on to the cliff dwellings. |
Need for a car?
So I don't drive and am super keen to go on my canceled, delayed trip to Armenia now in September. Are there taxis or buses I can use that you were aware of to see some of the sites you saw?
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@genibre - shelemm will have much more up-to-date info than I do, but there was no shortage of taxis when I was in Armenia. However, they insisted on using the meter, even if I wanted to hire one for a couple of hours or a half day (unlike Georgia), so I wound up doing day tours with this company: https://www.hyurservice.com/eng/
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@genibre In both Armenia and Georgia, ,there are a gazillion (I counted) people who will gladly take you around to anywhere you want to go. There are marshrutkas (regularly scheduled vans), taxis, and lots of tour companies and drivers at the major tourist gathering spots with signs offering you private tours. The great thing about Yerevan is that it is centrally located in a small country, and you can get anywhere I went pretty easily from there. Staying in guesthouses might be trickier, but once you get there the guesthouse can make arrangements for you, including seeing things you might not otherwise know about.
We used taxis within Yerevan. I never saw a meter. Every taxi ride within the historic core is about 1,000 dram or 2 dollars. When we got to our destination, they were grateful for whatever we gave them which usually included a big tip. In Tbilisi we used the Bolt app (like Uber) and that way there was no miscommunication with where we wanted to go or what to pay. Not enough Bolt drivers in Yerevan. |
More photos: first taken from the aerial tramway to Tatev looking over the road, then on to Tatev Monastery:
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After Tatev, we took the path under "Satan's Bridge" where finally we saw people climbing down by rope, and then on to Harsnadzor lookout tower with a commanding view,
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A hilltop monument overlooking Goris mimics the cliff dwellings of Old Goris:
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Haha I love the gazillion! This is a huge relief- thanks! Some of the sites you posted seem way out of the countryside so also good to know it's not too expensive to troll around. I took Ubers around Romania for some rural sites as well as a solo tour in Azerbaijan and it was pricey.
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Great tip on that website- bookmarking now!
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Transportation around Armenia seems really cheap to me, so you don't have to self-drive to see these places.
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Before leaving Goris, I made arrangements to take a cooking class at Loby Goris, a kind of restaurant, though more like going to someone's home. Loby means beans, and Goris is famous for its beans. We learned how to make tolma, meat stuffed grape leaves. These were very different than what I am used to from Lebanese restaurants where I live. The ones I am used to are small, oily, with only a bit of stuffing. These are big, fat, juicy tolma, packed with a lot of meat that had plenty of milk, melted butter and egg massaged into it. We were surprised just how much milk was used, added in stages until the meat is plump with milk. The end result was fantastic, and it was part of a feast that included a hummus made from Goris beans. We also had here a walnut gata that was like a rugelach on steroids. Great stuff.
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We visited Old Khonderesk,an abandoned cave village that was inhabited until the early 70s. When we got there, a man showed us the cave where he lived until he was 5 years old. He had turned it into a museum. We then asked him to show us around the village, and he guided us on a kind of photo safari. He spoke only a few words of English, and when he wanted to explain something a bit more complicated to us, he phoned someone who could translate. After the initial descent down a very long and steep staircase, we were surprised to find a cafe, the museum, and even a taxi driver who could whisk us back to the top which we were very, very pleased about. The taxi driver even walked us down an obscured trail to see an old cemetery and church ruins.
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In Yegheghnadzor, a museum guide gave us an extensive tour of the regional museum in impeccable English. We spent a lot of time gawking at this collection, much of which we would have cluelessly ignored without a tour. After that, we asked him about finding a tablecloth and coffee like we had seen at the nearby guesthouse, and he accompanied us to the shops, first a fabric store and then onto the coffee grinder who has a very powerful grinder to produce a fine powder like we enjoyed throughout our trip.
