Thursday 15 th Yerevan and Garni

The drive out to Garni and the monastery of Gerghard (Gregory the Illuminator) was through mountainous roads and dishevelled villages. Anni our guide told us that many of the homes were started after the collapse of the Soviet regime and people excitedly embarked on buying property and building but ran out of money to finish. This explained the state of these ramshackle homes and businesses. It is such a shame because the country side is quite magnificent. However unemployment is about 15% so that continues to impact the situation.

The road was subject to landslides too so it is always under repair. This made for a quite bumpy and slow trip. I resorted to my ginger lollies to quell my travel sickness! The driver is excellent and we feel very safe.

Arriving at the Gerghad monastery in such overcast weather gave us a feel for how bleak and tough it must have been to carve a church out of a mountain! The Saint lived as a hermit in the caves for much of his life after converting the King to Christianity and initially focusing on building churches and monasteries throughout Armenia. This monastery was dedicated to the holy spear that lanced Jesus on the cross. They don’t dedicate churches to the Virgin Mary here but to Mother Of God. I rather like that. The church is small with a huge hall outside the alter area where people sit. It had a ceiling that was influenced by the ceilings in mosques. Also there were rooms off the sides that had been carved out of the mountain with just one little window in the roof. One of the rooms was a baptismal room where a stream flowed off the mountain. The water is supposed to be healing. A group of Koreans were filling bottles and washing faces and arms in the stream very purposefully.

Outside we walked up some stairs to where Saint Gregory was supposed to have lived.

It must have been freezing in winter and so bitter. I guess a man who survived 13 years in a dark pit with scorpions and snakes would have the mental strength and belief to sustain himself in this harsh place.

While here we heard a choir sing in one of the cavern chambers. The acoustics were amazing and their voices angelic. Made me feel very self conscious about our early morning hymns on the bus! I realised that I just don’t sing much anymore (a good thing I think my kids might say), so my vocal cords feel rusty.

The area surrounding the monastery is so mountainous and green yet silver crosses have been placed on the opposite hill all the way to the top.

After this quite sobering visit we returned to the village of Garni where the 1st century Temple of Garni stands. An Ionic pagan temple it was built in the Greco- Roman style. It was originally a fortress but became a simmer palace which was destroyed by an earthquake in the 17 th century. Three centuries later it was resconstructed.

While here we were treated to a Duduk performance. It is a traditional instrument like a recorder but with more mellow notes. It was very haunting music.

As we wandered the rain started and soon we were making a dash for the bus and a decision was made to return to Yerevan for lunch/ early dinner. The food was delicious and the restaurant very charming with large paintings depicting the making of Lavash which is only made by women as it is likened to women giving birth! This is because they make the bread underground. Bread here is the stuff if life and comes in all sorts of shapes and flavours. Pity I am gluten sensitive because it all looks amazing and the LITTLE pieces I have tasted have been delicious.

There are lots of very attractive street dogs here. The government capture, chip and desex them and release them back to the streets where the communities then feed them. Their ear tags are graded to show the friendliness though I haven’t noticed that. They seem pretty friendly and are not nuisances. Cats also seem to be at the monasteries and all animals seem healthy.

We ended the day with a walk down the avenue of fountains back to the hotel.