Exploring Armenia (part 2)

In the second half of our trip we came back to Yerevan and from Yerevan we did multiple day trips. Also we had the chance to see even more of the city. We visited the Armenian Genocide monument, which was quite impressive. Moreover, we visited various markets and even had a private tour in the history museum by ESC-volunteer Saïd.

Lake Sevan

Lake Sevan is one of the biggest lakes of Armenia. We visited the Sevanavank monastery. This monastery is located on a hill and from here you have the best view over the lake. For this reason we also walked around here for a while. After this we walked to the Sevan writers house. This is an old Soviet building, where retreats used to be held for writers from the Soviet Union.

Zvartnots Temple & Cathedral of Etsjmiadzin

The day after we visited the Zvartnots Temple and the Cathedral of Etsjmiadzin. These sights are quite close to Yerevan and are easily reachable by bus. First we stopped at the Zvartnots Temple. Unfortunately the weather wasn't really clear, so you could not see the mountain behind the temple. The temple was fun to see, but not very special.

After this we took a taxi to the cathedral of Etchmiadzin. This church is the oldest church in Armenia. I thought this church was the most beautiful church we have seen in Armenia so far. This is because the building was also really beautifully decorated on the inside. Usually, Georgian and Armenian churches are quite sober on the inside.

Khor Virap

Unfortunately the weather was also unclear when we visited the Khor Virap monastery. Behind the Khor Virap monastery lies Mount Ararat, an impressive and high mountain located in Turkey. Because of the weather, the mountain was not visible. This made the monastery a bit less impressive.We looked at the monastery, then we went for a drink in the hope that the weather would clear up. And ofcourse, we were offered wine at 11:00 in the morning, typical 😂. Unfortunately, the weather did not clear up anymore. So we walked to the viewpoint and then hitchhiked back to Yerevan, which again went pretty smoothly.

Gyumri

The last stop of our Armenia road-trip was Gyumri. This is the second biggest city of Armenia. A big thing we had to get used to in Gyumri was the temperature. It was so cold (-10 degrees), there was snow everywhere and the streets were very slippery. We arrived quite late, so we did not do any sightseeing and went out for dinner somewhere. The funny thing was that we were in a restaurant where 5 out of 6 customers were Dutch. This was such a coincidence, because we did not encounter many tourists, and had not seen Dutch tourists in Armenia before.

The next day we visited the main sights in the center of Gyumri. The main sights were a black church, the shopping street and an abandoned building. After one hour we had seen most of the city center, so we had a break in a nice bakery.

Sunday was already the last day of our Armenia trip. We visited a number of sights that were a bit further outside the city centre. First we went to the Black Fortress and the Mother of Armenia monument. Then we visited a special roundabout. Finally we visited a museum. The museum was called the Gallery of Mariam and Eranuhi Aslamazyan Sisters. As the name implies, the museum exhibits the art of the sisters Mariam and Eranuhi. I didn't have many expectations of the museum beforehand, but I really liked it! The paintings used a lot of colour and the subjects of the paintings were interesting!

After our museum visit we saw everything in Gyumri. Unfortunately we had to wait a bit for our train, which didn't leave until midnight. We spent the whole afternoon at a bakery and in the evening we went out for dinner.

All in all I thought Armenia was a nice country to visit, I think I got a good impression of the country in these 12 days!

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