Episode 20

Before reaching the first major town in Armenia we had seen a truck that had rolled onto its side as it negotiated a hairpin bend, don't think it had happened long before we passed either as the police arrived as we passed.

It was early in the day when we arrived in the large town of Gyumri. This was once the 3rd largest city in the whole region after Tbilisi and Baku. In December 1988 it was flattened by an earthquake that killed 50,000 people. It is still far from fully recovered, quite a few buildings remain partially destroyed.

The centre has a couple of pleasant squares to walk around and there are three churches close to each other. Only one was open, one is still being re-constructed and the third was locked up. While at the one that was open, locally called Yot Verk (seven wounds) Surp Astvatsatsin, we overhead a tour guide telling a group that Christianity came to Armenia when two of Christs’ apostles came here shortly after the crucifixion in the 1st cent AD. It is virtually the oldest Christian county in the world. The place was busy with locals calling in for quick morning devotion on their way to work.

Just off to one side of the square we walked through a very lively and colourful market. After the overnight storm the potholed alley was quite muddy and the pot holes full of water. I think L gave some people quite a bit of entertainment as she snapped photos of this and that as we passed. There was some lovely fresh fruit, veggies and herbs on offer. A vast selection of spices on display and a wide variety of coffee beans, just choose which bean you want and the man grinds them for you then and there. The meat carcases hanging up and pigs trotters and tripe in a bucket didn’t really appeal. One or two things my lot just couldn’t work out what they were.

Where there were some trees they are displaying rich autumn tones and the small patches of garden we see here and there are usually full of cosmos in bloom. Trees seem to be quite a rare thing at least in this part of the country. We have seen a few in a gully here and there but mostly they seem only to be along the village and town streets. L says there can’t be many birds without trees but she did see a lovely eagle fly over and land in a field nearby this morning.

Just a few k’s out of the city we found a group of three churches known as the Marmashen churches. The largest and the partially ruined one next to it both date from the late 10th century. The third one from the 11th century, and there is also the base of a round church here too. Only the 11th century one was open and it was almost bare inside. The rough stone floor is very worn and uneven. However, it’s the lovely colour of the rock that has been used to build them that is most striking, a sort of pink/orange colour. It almost glows.

On a cloudy morning we drove as far up Mt Aragats as we could, to around 3220m where there is a cosmic ray research station and a small hotel run by the same people. It is an easy two hour climb from there to the southern peak of this mountain so the guide book says, the northern and highest peak takes a lot longer and may require crampons. L did consider doing the easy climb but with the fog swirling about as it was she chickened out. It was quite cold with some fresh snow on the ground. We should have had a good view of Mt Ararat in Turkey however the cloud obscured it completely.

Some way down on the southern slopes of the mountain we visited Amberd Castle. It sits on a rocky outcrop between two gorges. A strategic position, well, my lot aren’t so sure as any invading enemy could quite easily bypass it without being seen. It is mostly 11th century but some excavations done in Soviet times has led archaeologists to believe that the site could have been a Bronze age fort originally. There is a 12th cent church and also a bathhouse here.

Much nearer Yerevan is the Zvartnots church, a world heritage site and one of the first churches built after the country officially adopted Christianity in the 301AD, long after those first Apostles came here in the 1st cent AD. If the model is anything to go by it certainly was an impressive structure. It was in ruins by the 10th century though it’s not known if this was because of an earthquake or destruction by Arabs. It was quite a complex with a residency for the Catholicos (head of the church L thinks) and monks quarters as well as a bath house and a winery. The clay vessels in the winery could hold 22000 litres of wine. Now the place is a popular wedding venue apparently as one was just about to take place as we left.

Just a few K’s away we made a quick visit to another church between two weddings, one bride just came out, posed for a couple of quick photos and was departing when the next one arrived, this one in a Rolls Royce. We dodged inside for a quick look around and a photo then departed too.

It was quite an overcast day that we spent in Yerevan. Did get a few spots of rain on me, then it stopped so I didn’t have to stay under cover for very long:

Yerevan sits in a gorge with the newer suburbs up on the higher ground above. The river flows through a narrow ravine to one side of the city centre, a gorge within a gorge as it were. The city dates back to the 8th century BC when there was a fort built here.

