What an incredible 4 days I�ve just had. As Ara mentioned I went to Karabagh with my friend Carlos, while the other friend who was going with us pulled out at the last minute. As always Karabagh satisfies me in a way I cannot describe, I absolutely adore it and get the same feeling every single time. The names of the places I�m about to mention I have not visited since 1999 even though I�ve been to Karabagh a few times.
So we left Saturday lunchtime, since my Niva needed a good wash prior to our departure and our breakfast and the car wash took longer than expected. We drove down through Goris a really nice town but unfortunately didn�t get a chance to spend time there and thought we could do it on the way back. We drove through Lachin straight to Stepanakert. Once there we phoned Ara who immediately decided to drive for an hour and have dinner with us. So he joined us with a couple of friends and we all had plenty of pizza and Kilikia, then we all went back to the hotel and spent the evening together.
Sunday morning Ara and his friends went back to Martuni and after our breakfast we drove to Gandzasar. Since it was Sunday there were plenty of people around and the complex is really nice. From there we drove back down to Shushi and walked around the city. If only that place was warmer in the winter, I would seriously consider moving there. After Shushi we drove to Martuni through Aghdam and spent the night at Ara�s house and yes there was plenty of food and home made wine and tuti oghi at his friend�s house for dinner.
Monday morning we drove to a little village called Nngi where Jeff, an American has a pottery factory and we wanted to check it out. The road was pretty rough leading up to that village. Believe it or not we got lost whilst in the village and never found the factory and I was tired of asking instructions on how to locate it, mainly because I couldn�t understand what they were saying anyway. We rushed back to Martuni as we were supposed to meet Ara and as it turned out he never made it back from Stepanakert as he had too much work to do.
So he asked us to go to the Mayor�s office so that someone could accompany us to Hadrut. A very nice man did accompany us that afternoon through Fizuli all the way to Hadrut where we saw a nice Church. The whole way this man was telling us Monte stories and for hours I was translating these stories for Carlos. This man was Monte�s soldier and his radio man so you can imagine his passion. We only had an hour of sunlight left so we rushed back to visit Amaras Monastery, a great complex. We dropped off our guide at his home and Carlos bought a few items from him such as a bronze plate, a ceramic vase as a thank you since he wouldn�t accept money from us. That evening Ara cooked for us and it was a nice relaxing evening. We also visited his factory and checked out his new car.
Tuesday morning we left Ara�s house at 8am and drove through Mardakert to Dativank. That place is very special and it bought back a lot of memories from my 99 trip. From there we drove through Kelbajar driving through Zod Gold Mines Vardenis and Sevan. Kelbajar and Lachin would have to be on top of favourite to see lists. It was a long day and it took us 9 hours to reach Yerevan and as we hadn�t eaten all day we had a healthy dinner once in Yerevan.
Once I got home I rang Mama Manoogian, a very special lady, and since she�ll be leaving for Karabagh tomorrow I will be seeing her tonight with a few friends and Ara hopefully who�s driving from Martuni to pick her up. By the way trying to contact Mama Manoogian deserves logging. She�s staying at a reputable hotel and when I called, I was told by the reception lady that �he�s not in the room� so I said it�s a �she�, she says so �she�s not in the room then� and hangs up. I call back and tell them I�ve been disconnected and if I could leave a message. The new girl tells me that she�s in the room now, ok so can I speak to her? �No I�m mistaken she must be out�, �ok can I please leave a message�? Luckily Mama Manoogian calls me back last night not having received any of my messages of course.
I have a lot to do this week, follow up the Cadastre people (I prefer to call them catastrophe), carpet man, Netsys which isn�t working due to technical Armentel problems and so I have no internet etc etc. BTW speaking of Shpion, I think Carlos is one too! (I�m kidding of course).
So we left Saturday lunchtime, since my Niva needed a good wash prior to our departure and our breakfast and the car wash took longer than expected. We drove down through Goris a really nice town but unfortunately didn�t get a chance to spend time there and thought we could do it on the way back. We drove through Lachin straight to Stepanakert. Once there we phoned Ara who immediately decided to drive for an hour and have dinner with us. So he joined us with a couple of friends and we all had plenty of pizza and Kilikia, then we all went back to the hotel and spent the evening together.
Sunday morning Ara and his friends went back to Martuni and after our breakfast we drove to Gandzasar. Since it was Sunday there were plenty of people around and the complex is really nice. From there we drove back down to Shushi and walked around the city. If only that place was warmer in the winter, I would seriously consider moving there. After Shushi we drove to Martuni through Aghdam and spent the night at Ara�s house and yes there was plenty of food and home made wine and tuti oghi at his friend�s house for dinner.
Monday morning we drove to a little village called Nngi where Jeff, an American has a pottery factory and we wanted to check it out. The road was pretty rough leading up to that village. Believe it or not we got lost whilst in the village and never found the factory and I was tired of asking instructions on how to locate it, mainly because I couldn�t understand what they were saying anyway. We rushed back to Martuni as we were supposed to meet Ara and as it turned out he never made it back from Stepanakert as he had too much work to do.
So he asked us to go to the Mayor�s office so that someone could accompany us to Hadrut. A very nice man did accompany us that afternoon through Fizuli all the way to Hadrut where we saw a nice Church. The whole way this man was telling us Monte stories and for hours I was translating these stories for Carlos. This man was Monte�s soldier and his radio man so you can imagine his passion. We only had an hour of sunlight left so we rushed back to visit Amaras Monastery, a great complex. We dropped off our guide at his home and Carlos bought a few items from him such as a bronze plate, a ceramic vase as a thank you since he wouldn�t accept money from us. That evening Ara cooked for us and it was a nice relaxing evening. We also visited his factory and checked out his new car.
Tuesday morning we left Ara�s house at 8am and drove through Mardakert to Dativank. That place is very special and it bought back a lot of memories from my 99 trip. From there we drove through Kelbajar driving through Zod Gold Mines Vardenis and Sevan. Kelbajar and Lachin would have to be on top of favourite to see lists. It was a long day and it took us 9 hours to reach Yerevan and as we hadn�t eaten all day we had a healthy dinner once in Yerevan.
Once I got home I rang Mama Manoogian, a very special lady, and since she�ll be leaving for Karabagh tomorrow I will be seeing her tonight with a few friends and Ara hopefully who�s driving from Martuni to pick her up. By the way trying to contact Mama Manoogian deserves logging. She�s staying at a reputable hotel and when I called, I was told by the reception lady that �he�s not in the room� so I said it�s a �she�, she says so �she�s not in the room then� and hangs up. I call back and tell them I�ve been disconnected and if I could leave a message. The new girl tells me that she�s in the room now, ok so can I speak to her? �No I�m mistaken she must be out�, �ok can I please leave a message�? Luckily Mama Manoogian calls me back last night not having received any of my messages of course.
I have a lot to do this week, follow up the Cadastre people (I prefer to call them catastrophe), carpet man, Netsys which isn�t working due to technical Armentel problems and so I have no internet etc etc. BTW speaking of Shpion, I think Carlos is one too! (I�m kidding of course).
posted by lena at 12:25 PM
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