This is a destination where you will be intrigued by history, awed by monuments, amazed by the landscape, and charmed by down-to-earth locals. It’s not an easy place to explore – roads are rough, transport is often hard to navigate and those who don’t speak Russian could be lost – but travelling here is as rewarding as it is revelatory.
A dirty, bumpy road brought us deep into a river valley to Marmashen Monastery. It is quite an unusual location for the monastery because medieval monasteries in Armenia were almost always constructed in elevated locations. Three churches hewn from lovely orange-colored tuff clustered...
We did our last shopping in Armenia in Gyumri. On our way from the city, we stopped below the “Black Fortress.” Russians completed the stronghold to defend the land from the Turks in 1834 to protect the city of Alexandropol, now called Gyumri. Hans Karl von Diebitsch...
Our last stop today was a quite depressive half-abandoned village of Harich. There is located still-functioning Harichavank Monastery. It has a chapel built in the 7th or 8th century. Later it was dramatically expanded with a gavit (antechamber) and domes in the 13th century. There is...
Our truck parked next to thirty-nine giant Armenian letters haphazardly clustered alongside the highway, 15km from Ashtarak. The letters were erected in 2005 to honor the 1600th anniversary of Mesrop Mashtots inventing the Armenian alphabet. Mashtots, who is also memorialized with a...
We made a short stop at Saghmosavank Monastery, surrounded by a fortified wall and commanding beautiful views over the Kasagh Gorge and Mt Aragats. The monastery comprises two main church buildings: the Church of Zion and the smaller Church of Karapet; both date from the 13th century. The...
The city of Ashtarak is spread out in and above the gorge of the Kasagh river. The town has old churches, fascinating museums, and ambitious restaurant complexes. The ancient church, Tsiranavor, is situated at the very edge of Kazakh’s ravine. Below the church is a three-bay bridge...
A steep and windy road brought us to a 10th-century fortress located on the slopes of Mount Aragats at 2,300 meters above sea level. Constructed on a ridge above the confluence of the little gorges of the Amberd and Arkashen streams, this majestic stone fortress (🎫1400 AMD) dates back to...
Not far from Etchmiadzin, Catholicos Nerses III sponsored the construction of the “Celestial Angels Cathedral” in the 7th century. Destroyed in the 10th century, its evocative ruins (🎫1300 AMD) now stand in a semi-industrial landscape. It was initially dedicated to – and housed relics of...
We made overnight in the 4th-largest city in Armenia, Vagharshapat (known as Etchmiadzin), located on the plain of the Aras River about 18 km west of the capital Yerevan. It is the seat of the primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is the place where Surp Grigor Lusavorich saw a...
We visited famous underground carved rooms in Arinj on the outskirts of Yerevan (🚖 1300 AMD/way). It all started when All Tosya Arakelyan wanted her husband Levon to build her a potato cellar. What she got in return was an incredibly intricate seven-level underground cave network built...