It was exciting to be on the road after nearly ending up without a rental car. It would have been a nightmare had Alina not managed to find one for us. It was a lovely new car so driving was a pleasure. First stop was Khor Virab – apart from stopping to photo one of the numerous storks that had made nest on top of lampposts. The temple was first built in 642 to commemorate St Gregory the Illuminator who spend 13 years in a pit on the site after admitting to being a Christian to King Trdat. Trdat fell ill and was advised by his wife to release Gregory, his illness was cured. He then converted to Christianity and made Armenia the first Christian nation in the world in 301. The view of Mt Ararat in the background was stunning – although cloud cover made it less than perfect.
After that it was a beautiful drive through some spectacular canyons to the deserted Norovank Monastery built in the 13th century. The sheer red cliffs surrounding it made for an awesome setting. After enjoying the isolation and scenery we headed back down the canyon to some nearby caves called Areni-1 Caves. The caves were amazing – there was evidence that they were making wine there back in 3500 to 4000 BC. There was still a lot of qvevri buried in the ground. Again there was very few people there whjch enabled Deryn and I to have the place to ourselves – apart from the flocks of swallows which is hardly surprising given its also called the Birds Cave.
From there it was off to the weirdly named Yeghegnadzor and our B&B called Home. It was beautiful and our host Saba was an incredibly helpful host with a lovely twinkle in his eye. His recommendation for dinner was the Gastro Yard Arman Hakhverdyan was superb. Best meal we have had on our travels to date. For 5000 GEL each we had multiple courses, 2 wines, a brandy and a lovely vodka was well as a gift of a bottle of brandy with our photo on the label. The walk to and from the restaurant was lovely – seemed like every car was a Lada. Very unlike Yerevan where there was a lot of Chinese EVs.
Saba provided a lovely breakfast – again at 9am as no one gets up before then – and it was on our way to our next destination on the Yerevan Meghri Highway through a spectacular pass. We spotted the isolated Vorotnavak Church off the to the side of the road. The benefit of getting away early is that there are no crowds. Again we had the place to ourselves to wonder around.
Next stop was the Tatev Monastery and the famous Wings of Tatev. A 5.2 km cable car that runs between Halidzor and Tatev Monastery. We decided to do the cable car first and then check out the monastery. The cable car was OK although a bit pricey at $40 each – $20 each way. The monastery was built in the 9th century and in the 14 and 15th centuries it was most important Armenian universities. It has spectacular views over the Vorotan River. We decided to drive to the bottom of the canyon and walk to the Dragon’s Bridge – a cave that looked like a bridge. We ended up going what we thought was the wrong way so backed up and walked the other way up the river until we got to a point where the river was too deep to cross. Deryn bum was still hurting from the fall in Kutaisi fall. It all got too hard so we flagged it and retuned to the car and continued our journey. We found out later that the first route we took was the correct one. Damn, as the cave sounded impressive.
Our next stop was the town of Goris. While driving there we notice a small stone rotunda perched on the edge of the Alaverdi. We enjoyed the little walk to the rotunda and then the incredible view.
The drive to Goris was easy. The roads so had been pretty good although once we got into Goris the roads were terrible – it looked like the potholes were being prepared for fixing with these big rectangles all over the roads. We pulled up outside our BnB called Aregak. It was run by Mareta who sounded like a real character. The BnB was in an apartment block so it was a bit difficult to find but Mareta eventually came out and gave both of us a big bear hug. We had booked a 4 bed room but Mareta tried to convince us to move into the room with a double bed. The problem was that the bed took up the whole room. After thinking about it for a while I said no. That resulted in a big hug from Mareta. She then made us some coffee and biscuits. She noticed that I had dropped a crumb onto my sweatshirt so she picked it off for me. When I chuckled she grabbed me by my head and smothered me with her bosom. Very odd.
We asked for a recommendation for dinner. She said she knew just the place and rather just tell us where it was she walked us there holding Deryn’s hand the whole way. Our take on the situation l was that the quality of the rooms of her BnB were poor so she compensated by being this person. It didn’t feel put on though. Dinner was great as always.
The next day we decided to do the hike to the Old Bells of Goris and through some well known cave dwellings. Apparently the caves were inhabited from the 5th century through to the 1950’s. We had a lovely breakfast in the garden of the BnB – basically Mareta’s allotment. It was a lovely breakfast. We then headed out for hike. It was a beautiful day. We had a bit of trouble finding the trial to the top of the hills but eventually made it. The was a sign at the peak – and some cows – the the options of the the Old Goris Loop (and the cave dwellings) and Old Bells of Goris. Well the loop will obviously bring is back here and then we can do the Bells walk. Well the loop took us past some caves and back to where we started out this morning. Well then had to re-climb the 300m back to the top of the hill. We went off piste and found some dwellings but hardly impressive. It was hard work and by the time we found the path to the Bells were were pretty worn out. But soldier on we did. We met a local cow herdsman who chatted away in Armenian. After about an hour we got to the Bells which was again hardly inspiring. We tried to hitch a ride for the 6kms back to town but failed. Thankfully there was a fountain there so we could refill our empty water bottles. I then convinced Deryn to retrace our steps back to our BnB. It wasn’t that tough as it was mostly downhill We hobbled into town and grabbed a couple of kebabs from a very impressive local supermarket. And then it was back to the hug palace for a well earned sleep after a 12km of hiking and nearly 800m of climbing.
We headed back to the same restaurant as the previous night for another enjoyable meal and few games of cribbage. That evening back in the BnB we met an older English lady who had spent a fair bit of time in NZ in the 80’s. Working as a farmers in Gore. She told us a story about how she nearly died while hitching and being picked up in a truck that rolled. She was not wearing a seatbelt and was thrown from the truck. She was in hospital for 4 months. She has travelled widely all without ever owning a phone!!
We talked Mareta into an 830 breakfast the next morning so we could head way early for our trip to Seven. Breakfast was great and after some hugs it was off back north.
