Armenia is a small but beautiful country sandwiched between Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Sona was our exchange student in New York City in 1999/2000 and we've kept in touch.
This monastery, Tatev, is in a remote part of southern Armenia and is now accessible by the "world's longest" cable car, the "Wings of Tatev". Many more photos of Tatev below. This is Sona, a business consultant, Vardges, a cinematographer and my 9th grandchild Nare. Click on any photo to see a much larger image.
We started our visit in Yerevan, the capital. Full of street cafes and restaurants, a very lively city. This is a large staircase, waterfall monument in the center of Yerevan, with a Botero statue just behind us. Almost everyone we met speaks English. Click on any photo to see a larger image.
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When we arrived, Nare's kindergarten, the best in Yerevan, and bilingual, had a season's end performance. Nare is five.
The show was in English, about travelling around the world. I liked the Mexican story and song with appropriate music.
Wow! What a show. More photos of Nare below.
Back to Tatev. We drove several hours from Yerevan. On the way, we stopped at a small cafe looking over a river.
When we got to the top of the Tatev cable car, we had time for lunch looking over the spectacular scenery.
Over lunch, Vardges kept snapping photos. He does that for a living and as a hobby.
Vardges makes movies professionally and some just for fun. A little lower down are a couple of his movies from Tatev.
The cable car ride is spectacular. Built, of course, in Austria as many are.
The Tatev monastery was built in the 9th century. In the 14th and 15th centuries it even hosted the Tatev University. Now, with the cable car it is easily accessible.
Inside the large grounds of the Tatev monastery. Click on any photo to see a larger image.
We spent time exploring Tatev.
We spent time exploring Tatev. Armenia was, in 301 AD, the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion.
Vardges, the cinematographer, has been here before and pointed out that we had to go a long way up the opposite side of the valley to see Tatev as whole, from a distance. The problem was how to get a taxi. He waited on one side and I managed to get this TAXI on my side of the road.
CLICK HERE TO SEE A SHORT VIDEO OF OUR TAXI RIDE THAT VARDGES TOOK
The monks in Armenia built their monasteries in the most inaccessible places, at the ends of long mountain valleys, such as the next one, at Noravank.
Our new Armenian taxi, looking down on the Tatev monastery. Looks like it has Mercedes wheels, but I am not sure what the brand of the car is. CLICK HERE FOR ONE MORE SHORT VIDEO OF FUN THE TAXI RIDE.
Noravank monastery from the 13th century. Nare took the shot. Click on any photo to see a larger image.
Noravank monastery from the 13th century. Click on any photo to see a larger image.
Noravank monastery from the 13th century. Nare kept up with us though all the sightseeing.
Noravank monastery. Nice to see Sona and her family.
Noravank monastery today.
Noravank monastery yesterday. In 2009, my Jenny was taking a photo of Sona and I on the steps of Noravank. Those are now closed to climbing.
On the way back to Yerevan, we stopped at Khor Virap, yet another monastery. This is where "Gregory the Illuminator" was imprisoned for 13 years in an underground dungeon by King Tiridates III of Armenia. Saint Gregory became, after released, the king's religious mentor and in 301 A.D. they proclaimed Armenia the first Christian nation. Khor Virap is in Armenia, right on the Turkish border which is still closed. Maybe it will reopen one day and people will be able to go to Mt.Ararat right behind, which is in Turkey.
After this we went to Garni, a Hellenistic temple from the 3rd century, not far from Yerevan.
Garni was destroyed by an earthquake in 1679. It was in ruins for 300 years and reconstructed 1969-75. The dark stones are original and the grey new.
After Garni, our driver asked if we wanted a "symphony". I said yes and thought he would play it on the radio. Instead he drove us down a small road to a "Symphony of Stones", a small Armenian version of the "Giants' Causeway" near Bushmills in Northern Ireland, which we visited in 2018.
We also went to the 4th century Geghard monastery, up yet another mountain valley, which is carved into the rock. The church was added in the 14th century. Difficult to take photos inside. But we had a nice lunch in a restaurant with a view of the valley.
As in other monasteries, we lit candles. "Thank you, Mr. God, for getting us together and keeping us together".
Between trips, we visited the Armenia History Museum in Republic Square, a block from our hotel. An Armenian from California, a student summer intern, who plans to become professor of Armenian history, gave a us a detailed tour of the collection. One of the highlights is the oldest leather shoe in the world, Areni-1, found in 2008 in Armenia's Vayots' Dzor province. It is 5,500 years old! It was in a cave, the world's oldest-known wine-making site. I guess a wine-maker could afford nice shoes. A superb museum. Its collections show that many Armenian treasures are behind the Turkish border, currently closed. Worth a return one day when they reopen it?
After a couple more days in Yerevan, we made a trip with Sona, her mother, and Nare, to the Sevanavank monastery, overlooking the huge Lake Sevan, the largest in the Caucasus, and the highest elevation, over 6,200 feet. Click on the photos to see a larger image.
Sevanavank Monastery, looking over Lake Sevan. Our trip to Armenia coming to an end.
And, to top it off, a dinner at Sona's apartment in Yerevan. What a trip. We'll have to come back. It seems that Turkey may reopen the border and it would be possible to travel to some Armenian sites that are currently not accessible.
In Antigua, my new "Armenian corner" with a painting of Mt. Ararat from the superb Vernissage market in Yerevan, a painting that Sona gave me of the Sevanavank monastery and an Armenian plate from the Vernissage market.