For my 32nd birthday Seth arranged a couple nights in a hotel across the southern border into Armenia. We had heard rave reviews of this place and Seth had never been to Armenia before so we took advantage of the long weekend and drove down. Even with our GPS we had some wrong turns in the town of Marneuli which had us bumping down a deeply rutted dirt road along a canal grazing past cows and some very curious shepards.
Once into Armenia the terrain is beautiful. The road follows a river and winds through the valley of a lush, green gorge. The theme of this trip was, "If you think you've passed it, you haven't gone far enough." By the time we were close to our destination it was getting dark and, as with all adventures in this region, the directions to the hotel including passing a certain number of tunnels on the side of the road and then turning right over "the bridge" of which there are many.
The hotel was a treat. Situated directly along the river it had a pool and hot tub, workout room and comfortable lounge areas. The food was nice and the weather was gorgeous. The only drawback was the morning (and afternoon) wake up call from the roosters, chickens and pigs at the house adjacent to the parking lot of the hotel which our windows faced out to.
Our first full day took us to the ruins of an ancient church set up on a hillside called Kobaya. Based on a recommendation from the hotel staff we drove a short distance to a set of railroad tracks where we abandoned the car and followed an old set of narrow stone steps up the hill and through a small collection of homes. We literally walked straight between the houses. The guide book said, "If you venture off the path the locals will quickly correct you." and I'm sure they would because venturing off the path would probably land you in their bedroom. Here is Seth picking his way between the houses,
Along the path up to the church was passed a natural spring which had been tapped,
These are fairly common to find in the region. The inscriptions on this one are in Armenian.
Below are photos of the entrance to the church at Kobaya as well as graves on the site, a fresco that was being repaired and the view from the church.
We decided to continue on to a
UNESCO World Heritage Site before heading back to the hotel. AFter following some misleading signs to Sanahin Monastery and getting fairly turned around we managed to wind our way up the side of the valley to this quiet and nearly deserted ruin.
The oldest references to the monastery were found in early 10th century Armenian manuscripts and relate that the monastery was constructed over the ruins of a 4th or 5th century church. The complex consists of several buildings which date from different periods including several churches and a gavit, the round chapel of St. Gregory, an academy, a bell tower and a library.
An invasion by the Mongolians in 1235 is cited as a cause for the general decline of monastic life and the subsequent decay of the monastery itself. It was during this and other invasions that much of the monastery was destroyed.
If you look closely at the ground in the above photo you will see that it is completely covered in side by side tomb stones.
We thought the detailed carving on this cross was impressive.
As we were leaving the Sanahin Monastery a large group was arriving who were part of a wedding party. Their cars were blocking the road back down so we stopped into a small shop for an ice cream and waited. While we were waiting 2 Armenian men came over and motioned with their hands and camera. We thought they were asking us to take a photo of them so we said sure. As Seth stepped forward to take the camera one of the guys walked up beside me, put his arm around me and posed for his friend to snap a picture. Apparently they had actually wanted Seth's permission to get a photo with his supermodel wife.
We will pause here and take a break from our ancient church tour to show you a picture of something that caught our eye on Armenian television back at the hotel that night:
Aparently Dr. Evil is alive and well and is trying to acquire 1 million Dram on Armenian
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Which, when you do the currency conversion from Armenian Dram to USD comes out to be roughly $2,800.
On our way back to Georgia we stopped at the last monastery on the World Heritage list, Haghbat. According to documentary sources the monastery was founded in 976 AD and the fortress of Kalan was built to protect it in 1233 AD. Like Sanahin, Haghbat was founded by the royal Bagratuni dynasty and it eventually became a spiritual center.
Seth took this great shot which captures the view of the gorge from Haghbat.
Here Meg recreates a common Georgian Wedding photo. For some reason young Georgian brides seem to think their wedding photos might be in the next issue of Maxim and often include poses like this.
Overall it was a nice weekend getaway that we would recommend to friends. Although I will agree with Seth, by Sunday afternoon I was "churched out".
