Day 32 24 May Journey to the capital Yerevan

Photo above - Khor Virap Monastery in front of Mt Ararat.

Soviet hotels

Last night we stayed in a massive soviet era hotel on the shores of Lake Sevan. There was no one else there. It was quite austere, down a long lane through some forested land, but very comfortable, had nice food friendly staff, good wifi, so no complaints. A good place to film a horror film though. A mile or so before we reached the hotel, we passed a large complex of buildings that are now shells, all overgrown with weeds, no windows or doors, and these were all soviet era hotels and cafes that have been abandoned.

Lakeside drive

At 9am we set off to drive back over to the other side of the lake and south along the lakeside road. In the early part of the 20th century the lake level dropped due to over use by industry. This was eventually stopped and the lake levels are now rising, although that in turn has caused issues with flooding and damage of parts of the lake ring road.

Ancient tombstones

Next we stopped to visit a cross stone cemetery in Noratus village right next to the lake. This unique cemetery holds a collection of nearly 1000 khatchkars (intricately carved vertical tombstones). It is a huge cemetery for such a small village.

Highest road in Armenia

We then continued south following the lakeside for a while, the land green and generally flat, although still at about 2000m. Slowly, the hills and trees started to close in. At Martuni, we turned off the main road, and started up minor road that will take us over the Selim Pass (2410m), the highest road in Armenia. The road passed through rolling mountainside rather than any dramatic gorges. Once we passed over the top, the road was gravel only for a while. The road descended gently through wide green pastures, with the occasional tiny shepherds summer village, where they stay whilst their herds are in the high plains.

As the Selim Pass was once part of the Silk Road, there is the remains of a caravanserai here, where travellers would stop for food and shelter on their journey. We stopped to look at the remains of the 13th century building. It has never been restored but is still intact and inside you can still see the separate rooms and different levels of the floor.

Gorges and monastery

The road down the other side of the pass was down hairpins and with great views down the valley. Eventually we got down to the main road and turned north. The road started following a river, and then entered a gorge. We then crossed over the riiver and dove 8km up another gorge rising up a further 400m. We visited another monastery, Noravank Monastery, which sits in an amazing position overlooking the gorge below.

More wine tasting

We drove back down the gorge to the main road, and stopped at a cafe for lunch. Then we drove on to the wine-making village of Areni, where we stopped at a local winery to taste the wine of Armenia. This village is right on the border of the Azerbaijani landlocked enclave of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, which is surrounded by Turkey, Iran, and Armenia.

Highest point in Armenia

Next we continued to travel north, first rising up again to go over another pass, this time at 1800m, again encountering a section of gravel only road. The landscape was quite dramatic on a grand scale, massive rolling hills, craggy rock outcrops, and deep valleys. Then going down, we could see snow capped Mt Ararat 5165m high, which is in Turkey, in the far distance. Then we were off the pass and on through the vast flat plains of Ararat, where 70% of the country”s agricultural produce is grown. Apricots, cherries, peaches, grapes, and strawberries. We also passed a couple of villages, where lots of storks had built nests on top of the telegraph poles. These birds come here to nest and then fly to Africa or southern Iran in September.

Looking over to Turkey

We stopped to visit the Khor Virap Monastery, right on the border with Turkey. Mount Ararat could be seen on the horizon and provides a spectacular backdrop to the monastery. We could also see the border and two Turkish villages in the distance.

Finally at about 8pm, we reached the capital Yerevan, pop 1.1 million, the 13th capital of Armenia! In Yerevan, tree-lined streets encase both grand Soviet-era architecture and traditional Armenian coloured stone buildings, all set against the dramatic backdrop of Mount Ararat.