Lake Sevan, Hayravank and Noratus Stone Crosses

Today is a holiday in Armenia, and we were both off from work. We decided to take advantage of the hot and sunny weather by taking a car trip to Lake Sevan. The lake is huge, surrounded by mountains, and is a national park. We drove along the southern shore, visited the monestary at Hayravank, which is on a hill overlooking the shore; it was previously on an island before the water level of the lake was reduced as a result of a Stalin-era plan. The plan was abandoned and never fully realized, but the lake is now roughly 69% of its former size, or 20 meters below its original level.

We also stopped to explore a large cemetery with about 900 stone crosses, many from the medieval period onward. A group of local schoolchildren took us through and showed us some of the most interesting stones and told us the stories depicted on many of them.

Brian took this photo of our very persistent guides.

Khor Virap

We took the car out for a day trip to the Khor Virap monastery south west of Yerevan (right on the Turkish border). The monastery is situated on a hill with a spectacular view of Mount Ararat behind it. It's a working monastery, and is a popular spot for Armenian tourists because it is where St. Gregory was imprisoned by a ruling king for 13 years in the late 3rd to early 4th century. Seeing St. Gregory's great faith, the king converted to Christianity and, as the story goes, the world's oldest Christian country was born. Visitors were lined up to climb down a ladder in to the subterreanean cell where St. Gregory was held, but we didn't venture down to see it.

Gyumri

We went to the city of Gyumri, Armenia's second largest city, on a language study field trip. Gyumri was a center of art and culture until it was largely destroyed in the 1988 earthquake, which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale. Much of the city has been rebuilt since then, although reconstruction is still ongoing both in the city center and on the outskirts of town. There are still buildings left in rubble, a number of half-built reconstruction projects, and people living in trailors outside of town. Pictured here (top) is a detail of the city museum (in a restored 19th century townhouse of one of the city's wealthy inhabitants), and below, the reconstructed church in the main square, where we saw a wedding on the day of our tour.