We had parked near the long 'cascade’ a series of steps that lead ever upward out of the valley to the higher suburbs of Yerevan. The cascade isn’t finished, maybe it never will be. It was started just before the breakup of the Soviet Union and was halted halfway through, then some Armenian philanthropist came along and finished it to the stage it is now, but work seems to have halted again on the final stage. L counted 722 steps to the viewing platform that over looks the steps and from which point you get a great view of the city.

As we were passing the Opera house D spotted an open door so we went in and a fellow came along and offered to show us around quickly. He told us he was the Philharmonic orchestra manager and he took us into the concert hall that holds about 1200 people. He turned the lights on specially for us to see it. It was very good of him. The building itself is nothing special, built in the 1950’s it looks like what it is, raw concrete.

Continuing on through the city centre we walked down the new mall that seems to have all new multi story buildings on both sides. The Marriot hotel is one of them. Then we came to the big open Republic Square. Further on we saw the Blue Mosque that sits inside a compound with a beautiful garden.

We meandered this way and that and accidently came across a post office. L had bought a few post cards so now she bought some stamps to go on them. As she didn’t have the cards with her she couldn’t post them here, but will have to look for a place to do so. Post boxes do not abound in this part of the world. At least here we had found a post office, in Georgia we never did see one, nor in Azerbaijan. One of the last points of interest we saw before arriving back at the car is the pretty little Katoghike chapel. It dates from the 13th cent so is by far the oldest building we have come across here.

As we drove out of the city in the evening the rain that had held off all day gave in to temptation and tipped down.

It was drizzling when we visited the cave monastery of Geg**********ce again I was confined to the car while my lot went off to explore. Amongst this complex of churches and monks cells is a very large church hewn from the rock with 4 large central pillars and domed roof with a hole in the top. It’s 6th or 7th century and the amount of work it must have taken to complete such a task is hard to imagine. There are many monk cells in the cliffs all around. It is said that many of the monks dug the cells themselves then never left them again until they died. L says they may have been dead a dam long time before anyone noticed, especially through the cold winter months. There is some very intricate carvings in the walls and pillars of these churches. One of the spears that pierced the side of Jesus while on the cross was brought here in the 2nd or 3rd century AD. The place is named after that spear although the spear is now in a church that my lot couldn’t find about 50k’s away. A piece claimed to be from Noahs ark that used to be here was moved to the same church.

Between showers we visited the reconstructed Hellenic Temple that was built in the 1st century AD and dedicated to the Sun God Mitra. It became the summer house for Armenian royalty after the country converted to Christianity and a palace was built beside it. In the complex is a bath house that used under floor heating and has the remnants of a beautiful mosaic made from 15 different coloured pebbles collected from the river below. The small promontory the complex sits on is surrounded on 3 sides by high cliffs directly above the river and a high rock wall on the 4th side.

Then there was another monastery we visited, one where St Grigri was imprisoned in a well for 12 years and secretly fed by local women. Then he converted his gaoler to Christianity, and then said gaoler built this monastery.

At this point we should have had a very good view of Mt Ararat. We were within a few hundred metres of the Turkish border on a hill above a plain. Just across the plain is the north eastern slopes of Mt Ararat totally enshrouded in cloud down to a few hundred feet. .

It was still drizzling with rain when we drove through the really dramatic gorge to Noravank Monastery near Areni. The main church at the monastery has some interesting stone carvings over the door. One is Christ flanked by Peter and Paul, and the other is of the Virgin and child flanked by angles. Mind you, I was again confined to the car as it was so wet.

A side trip out of the large town of Yeghegnadzor to some more churches and monasteries was planned but with the cloud so low we were soon driving in fog so that plan was abandoned and we continued on the main road south. For a while the sun blessed us with an appearance as we climbed over the Vorotan Pass 2344m. We came to the first snow, very fresh at 1900m and there was a good covering at the top. It was fairly chilly too so we didn’t linger.