We drove north to Gavar and Lake Sevan. On the way we stopped at the Jewish Cemetery at Yeghegis, Zorats Church, and Selim Caravanserai. We wanted to get to Smbataberd Fortress, but poor planning on my part: the road is for 4x4 high clearance, and the hike would have been way too long and strenuous. The Jewish Cemetery is a very small site with only a couple of stones that have detectable writing. Zorats Church is small, but packs a mighty wallop as the site is exceptional, one of the most beautiful of the trip. The Caravanserai was a trading post on the Silk Road, certainly the best preserved of the region. The interior is haunting, the site is extraordinary, and outside there was a couple in front of an old car under a tent, selling souvenirs, who offered us coffee and fruits as is the custom. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...202e899b69.jpg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...e0487e619e.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...0ea89db56f.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...4df56e3289.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...148b3d55ca.jpg |
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We got very lucky throughout the trip; I wish I could claim it was great planning on my part.... Our best stroke of luck was in Gavar, a town near Lake Sevan that is hardly on the tourist radar, but does have a central location. We stayed at a guesthouse that hadn't seen visitors in 18 months and should have remained dark. But Armenia had a snap election that weekend, and our host needed to return to Gavar to vote. So we had finally heard back from him, and we were on! Before coming, I asked him if he could help us visit the Aveluk Festival in Vardenik. Aveluk is wild horse sorrel picked in the mountains, braided, and then dried for use in soups and stews. Apparently Vardenik is known for it. Turns out that our host is very connected, He has a PhD in Economics and is involved in numerous aid programs like UNDP. So he knows everyone, and he took us around to places we'd never find out about otherwise. He is friends with the organizer of the Aveluk Festival, and he took us to a farm where the farmer and his bio-chemist wife built a modern facility for cheese production. Here we were, on what looked like a dilapidated farm, descending some steep stairs deep into the ground. We open a door to find a modern tasting room and a glass enclosed, temperature controlled cheese cellar. They make cows milk cheese with red wine, grape leaves, mold, about a dozen kinds all told. We did a tasting of six cheeses plus some variations with aging. He then took us to a horse breeder who showed off his 'Armenian' horse, a caramel colored mixed breed. We also took a ride in a monster jeep up Mount Armaghan where there is a church, pavillion, and khachkar around a crater lake. For two nights our host made us khorovats - Armenian BBQ- this was our first of the trip. One night was very thick pork chops and the next night was fish. It was killer. I was glad we had waited to have our khorovats. First, couple of photos are from the Aveluk Festival: https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...cd2c01ef16.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...7c858fe170.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...24a81b352d.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...64e2b98695.jpg |
We went on to visit Hayravank Monastery on Lake Sevan, saw the ruins of an ancient port, Noratus Cemetery with its collection of ancient khachkars, and a tonir making lavash. Plus a photo of khorovats:
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Wow, looks like persistence really paid off!
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I held out hope that the guesthouses could accommodate us, and we were lucky they could.....
After Gavar, we visited Sevanavank and then headed west. In Sevanavank it was Sunday, and as the choir was arriving we got to talk with a young woman studying German and Finance in Yerevan but makes the weekly trek to sing at the monastery here. As we missed the fortress of Smbataberd (drats!) we decided to take a look at the Bjni Fortress as well as St. Sargis Church in Bjni. The fortress is on a dramatic and steep hillside, and St. Sargis is perched on a small but steep outcrop. Not much remains of the fortress, but there are battlements on the lower level as well as the ruins of a church and a couple of other buildings on the upper level, linked by a tricky path Great views. Although Bjni might not be on the international tourist radar, I can tell you it is a popular site for Armenians as there were quite a few groups there. St Sargis was right nearby, we could easily see it from the fort, practically touch it, but the road was difficult to find. Luckily a local man was willing to hop in our car and guide us or we would never have found the way. Some 'roads' in Armenia don't look like roads when you actually get there. They look like rocky footpaths unsuitable for vehicles of any kind. Sometimes our GPS was simply wrong, and other times we didn't trust it. "they couldn't possibly mean THAT!" Reminds me of the scene from "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" in which Phil Sellers goes off road to help a guy deliver medicine to his sick wife.... |
Tsakhevank is a small site in a dramatic location. There is a long drive involved and a climb up stairs to view the cave chapel in the side of a mountain. The kind of place you can spend a long time simply gawking at the scenery. After that, we drove on to Etchmiadzin for three nights.
We stayed at Machanents Tourism and Art. It is a cultural destination unto itself. And though it contains many works of art, the creation of Machanents the artist, the site itself is his greatest creation. Several pathways and buildings to wander about, we spent a lot if time exploring here. His art is whimsical with a few serious undertones. Typically Armenian I'd say. There are also crafts aplenty strewn about, like plantings in a garden of art. While walking around Etchmiadzin, we heard a woman at the Agape Refectory mentioning Nebraska several times... I had to stop and ask why. We have a son at University of Nebraska, and where we live, in Washington, DC, you can go your whole life without ever hearing someone talk about Nebraska. As it turns out, she was an American just using it in conversation to represent what people think about in the middle of the country. 'Nebraska' was a totem. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...75faebf99b.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...69e91d1b6d.jpg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...7d978414b6.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...e3c46e345f.jpg |
Just to let you know, I am very much enjoying your report and photographs. Really interesting - thank you!
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Thank you!
