Armenia (Sevan, Noravank, Tatev) - May, 2014

In the last segment of our day trip, we left Debed Canyon and drove along Lake Sevan to visit south part of Armenia.

The view around Lake Sevan is very pretty. The combination of the lake and mountains in the background with snow caps reminded us a lot of Switzerland. There are not many cars on the road. Once in a while, we would pass flocks of sheep. And occasionally some young local guys selling freshly collected mushrooms alongside of the road.

We arrived in a cute little monastery called Sevanavank. It is built on a little hill in the Sevan peninsula. The monastery is again very simple, but its setting against the lake made it very special.

We continued our trip and towards Noravank in the afternoon. As we approach Noravank, the road became narrower, and we started to see massive mountains rising on both sides of the road. Different from the Debed Canyon, these mountains don't have flat plateaus on top. The narrow path and the cliffs reminded me the way to get into Petra, only in this setting there are a lot more trees.

Noravank is an impressive looking monastery built on one side of the huge mountain. The monastery is well preserved (or recently renovated). In the main building, there are very narrow stone steps that allow you to climb inside of the church. The steps are big and difficult to climb, and you really have to use both your arms and legs. Stepping back a little bit, you can see the entire monastery against the colourful mountain on the other side of the road. The mountain has a very pretty pink and rose colour, and the entire view is especially beautiful during the sunset.

We stayed in Noravank for as long as we could to enjoy the view until the sun started to set. We then returned and stayed in Yeghegnadzor which is a town nearby. There is nothing notable about the town itself. We had some problems finding food after dark. The hotel we stayed in stopped serving food in the afternoon, and there are no restaurants in the town. We had to drive back to the highway in the pouring rain to find a fast food chain that serves grilled meat. That was quite an interesting experience.

On our final day of the road trip we went to Tatev. Tatev is in the far south of Armenia, close to Iran. The road got worse and worse as we drove nearby, with fewer and fewer cars. Tatev is build in the Vorotan Canyon. There is a cable that takes people down into the Canyon close to the monastery, but we didn't realize it at the time, and drove down into the canyon with our car. The road to get there was not easy. There was no paved road in the last 20 mins of the drive.

Slightly different from other monasteries, Tatev is built like a fortress with a long outside wall. Once inside of the monastery, you can also see the dormitory where the monks used to sleep. The dormitory had 3 built walls, and the 4th side faced the cliff without any protection. The setting makes me think of the prison cell where Tyrion Lannister was trapped in Catelyn's castle (you know what I mean if you watch Game of Thrones).

We had lunch in a nearby restaurant and admired Tatev in its impressive setting in the canyon. After a satisfying lunch (we had home made beef stew), we headed back to Yerevan.

On the way home, we got quite close to Turkey and saw the Mount Ararat from far away. The flat landscape allowed us to take a good at the famous mountain, and we stopped several times on the high way to take pictures of it.

That was the end of our Armenia road trip. Lovely country, lovely people!