Day 5 (July 3, 2023):

Text / captions will be entered on Tuesday.  (I can’t keep my eyes open here! 😴)

Mount Ararat viewing arch enroute to Garni. Designed by the same architect under the Soviet regime who designed the Mother Armenia statue (see Day 3 entry). 

Mount Aarat (possible resting place for Noah’s Ark) in eastern Turkey in the hazy distance. 

Garni Temple:  The Temple of Garni is the only standing Greco-Roman colonnaded building in Armenia and the former Soviet Union. It is located in the village of Garni, in central Armenia, around 30 km east of Yerevan. It is the best-known structure and symbol of pre-Christian Armenia.

Interior of Garni Temple. The temple was largely destroyed in an earthquake and was reconstructed in the 1950s. The light grey stones show non-original pieces used in the restoration. 

The bath house at Garni had an elaborate system (for Greek times) of producing hot and lukewarm water. The intricate design in the floor tile remains amazingly intact. 

The Garni Gorge, where the Symphony of Stones is located (see below), as seen from Garni Tenple. 


Our only encounter with Armenian wildlife! It looks

Small, but it was a man-eater! We barely escaped with our lives! 🤪

Garni Gorge - Symphony of the Stones:  These rock formations are comprised of basalt columns.  The geologic process is called “columnar jointing” — thanks to my neighbour, Stewart, for finding that out for me!  The phenomenon occurs when a large volume of magma cools evenly on all sides

A stop enroute to see how Armenian pita is made:

Pam’s video shows the short but interesting process:  Armenian women making pita bread

Geghard Monastery:  Geghard is a medieval monastery in the Kotayk province of Armenia, being partially carved out of the adjacent mountain, surrounded by cliffs. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site with enhanced protection status.  

While the main chapel was built in 1215, the monastery complex was founded in the 4th century by Gregory the Illuminator at the site of a sacred spring inside a cave. Geghard, or more fully Geghardavank, means "the Monastery of the Spear", which originates from the spear which had wounded Jesus at the Crucifixion, allegedly brought to Armenia by Apostle Jude, and stored amongst many other relics.

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Ornately crafted door to the main chapel.

Leading to the cave where the original spring was found (and still exists today).

A couple is buried here, the linked lions in the carving representing them.

The spring.

These caves were used by monks for isolation and meditative reflection.

Pam on the bridge over the stream running through the site.

There is no bread anywhere as intricate and ornate as that of Armenia.  Take these loaves, for example, being sold at the Geghard Monastery site.

Back in Yerevan…. This is the (non-functioning) floral-shaped fountain outside the Republic Square metro station.

This busker outside the Republic Square metro station was playing a kamancheh, an Armenian four-stringed instrument. 

Armenians love coffee!  These coffee machines are everywhere!!

And most coffee stands, like this one, have 50+ types of coffee-based drinks on offer.

Typical Soviet-era apartment blocks still dominate Yerevan.

There is nothing like going down into a Soviet-made metro system! At 33-cents Canadian per ride, it’s a travel steal!  Mind you, when they doubled the price of a metro ticket several years back, ridership plummeted.

The Soviet-made trains have been rolling through Yerevan’s metro since 1981.

Passing Yerevan’s train station on a metro train.  Most of the Soviet metro systems were constructed deep underground — you won’t find deeper metro systems anywhere on earth.  This is because they were intended to be used as nuclear bomb shelters for the masses.  Yerevan’s, in contrast, is partly above-ground.  When it was built, Yerevan didn’t quite quality for a metro under the Communist Party rules, as only Soviet cities with > 1 million residents qualified for a metro.  So it was officially designated as a “tram network”.  Even the Soviets had loopholes!