I had a really cool (literally) weekend up in the Yeghegnadzor area. Yerevan is on the Ararat plain, at about 1,000m elevation, while Yeghegnadzor is on another mountain plain at I am guessing 1,500m. We left the 100 degree tempratures of Yerevan for the always cooler Yeghegnadzor in the middle of the day. We were accompanying Jeff, a diasporan who has been living here the majority of the time for about 7 years now, to a khorovadz some of the people he works with were having after a meeting. His job of setting up farmers associations with UMCOR was ending and this good group he was working with wanted to part in style.
Vakhtank Galustian
While Jeff was having his meeting, we wandered around a small village it was taking place in called Chiva which we had never been to before. As the meeting was wrapping up, we were sitting outside talking to the farmers wife, and I remembered something I decided to throw out there. On the back cover of the guidebook I had published, I included a picture of a guy riding a funny three wheel motorcycle/truck thingy. It was a picture I took on the road while both of us were moving and it came out perfectly. I remembered I took it in this general area and wondered if the woman might know him. She got really excited when she saw it as it was her next door neighbor. We went over the 50 meters to his house and he wasn't home, but as we headed back to her house he was again driving by in the same contraption and we waved him over. He was just amazed and remembered when I took it. He recounted how we were tailing him at about the same speed and he thought we must be cops so he was ignoring us... then just as he finally looked over I snapped the perfect picture.
Arates Vank
On Sunday, after waking up to a great breakfast at the bed and breakfast we stayed at, we headed out to a monastery I had never seen. Armen, Jeff's coworker is from the area and he drove us and told us all sorts of fascinating background to the region. On the way to the monastery we saw amazing fields of wildflowers, and kept going higher and higher through village after village. We stopped at one point to check out an ancient (1200's) Jewish cemetary. It was in an amazing spot and it was funny to see Hebrew on Armenian style tombstones. The community here was prosperous and the only known place in Europe at that time where it is known that Jews could own land. After driving past there a while, we reached Arates Vank. The monastery was half collapsed, with beautiful ruins, carvings, arches, tombs and views. I couldn't take enough pictures. On our way back down we detoured to a beautiful waterfall, where Armen and Zabel jumped a few meters into the ice cold and crystal clear water. Me and Jeff were satisfied with dunking only our heads in the water. After that we headed back on the main road, only stopping to check out a rare and well preserved pagan tomb. After a nap and some food we are about to head off to Zvartnots Airport to pick up Zabel's cousin Michelle...
Vakhtank Galustian
While Jeff was having his meeting, we wandered around a small village it was taking place in called Chiva which we had never been to before. As the meeting was wrapping up, we were sitting outside talking to the farmers wife, and I remembered something I decided to throw out there. On the back cover of the guidebook I had published, I included a picture of a guy riding a funny three wheel motorcycle/truck thingy. It was a picture I took on the road while both of us were moving and it came out perfectly. I remembered I took it in this general area and wondered if the woman might know him. She got really excited when she saw it as it was her next door neighbor. We went over the 50 meters to his house and he wasn't home, but as we headed back to her house he was again driving by in the same contraption and we waved him over. He was just amazed and remembered when I took it. He recounted how we were tailing him at about the same speed and he thought we must be cops so he was ignoring us... then just as he finally looked over I snapped the perfect picture.
Arates Vank
On Sunday, after waking up to a great breakfast at the bed and breakfast we stayed at, we headed out to a monastery I had never seen. Armen, Jeff's coworker is from the area and he drove us and told us all sorts of fascinating background to the region. On the way to the monastery we saw amazing fields of wildflowers, and kept going higher and higher through village after village. We stopped at one point to check out an ancient (1200's) Jewish cemetary. It was in an amazing spot and it was funny to see Hebrew on Armenian style tombstones. The community here was prosperous and the only known place in Europe at that time where it is known that Jews could own land. After driving past there a while, we reached Arates Vank. The monastery was half collapsed, with beautiful ruins, carvings, arches, tombs and views. I couldn't take enough pictures. On our way back down we detoured to a beautiful waterfall, where Armen and Zabel jumped a few meters into the ice cold and crystal clear water. Me and Jeff were satisfied with dunking only our heads in the water. After that we headed back on the main road, only stopping to check out a rare and well preserved pagan tomb. After a nap and some food we are about to head off to Zvartnots Airport to pick up Zabel's cousin Michelle...
posted by Raffi K. at 9:18 PM
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