Day 34 26 May Pagan monuments and UNESCO monasteries

Photo above - balancing rock at Garni Gorge.

Mother Armenia

We started the day by driving round to Victory Park to see the statue of Mother Armenia. It was originally a Stalin statue, but was replaced in the 1960s. It is now a symbol of Armenia. A huge statue 56m high overlooking the city with a sword in hand, very similar to the Mother Georgia statue overlooking Tbilisi. There is also an eternal flame in the square by the statue. Actually only 17 days ago in Russia it was decided to change the name of Volgograd back to Stalingrad, a decision byPutin!

There is another good view over the city from here, including the tree lined Mashtots Avenue formerly Lenin Avenue, and Mount Ararat 35km away in Turkey. The park itself is a recreational area, with a Ferris wheel etc.

Garni gorge

Next we started to drive north towards the village of Garni, population 8000, elevation 1400m. The road headed up into the mountains that surround the city. We were slowed down by the really poor road surface, partly due to large scale roadworks.

We reached the village and walked down to the Garni river gorge. We hiked down the pedestrian walkway to look at the basalt rock formations that looks like the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland.

We saw the Hellenistic temple on the top of a ridge beyond the gorge. This pagan monument, dedicated to the worship of the sun, was built in AD77 and is an extraordinary site to be found in Armenia, so far from the rest of the Hellenistic world.

Geghard Monastery

Next we drove 10km further up the road to visit the nearby UNESCO-listed Geghard Monastery, found in a beautiful location at the top of a gorge surrounded by mountains. Partly made up of caves and partly built from local stone, this tranquil monastery dates from the 4th century and houses two main churches decorated with impressive well-preserved carvings and a fountain of spring water alleged to have rejuvenating properties.

Hellenistic Temple

We then drove back down to Garni village to have lunch in a local cafe. Afterwards, we did a short walk up to the Hellenistic sun worshippers Temple we saw from a distance on the previous gorge walk earlier. Great views across the gorge from the temple. We also saw a musician playing in the temple. He was a professional on a type of flute called a Duduk, which was very haunting within the echoing walls of the temple.

Cascade steps

After walking back to the bus,we started the drive back down out of the mountains to Yerevan. Our final stop was at the Cascade Steps in the centre of the city. This is a Soviet-period structure that resembles a giant stairway and houses a modern art museum. Both the gardens in front and inside the multi layered building, there are numerous sculptures. The scale of the staircase is very impressive. There are five layers with external steps or inside escalators, that allow you to move between the floors. At each layer there is an external area with art and views across the city. Going up inside is like coming out of a very deep underground station.

Finally, we went back to the hotel.Tomorrow for my final day in Armenia, we head back into the mountains to see one more fortress.