Another fantastic weekend. Saturday was spent at home, where I got some things done and recovered a bit too. Sunday was awesome. Another trip where I got to visit some more great places which were long on my to see list. First we went down by Nakhichevan and from there headed NW to see Surp Garabed. Very nice monastery in probably the most arid part of Armenia I have ever visited. Then we headed south just about to Yeghegnadzor before cutting straight north to Lake Sevan. We went up a dirt road with countless switchbacks until we finally had an amazing view at the crest, where Selim Caravanserai is located. The best preserved Silk Road Caravanserai in Armenia. Just before reaching it we were quite convinced we had run out of gas, but thank goodness that was not the case... At the crest you head further north on a massive plain, the scale of which I had never imagined. The scenery is very nice, a bit reminiscent of Ireland maybe, and the road was absolutely horrible. After endless kilometers of this, we got to Marduni, the big town on the south end of Lake Sevan and headed North along the Western shore towards the main highway. This plain is where I took my ten thousandth picture with my digital camera which I got in spring 2000. Once along the lakeside highway we stopped at Noraduz, which has the biggest Khachkar cemetary in Armenia, and I saw if for the first time in good light. Of course this is when my camera batteries died. Then we stopped at Hayravank Monastery again for the first time in good light for me to photograph... my batteries allowed me one shot. The lake was beautiful too at the time. So we headed back into Yerevan on good road and I started getting ready to go to the airport to pick up my dad from the airport after nearly 12 hours on the road...

This week has been going quite well, and it looks like for the third weekend in a row I may be taking a cool trip. Three options are in the pot, and one is just too cool to hope for... I will let you know what happens.