We got a tour from this company called Hyur Services , which ran from 10:00 to 18:00. It stopped at three main attractions:
1. Khor Virap Monastery, which served as the imprisonment location for 13 years for Gregory the Illuminator - who is basically the Armenian Christian McDaddy. He is the guy who caused these folks to make Christianity their official state religion in 301AD (Armenia was the first to do so). The place is situated 8 km from the Turkish border, and close to Mt. Ararat (Noah's Ark anyone..?). But there was poor weather so we could not see the top of the mountain clearly.
2. Noravank - Yet another monastery who's name means "new monastery", since it's just from the13th century. The old one/original one dates back to the 7th century, as I recall. So this one is definitely new... It was quite nice indeed, with steps going up that were narrow and without a rail to hold on to. A bit of a tricky climb up and more so to go down. This would definitely not fly in the States.
Going up
Heading down
3. Areni - Just a wine tasting place. It bore no interest to me.
The tour guide was the most knowledgeable person I've met thus far (in either Georgia or Armenia). She was extremely well versed in dates and treaties and other historical facts regarding Armenia. It was amusing though when she referred to territory held by Turkey as West Armenia. Sort of reminds me of Israel… Anyway, Armenian multiple border changes over history can serve as a great illustration for how flexible borders are, and how nations often get screwed along the way.
In the evening we dined at an Italian place called "Ali Leoni". Fancy Shmency, with food that was crappy. Stay Away!
In the evening we dined at an Italian place called "Ali Leoni". Fancy Shmency, with food that was crappy. Stay Away!
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