The reason why we ended our time in Armenia by staying three nights in Etchmiadzin is because of a couple of very important battle memorials west of Yerevan and the opportunity to visit a Yazidi Temple. In addition to Etchmiadzin itself and the famous ruins of Zvartnots Cathedral. The two memorials are ingrained into the Armenian character in a way that it would be hard to think of an equivalence elsewhere in the world. First, Sadarapat. Our museum guide was very clear about this: without Sardarapat there is no Armenia. In 1918 the Armenians had to make a stand against the Ottomans. Success here, and they would earn the respect and support of Russia. Sardarapat leads directly to an independent Armenia. The gigantic memorial consists of church bells which summoned the villagers to battle and two bulls charging at each other. There is also a memorial wall, a stately series of eagle statues, and Armenia's most important ethnographic collection all set a good distance from each other, so it encompasses a vast terrain. Inside the museum, surrounded by two stories of the collection, is an interior court dedicated to the battle. We spent two hours on the museum alone. The second battle was that of Musa Dagh (Moses Rock). A collection of six villages, in defiance of deportation orders, fortified themselves against an attack in the face of an onslaught. They garnered international attention and were ultimately rescued by British and French troops. The battle was memorialized in a novel by Franz Werfel, 40 Days of Musa Dagh, and the story of the battle was also made into a movie. Not far from Sardarapat, I felt compelled to visit the Yazidi Temple in Akalnich. I did not know at all what to expect, and it surprised the heck out of me. First, it is not just a temple but a campus for the largest Yazidi community outside of Iraq. There is a modern, gleaming white temple with a series of statuary leading from the gated entrance. One of the statues commemorates two genocides: that of Armenia in 1915, and the Yazidi genocide of 2015 in Iraq.. 100 years apart. The bond you feel standing in front of this statue is so strong. It doesn't end, does it? The temple is gorgeous with striking geometry, but once you enter, the stark white of the outside gives way to the hugely surprising and vibrant glow of the amber interior and..... peacocks! A large (stuffed?) peacock faces you as soon as you enter the chapel, and peacock imagery is repeated, carved into the heavy wooden door, a gilt peacock sitting by a window, and a peacock statue sitting in the corner. I was flabbergasted. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...19e69162d4.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...ac23e45a88.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...052bdae06d.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...35819e9b7e.jpg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...f8223f2c25.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...7d7fc47b56.jpg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...8b43433661.jpg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...f6be7fa428.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...b35390dd27.jpg |
Very interesting!
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Etchmiadzin is a very easy day trip from Yerevan, and right nearby are the ruins of Zvartnots Cathedral, which might be the most impressive ruins in Armenia. Etchmiadzin is an extensive religious campus and is considered to be the birthplace of Christianity as a State Religion from 300AD. It is a peaceful, pretty place with some really, really, really old churches. My single favorite thing about the place, though, is a modern monumental arch at the entrance which was erected to commemorate the visit of Pope John Paul II in 2001.
Although the ruins of Zvartnots are not extensive, back in the day it would take a couple of rolls of film to capture all the components and angles of this stunning site. I believe there is still a lot of mystery about the original shape, size. and purpose of Zavartnots which dates from 634BC. That's worth an exclamation mark or two. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...24aaac6369.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...417d0c2225.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...11b261d99e.jpg |
Thus ends our time in Armenia. We were faced surprisingly with the reality of a snap election (that triggered a State Department warning), meeting war refugees, the history of genocide and its present day implications, scenery we couldn't believe was right in front of us, insanely delicious food among the best we've ever experienced, and a sense of hospitality that was deep and generous. When the folks at Lusik Aguletsi first told us that they stay late as long as they have guests, I didn't know it was just the first of many gestures of welcome we would receive.
The next week of our trip was going to be very different by design. Instead of an independent trip trying to explore many facets of a country, the next week was going to be primarily about visiting a single region high up in the mountains of Georgia. I arranged for a guide/driver and a high clearance 4x4 for 5 nights. I wasn't sure it was needed so I had my doubts.... |
Oh boy, I've just skimmed through the great photos. Looking forward to reading all about Georgia as well!
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Spoiler alert: Snowy mountains with green carpeting ahead. Even astroturf isn't THAT green.
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We flew from Yerevan to Tbilisi on Armenia Air Company. Nice flight. By the time you get up in the air, you already start your descent.
There are flights from the Tbilisi area to Mestia in the Svaneti. But since COVID, the airline (Vanilla Sky) does not get their flight schedule approved until the last day of the month for the following month. In a normal June, maybe there would be four flights a week, but that would probably get reduced to two for June 2021. So I could have flown both ways giving us three nights up there, but I didn't want less than four. I was also very worried about getting around once we were up there. So I bit the bullet and arranged a private tour through Georgian Holidays. I've only done this once before in my life, in China. I told them what I wanted (with specific guesthouses), and they made the arrangements, providing a car and driver/guide. On a scale of ten stars, our guide gets an eleven. We were picked up at the Tbilisi airport and off we went, aiming to stop in Kutaisi for the night. We saw the major sites: Jvari Monastery and the Cathedral in Mtskheta, Uplistsikhe cave village, and we saw from below Gori Fortress and the striking Memorial of Georgian Warrior Heroes, sculpted in the mid-80s and somehow tolerated by the Soviets despite that it shows maimed and bizarrely disfigured war heroes. The next morning we started our drive up to Ushguli by way of Lentekhi because I heard that this was the more scenic route. Our plan was to spend two nights in Ushguli and then two nights in Mestia before taking a plane back to Tbilisi. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...5fc0b19412.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...9cde93fc25.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...0b03960208.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...7ec7aa4072.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...515bb6ce17.jpg |
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