Man oh man... how do people manage to keep up with these things!? Life in Tbilisi is trucking along faster than I can keep up, and I haven't even managed to finish blogging about Armenia. My amazing, gorgeous, wicked smart heterosexual lifemate Chris is still here, and we have been having no shortage of good times. I swear Tbilisi can be like a tar pit sometimes though. It would appear that actually getting out of the city is a task I have not managed to figure out yet. Next weekend though, we are going to Gori. This will be something like the third or fourth time I have attempted to go to Gori. Persistence pays?
Okay, let's knock this Armenia thing out (finally), and then maybe I'll work on getting something like caught up before the next Great Adventure.
April 16. Monday. Last day in Armenia. After a few false starts, Chris and I had managed to secure two very reasonably-priced tickets for a tour to see Garni Temple and Geghard Monastery. Apparently if you go to Armenia, these are the two things you simply must see, "or people will not believe you have been to Armenia," according to Wikitravel. Again with the superb location, the travel agency was right around the corner from our hostel, Center Hostel. We showed up and were shown onto a lovely, modern minibus. Garni Temple is only about maybe half an hour away from Yerevan. It's a pagan temple from Armenia's pre-Christian days. Chris and I were both really impressed that it had managed to survive all these centuries, only to find out that it hadn't. The temple is a reconstruction, with maybe two-thirds of the stones being new, filling in the (considerable) gaps between the remaining actual stones. I'm not going to lie -- finding out it wasn't authentic disappointed me a little. But it was very cool to be able to see how it might have looked, and as Chris pointed out, the damage and deterioration of the original temple stones was such that without the restoration, there would be no way the temple would be able to stand at all.
Also, the temple and its surrounding environs was just really, really incredibly beautiful.
The tour operator was excellent. She gave us the history of the temple in English and Russian, showed us around and to the nearby bathhouse ruins, and then let us poke around for half an hour on our own. And then it was back on the bus and on to Geghard.
Garni Temple was beautiful and the landscape stunning, so it tells you a lot about our next stop that I loved it even more. For one thing, Geghard Monastery is not a reconstruction. The Monastery was built in the mountains that look almost like something from another planet. Utterly untamed and wild. How anyone ever got here before roads and cars, let alone built anything like this, is amazing to me.
Just like last time, the tour operator showed us around and then gave us time to explore on our own. She showed us the site of the original Garni Temple, built into the side of a mountain. I climbed up and did some extra exploring!
Our tour was supposed to be five and half hours, but it ended up being more like four. I would have really appreciated some extra time to explore around Geghard, but the earlier time back in Yerevan meant we had most of the afternoon to finish up our city sightseeing. We headed off to the famous Ararat cognac factory for a tour and tasting, only to find that you needed to call in advance for a tour, and the tasting was 3,500 dram!! Out of our price range. So, bust. Oh well. We went instead to check out St. Sargis Church, as we wanted to see at least one Armenian church before we left. St. Sargis was pretty cool. Armenian Orthodox does not make use of icons, so their churches are more austere than the Georgian churches I've been used to seeing. Still quite beautiful though.
Then, Chris wanted to find an antique store to pick up some artsy things. We hunted around for a while, and eventually were able to find exactly what she was looking for! I was pretty happy that worked out. Then back to the hostel, a quick change again, and we went for our last dinner in Armenia at an "American West" themed restaurant that boasted steaks and ribs. Hey, no judging -- a good steak is almost impossible to find in Georgia! We shared a steak-and-rib combo platter; it came with fries and bunch of different sauces and everything was quite tasty.
For "dessert", I suggested checking out a wine bar we'd passed earlier in the day. But to get there, we had to walk past the Italian place of much fame and aplomb. So we never made it to the wine bar. Instead, we were greeted by our waitress from the other night and ordered a bottle of that amazing Armenian wine and two desserts. A wonderful last hurrah to a fantastic trip!
On the way back to the hostel, we picked up more wine and ended up talking and watching funny youtube nonsense on Chris's iPhone. A good night all around and an amazing stay in Yerevan. I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I have a feeling that Armenia still has many, many things to show me.
Okay, let's knock this Armenia thing out (finally), and then maybe I'll work on getting something like caught up before the next Great Adventure.
April 16. Monday. Last day in Armenia. After a few false starts, Chris and I had managed to secure two very reasonably-priced tickets for a tour to see Garni Temple and Geghard Monastery. Apparently if you go to Armenia, these are the two things you simply must see, "or people will not believe you have been to Armenia," according to Wikitravel. Again with the superb location, the travel agency was right around the corner from our hostel, Center Hostel. We showed up and were shown onto a lovely, modern minibus. Garni Temple is only about maybe half an hour away from Yerevan. It's a pagan temple from Armenia's pre-Christian days. Chris and I were both really impressed that it had managed to survive all these centuries, only to find out that it hadn't. The temple is a reconstruction, with maybe two-thirds of the stones being new, filling in the (considerable) gaps between the remaining actual stones. I'm not going to lie -- finding out it wasn't authentic disappointed me a little. But it was very cool to be able to see how it might have looked, and as Chris pointed out, the damage and deterioration of the original temple stones was such that without the restoration, there would be no way the temple would be able to stand at all.
Also, the temple and its surrounding environs was just really, really incredibly beautiful.
 |
| I dress to match my landscape. |
Garni Temple was beautiful and the landscape stunning, so it tells you a lot about our next stop that I loved it even more. For one thing, Geghard Monastery is not a reconstruction. The Monastery was built in the mountains that look almost like something from another planet. Utterly untamed and wild. How anyone ever got here before roads and cars, let alone built anything like this, is amazing to me.
Just like last time, the tour operator showed us around and then gave us time to explore on our own. She showed us the site of the original Garni Temple, built into the side of a mountain. I climbed up and did some extra exploring!
 |
| A closeup of the original church site |
 |
| And from above! I would have gone further but there was a bus to catch. |
For "dessert", I suggested checking out a wine bar we'd passed earlier in the day. But to get there, we had to walk past the Italian place of much fame and aplomb. So we never made it to the wine bar. Instead, we were greeted by our waitress from the other night and ordered a bottle of that amazing Armenian wine and two desserts. A wonderful last hurrah to a fantastic trip!
On the way back to the hostel, we picked up more wine and ended up talking and watching funny youtube nonsense on Chris's iPhone. A good night all around and an amazing stay in Yerevan. I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I have a feeling that Armenia still has many, many things to show me.
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