Welcome to Armenia, my 129th Visit and 124th Run UN Country out of a total of 193. As usual, after the last lot of photos below is a brief summary of the country of Armenia and ten interesting facts that set this country apart.
Another cold and rainy departure at least at 830am. The trip from Tbilisi GEORGIA to the Armenia border was under an hour and the passage through smooth except for when the truck had to inspected on the Armenian side – this took just over an hour. Lucky for us we were camped in a clean well-stocked restaurant with small supermarket a few doors down. Food appears to be even cheaper in Armenia. As we are in the country for only 5 days and most of that in the capital, I decided not to ATM any cash – would use card only. Once we got going from the border, we ventured into a valley thick with lush green forest. Twisting and turning our way through it. In 30min we arrived at our first attraction in Armenia – the UNESCO Haghpat Monastery. This was built from 976AD to late 1200s initially as a fortification but later as a Monastery epitomising early Armenian Church Architecture. It was sad to see such a grand collection of buildings empty, cold and covered in dark mould.
It was great to be back on the truck, albeit damp and foggy, at least light rain was not falling on us. The mountain valleys continued. The green continued. Armenian villages and towns looked older and more run-down than in Georgia. Then we entered the Debed Gorge driving alongside the Debed River with steep-walled mountain sides on both sides. Amazing. This lasted for another hour until the whole landscape suddenly flattened out an and we started to climb. In another 30min we were surrounded by distant snowy mountains. We then entered vast agricultural fields at 1700m covered in snow. White everywhere. We broke through 2000m and kept up a slow climb. It started to snow. I was tired of all this cold and aching for the hot weather of Iran in a few days. Topped out at 2130m and continued on a plateau passing one village after another. The village homes were made of brown-yellow concrete blocks with tin roofs. Very poor looking. I discovered later that these blocks were in fact natural Tuff Stone cut from ancient hardened volcanic ash which most mountains in the country are made from. We then passed through vast fields all covered in snow and hovering around the 2000m mark. After another 30min we started a slow gradual descent into the capital city of Yerevan.
Yerevan (Pop 1,098,000) is built on a huge plateau surrounded by mountains and deep ravines. The most notable feature is the huge and imposing Mt Ararat (Elev 5,165m) only 80km away in a straight line and visible from almost anywhere in the city. Yerevan will feature in the post. We arrived late so just enough time to find food and wine and book a restaurant for a birthday and farewell dinner for fellow travellers. I booked my own hotel nearby since this was another 4 to-a-room-hostel.
The next day (Wed 16APR) was terrific. A 10-hour, 6-person, mini-van tour that took in most of the south of the country (285km trip). This was my way of seeing as much of Armenia as possible due to our shortened stay. I did this with a separate group of travellers. We left the city at 830am and headed for our first stop in the town of Vagharshapat. There are two UNESCO Churches here: St Hripsime Church and Echmiadzin Cathedral. St Hripsime was a Roman virgin turned Armenian Saint who lived in the 3rd Century and was instrumental in bringing Christianity to Armenia. She was martyred (stoned to death) here and the Church built in 618AD by Catholicos Komitas to honour her and house her tomb which I visited below the altar. “Catholicos” is like “Patriarch” or “Pope”, the highest office of Armenian Orthodoxy. Standing largely intact since its construction, the church has been widely admired for its architecture and proportions. Considered a masterpiece of classical Armenian architecture, it has influenced many other Armenian churches.
Etchmiadzin Cathedral is the first cathedral built in ancient Armenia, and often regarded as the oldest cathedral in the world having been built
Our next stop is another iconic travel photo icon – Khor Virap Monastery. What makes it famous is that it overlooks the massive Mount Ararat only a few kilometres away. Khor Virap is significant in that St Gregory the Illuminator was initially imprisoned here for 13 years by King Tiridates III of Armenia. St Gregory subsequently became the king's religious mentor, converted him and in the year 301, the King declared Armenia as the first country in the world to be officially declared a Christian nation. Khor Virap then became the first official Theological Seminary and residence of the Armenian Catholicos.
Following Khor Virap we were honoured to have a lunch in the home of an elderly couple in the village of Pokr Vedi only 2km from Khor Virap. They cooked traditional Armenian dishes and it was easily the best food of the entire Marco Golfo to date !!! Like Greece, the Armenian diet is mainly vegetarian but unlike Greece, Armenia has no olive trees and fries everything in sunflower or sesame seed oil. We feasted on home-grown zucchini, eggplant, carrot, pumpkin, lettuce, tomatoes washed down by pomegranate juice. What made it delicious were the various home herbs and onions used to cook the veggies. Country Armenians also bake this thin lavash-style bread that is flat and the size of a beach towel !!! So unique.
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Our next stop was the 13th Century Noravank Monastery nestled in the Amaghu Gorge. It is famous for its stunning location and the wo-storey Surb Astvatsatsin (Holy Mother of God) Church, which has the finest carvings of any Church in Armenia. The views of the gorge are fabulous.
Our final stop was my favourite. Wine tasting at an old family-held winery in the village of Areni which is the centre of wine-making in Armenia. In fact, “Areni” is the most grown red grape variety in the country. Another claim-to-fame of Areni Village is that it is home to the first and oldest official winery in the world – now called the Areni-1 Cave. Wine was made in this cave 6,000 years ago. The other strange thing about this cave was that the oldest shoe in the world was found here made from a single piece of leather 5,500 years ago – maybe it belonged to the wine maker !!!
ARMENIA IN A NUTSHELL
Armenia is a unitary, multi-party, democratic nation-state with an ancient cultural heritage. The Armenian Highlands has been home to the Hayasa-Azzi, Shupria and Nairi peoples since 600 BC with origins from Europe. The first Armenian state of Urartu was established in 860 BC. Armenia adopted Royalty in 100BC and in 301AD became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion. Armenia still recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church, as the country's primary religious establishment. The ancient Armenian kingdom was split between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires around the early 5th Century AD. Between the 16th and 19th Centuries AD, Armenia came under the rule of the Ottoman and Persian empires. By the 19th Century AD, Eastern Armenia had been conquered by the Russian Empire, while most of the western parts of the traditional Armenian homeland remained under Ottoman rule. During World War I, up to 1.5 million Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian genocide, and event that has only been recognised by 35 of 193 UN Countries. In 1920, Armenia was incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Armenian SSR. The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ARMENIA:
1. First country in the world to adopt Christianity as its official state religion.
2. First Christian Church ever built: Echmiadzin Cathedral in 303 also containing the Spear the pearced the side of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
3. Yerevan (Capital) is 29 years older than Rome.
4. Chess is compulsory in all Armenian High Schools.
5. Inventor of the Apricot fruit: Alexander The Great took it to Europe.
6. The Armenian Genocide of 1915 resulted in a diaspora of 11 million vs 3 million in Armenia.
7. The village of Areni has the oldest winery in the world making the ancient predecessor of Pinot Noir 6,000 years ago.
8. The village of Areni has the oldest shoe in the world made in one piece from leather 5,500 years ago.
9. Armenian bread is so ancient and culturally relevant that it is UNESCO protected.
10. Winston Churchill drank one bottle (750mL) of Armenian Cognac called Dvin invented 1887.
ARMENIA SUMMARY
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