Wednesday, September 10, 2025

On to Yerevan Armenia



 From Lake Sevan we went over a high mountain pass with a barely passable road to check out a Caravanserai from  1332




Inside was rather dark!


The road down was quite intimidating.....


But there was a church to visit! The  Noravank Monastery....








After this we needed a drink! So on to a local winery!  The Areni winery.......




Finally got to taste.........


Before getting to Yerevan we had to pass by Mount Ararat....unfortunately cloud covered.



It would have been more dramatic in the snow......
Here again there was an old monastery to visit Khor Virap !!



This monastery is where St Gregory, Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned underground for 13 years!
Decided not to investigate......




This is very close to Yerevan so we checked into a very nice hotel....the Tufenkian Historic in the centre.


Next morning back to churches!
First we went to the Geghard monastery.......



... where a concert in a cave church had been arranged for us......


The main church was a little less claustrophobic!




Then on to the Garni Temple......


overlooking the gorge created by an earthquake in the 16 hundreds.



There is still some evidence of the Roman occupation.....




Then on for lunch.........



...before checking out very old manuscripts in the Matenadaran Museum......








Yerevan itself was interesting to walk through.....







Our last stop was the Genocide memorial........






Friday, October 18, 2024

Moving on to Armenia...

 Crossing the border from Georgia to Armenia was on foot.....and it took a long time!



We didn't plan on staying!

Our first stop was again a church... the Haghpat Monastery....... to be precise!

This was the first time we saw a Khatchkar..... we were to see many more later on!






Lunch was in a nearby village...inhabited by Molokan Russians




Then on to Dilijan......



.....before arriving at our hotel for the night......the Tsaghkadzor Marriot Hotel in a ski area.
Next morning it was back to churches!
First we had a boat trip on Lake Sevan........




We were able to view the Sevan Monastery which we were to visit...220 steps to get there!






Before leaving the Lake Sevan area we visited the Noratus Cemetery with its many Khachkars....




... and lots of happy sheep!