Near the town of Sisian we visited a waterfall, it’s 18m high and even now has quite a bit of water passing over it. In spring it must be quite a sight. In the town of Sisian the local church has some miro miniatures. According to the guide book there is one featuring 17 images of a cross on a human hair coated with metal, but D thinks that may have been the one they couldn’t see properly because of the poor lighting. There were three that they could see though they don’t know what they had been made of, one was some script, another of 3 heads and one of just a single face. All were made by a local artist.

In a park in the centre of town are some stone carved sheep, some petroglyphs and sarcophagi. I got a bit nervous when they sat me in one of those sarcophagus, I really don’t think I’m ready to be buried just yet, stuffed I may be but I’m not some ‘mummy’.

As we’ve travelled south from Yerevan we have passed through a few valleys, some with agriculture where the summer crops have been harvested. In some areas there have been a lot of orchards, peaches and apricots mostly and plenty of vineyards too. We have passed several wineries but my lot really aren’t into wine so we haven’t visited any.

Finally the sun came out and the snowy topped mountains shone brightly. We all took a ride on the worlds’ longest aerial tramway, that’s a cable car to you and me, 5.7k’s, ‘wings of Tatev’. It runs from just above the village of Halidzor to the monastery at Tatev over some spectacular scenery. There is also a road that wends its way there descending into a narrow gorge and crossing ‘Satan’s’ Bridge’, then up the other side to the monastery and the village.

Like most of the monasteries here it has ancient roots and is believed to have been built on an ancient pagan site. It sits above cliffs on a bend in the river far below and was once quite a wealthy enterprise owning all the farms in quite a large area. Again like most of its counterparts it has suffered from the various invasions, the Arabs, the Mongols, the Persians and the Ottoman Turks, but the last straw as it were was the 1931 earthquake that almost flattened the place. Much has been re-constructed but there is still a lot to do. A tall octagonal pillar in the compound was claimed to predict earthquakes and tremors caused by approaching armies, however at present it is held in position by steel braces so isn’t about to predict anything.

Satans bridge seem ill named to L. Apparently a large piece of the mountain fell into the gorge providing a bridge across a deep ravine for a whole trapped village to make an escape from an approaching army. ‘Heaven Sent’ bridge sounds more suitable.

On a high plain we visited an ancient site of standing stones. There are a great number of them generally about 1.2 to 1.5m high. They are in lines that align to the equinox, and the solstices, and many have hole bored through them that align to certain celestial bodies at certain times of the year. Presently its thought to be from the 1st millennium BC, but some recent research has led to speculation that it may be much older.

Not sure if there is any local script in any of the photos; once again we have a whole new alphabet but it’s not quite as ‘squiggly’ as Georgian, some letters even vaguely resemble Latin ones, they also have their own numbers too, but they don’t use them on the number plates or for phone numbers any more, fortunately. L doesn’t think she could cope with that. Mind you, across the border in Iran they use both Farsi letters and numbers, even on the number plates. Farsi is quite different to Arabic. Signs can be in just Armenian, not good, but most also have the Russian or English or both translation. Then of course, you get some signs just in English or Russian.

Continuing on southward we passed through the large town of Goris that sits wedged in a valley with dry craggy mountains on three sides. Of course there were more churches and monasteries to see along the way. As we climbed up over yet another pass L made the comment that we seem to be going over passes more frequently that some people change their underwear. I do wish she wouldn’t come out with these comments I find them quite embarrassing especially seeing as I don’t have any underwear.

This is a very mountainous area and there is some mining in the region around Kapan and Karajan, though we don’t know what it is that is being mined. Both these towns are surprisingly large and one can’t help but wonder what it is all these people do for a living. The final pass we climbed is the Meghri pass where there was quite a bit of snow on the ground at 2353m, the top. It was a wonderful view on a bright sunny, warm day. Deciding there was no real point in going on to Meghir that is very near the Iranian border we made this our turnaround point and returned as far as Goris on the same route.

As we had been going up this pass we had passed two cyclists coming down, no doubt enjoying the long downhill run after the hard work of getting to the top. We have seen a great many Iranian trucks and several Iranian busses on this routeThey are quite distinctive with the yellow numberplates with Farsi numbers. Not noticed any Iranian cars.

© Lynette Regan 22nd October 2013