From the nomadic steppes of Kazakhstan to the frenetic streets of Hanoi, Asia is a continent so full of intrigue, adventure, solace, and spirituality that it has fixated and confounded travelers for centuries.
We arrived in Dilijan early, so we continued to visit the Goshavank monastery complex founded in 1188 by the saintly Armenian cleric Mkhitar Gosh, buried in a little chapel overlooking the main complex. This monastery features the main church (Surp Astvatsatsin), smaller churches to St...
We stopped in Armenia’s third-largest city in the Lori Province, Vanadzor, known before as Karaklis (until 1935) or Kirovakan (1935–93). It lies at the confluence of the Pambak, Tandzut, and Vanadzoriget rivers. In 1826 the villages of Bolshoy and Maly Karaklis were merged into the town...
According to Google, there should be a nice road, H24, from Stepanavan to Hnevank monastery. Actually, it starts as a ruined road turning after a few kilometers into a total off-road – narrow, steep, winding, dirty road, full of big stones, especially on the part before Dzoragiugh village...
Near the town of Stepanavan, on a promontory between the gorges of the Dzoragets and Miskhana Rivers, is a ruined fortress with huge towers and massive stone blocks along its exposed side. Originally the base of David Anhogin, who ruled the region of Tashir-Dzoraget from 989 to 1048, it...