Garni Temple
On our second day in Armenia, Sam and I took a day trip out of town to see some other sights. We headed to the pagan temple at Garni and the Armenian Christian monastery at Geghard, both about 30-40 minutes' drive from Yerevan. We were joined on our tour by our host grandmother's cousin, Alexander. He's an engineer in Yerevan, and speaks English (and Esperanto!) fluently. He was excited to meet us after talking with Emilia (and us) a lot on Skype. It was nice to have a local travel with us.
We had worried that the weather might not be too good for a jaunt into the countryside, as the grey clouds covered Yerevan all morning and little outbursts of rain kept us on our toes. We lucked out, though, and the rain not only held off, but the skies cleared and we ended up with a fantastic day for wandering around old ruins.
Our first stop was to Garni, an ancient pagan temple turned summer palace for the later Christian kings of Armenia. There are other ruins (of an old Armenian church, and other structures, like baths) around, but the main focus is the temple structure you see above. The landscape around Garni is really something, too, and once all those trees and flowers get into full bloom, I'm sure it was really striking.
The scenery around the Garni temple was just coming alive, but still breathtaking. We imagined that in another few weeks, after more buds had burst and green taken hold, it would truly be beautiful.
Not the most successful of self portraits, but you get the idea. We were there.
This is where the archaeologists stayed while excavating. Sam's setting himself up for the good life!
Our next stop was to the Armenian monastery of Geghard. The original site was founded by the founder of the Armenian church (and converter of the Armenian kings to Christianity), Grigor the Illuminator. The complex had the whole 9 yards: monastic caves, khachkars, a big ol' church, holy spring, courtyard, place for animal sacrifices. You name it, they had it. It was also just a really pretty, pleasant place to be. The church itself was incredibly cool inside, and it turns out that's not odd. It's main structure is apparently carved out of a single piece of solid rock from the side of the mountain it nestles against.
Monks gotta have their caves!
Lots of very cool old khachkars everywhere
Sam really liked the beehives, especially after he made friends with one of the bees
Inside the main church building
Lots of cool stone carving going on
It was pretty dark inside, though, with the only light making it in through the ceilings and a few darkly colored windows
Geghard Monastery
Sam with some khachkars
I moved just as Sam was surreptitiously taking this and made his picture come out blurry
Some of the very old khachkars had been painted red, and still had traces of the red paint
Outside the monastery, lots of women from the neighboring village were selling their goods: gata, pastegh, and churchkhela
As we approached, they all tried to entice us with their goods
We made it back to Yerevan in the late afternoon, happy with our side trip and ready to eat more food, of course! We tried out the Indian restaurant in Yerevan, which was delicious, and then got some ice cream to snack on as we strolled around the park near our hostel. There were lots of kids out biking, roller blading, and generally running around, enjoying the weather and the freedom to no longer be bundled up in winter clothes. The park was starting to get all set up for warmer days, with games and attractions popping up like crocuses.
This was the game I wanted to play, if only to try to win the stuffed John McCain doll in the right-hand corner. Unfortunately I didn't have any 100 dram coins on me. Next time, John. Next time.
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