Blogs from Armenia, Asia - page 11

We had a big day ahead of us with three different places to visit. But first we had to go to the Foreign ministry to sort out our visas, then we were off to the market to get some lunch as there wouldn't be anywhere to eat in the area where we were heading. A speciality of the area is Jingalov Hats, a flat bread cooked with seven herbs - one of which is compulsory - no idea which one. We also bought tomatoes, cucumber and fruit. Perfect. Saro also bought himself a head torch for the cave that we would be visiting later. The roads in Karabakh are pretty good. Lots of money has been donated by the Armenian diaspora who are living all over the world. The All Hayastan fund have also donated a ... read more

Despite going to bed quite late, I woke up at 6am and couldn't get back to sleep. I hate it when that happens. I tried to make the most of my time and so I got up, showered and spent a bit of time updating the blog which is quite a time consuming business. The uploading of photos is particularly slow especially as I am also trying to rename them as well. Breakfast was at 9am so once we were all up we sat outside on the balcony where the view across the valley is fantastic. It was starting to warm up and I could feel the sun on my back. Anoush. Our first trip was to Matosavank which is close to Rasmik's place but up quite a steep climb. My legs were feeling a bit ... read more

We had a pretty good nights sleep but I woke early and with the prospect of breakfast at 9.30am - talk about laid back - I had a wander around the site and then back to bed as the sun hadn't reached the gorge and it was chilly outside. Breakfast was served, prepared by Saro again, we had lavash, cheese, sour cream and jam as well as a tomato omelette. It tasted the same as the one at Haghpat but was more solid but a completely different texture from the ones we have at home. Saro insisted on washing up - apparently this is very unusual for Armenian men. I was wondering how many people might make it down to Lastiver for the day. We had chatted to someone from Yerevan the day before who had ... read more

Another late start - breakfast at 9am. The breakfast was similar to previous days, instead of conserve we had a really thick tasty honey. We had ordered a tomato omelette which was actually more like a soup with more tomato than egg - very unusual. Saro was still having battery trouble but managed to jump start the jeep again. He ordered a battery from Yerevan that is making its way to Ijevan by taxi, together with his wife. Our first visit was to Akhtala further down the gorge on the way towards the Georgian border. It is a very large cathedral - not the most attractive on the outside but amazing frescos on the inside. They are raising money to renovate the dome. There are secret passages in the church - Saro kept appearing at various ... read more

I had a bad night's sleep, waking up at 4am with my brain going into overload. Note to self, do not have coffee after midday and certainly not with vodka. We breakfasted at 8am as we were leaving Gumryi to head for Stepanavan in the Lori region of Armenia. We said our goodbyes to Grigor, who had worked all night at the hotel, and then we were on our way via the old town where we took a few snaps of the original style of architecture. We drove straight to Stepanavan passing from a dry almost treeless area to a greener, forested region. To get there you have to go through two long tunnels - both were lit and well surfaced - we have heard of horror stories of unlit tunnels with potholes! In fact, overall ... read more