“Armenia 🇦🇲 ~Tsaghkadzor, Kecharis Monastary and Garni Temple”
We pulled ourselves out of our winter slumber from the last three lazy days, and left Noyland Resort. We loved the surrounding beauty, the horses, and the snow. Our last day was not so comfortable, though. Something went wrong with the water situation, and we had none for a day. Then, the morning we left, the electricity went out! It was definitely time to move on. As I had mentioned before, paying a higher rate per night will not guarantee water for showers and/or electricity for heat! So, for the most part, we look for much cheaper rates; that way when we loose power, and hot water, it doesn’t feel like we got ripped off!
We did not have any great distance to travel, today, since we made our way out of the Northern region, and are at a slightly lower elevation. The roads were the clearest they have been, since our arrival several weeks ago. It is still very cold, and dry. We drove from Lake Sevan, and stopped at two different sites, before we ended our day. I had been collecting left-over food for about four days, and had quite a feast for several dogs we stopped to feed. Oh how I wish I could have taken at least two of the little dogs with us! Too cute, but they are also quite hardy for being so little; full grown! My hat is off to them. They know how to curl up on the roadside and wait for food. Im sure they mostly get bread tossed to them from people passing, but from us they got meat and cheese and butter and chicken, potatoes, and beef!
To get to the next Monastery we wanted to see, we drove to a resort town (skiing) called Tsaghkadzor. Most everything was closed up, since the snow will come later to its elevation. The Monastery in town was open, and I am really enjoying the castle ambiance these ancient places hold over me.
Tsakhadzor means “gorge of flowers” in Armenian and there you’ll find this medieval Monastery tucked away in the Bambak mountains.
Founded by a Pahlavuni prince in the 11th century, the construction of this Monastery was not completed until the 13th century. Kecharis reached its apex in the 12th and 13th centuries by becoming a vital religious center in Armenia, as well as a place of higher education.
Despite foreign invasions, the Soviet Union, natural disasters, and neglect, Kecharis Monastery has been fully renovated and looks beautiful with its unique architecture.
The monastery is comprised of three churches: the main church; St. Grigor Lusavorich or The Illuminator, Saint Nshan Church, and Saint Astvatsin/Katoghike Church. The southern entrance of the St. Grigor Church shows an inscription of when it was constructed sometime in the early 11th century. There is also a dome hall once you enter. Services are open for the public and candles can be bought there or at the entrance gate souvenir shop. The Katoghike Church is really interesting in the sense that it has two small stone staircases built into it as well.
We have made a big loop around, and found ourselves back on the outskirts of Yerevan; the capital city. Since we are so close, again, we will try to stop to see a few things we did not take the time to see, when we first arrived in Armenia, 2.5 weeks ago. All we wanted to do then, was hang out, since we both had gotten colds. We feel good again, and have much more motivation to sightsee, so looping around is a good thing in this case. After tomorrow, we continue East. It will be anybody’s guess where we will stay for Christmas. It might be a good idea to make a reservation, a few days before.
Our second stop of the day did not go as well as we had hoped. Garni Temple is quite amazing and all the way there, we had the site “open till 10pm” indicated on the website. However, when we arrived, there was nobody at the ticket booth and the gate was locked, with a note, but the note was in Armenian. Did I mention, here in this country, the translator app does not allow photos uploads of signs for translation (which is a major help in cases like this). Anyhow, I told Daryl I wanted to walk down the stone road far enough to where I could at least take a photo from the bottom of the steep hill. It was only a guess at a place I thought we could at least see the Temple (it could not be seen from the gate). By the time I reached the bottom of the road, I noticed a path. I took the path and climbed up the steep side of the hill, and Daryl was not far behind. At the top, the path led right to the paved-stoned area around the landing for the Temple. No fences, or gate. I began walking towards the temple, but a chubby man started hollering at me in Armenian from out of nowhere. I ignored him long enough to take a few photos, and for a half a second I considered racing into the Temple to see the inside, but I thought better if it. I told the guy (who was dressed in regular street clothes, and could have been anybody, btw) I did not know what he was saying. I told him I was American, and spoke English. I turned my back on him to make my way back to the path and the guy put his hand on me and pushed me! I turned around and said “don’t touch me” and almost clocked him with my camera! No interpretation needed. I made myself very clear! Right about then, Daryl was almost to the top of the path, as I was coming towards him. I told him about some random guy who appeared to have kicked me out and he touched me; he shoved me! I thought Daryl was going to go nuts on the guy. (deserved) But did not want the big guy to end up in jail. We both went back down the path and back to our car, disappointed and a bit annoyed.
UPDATE:
THE NEXT DAY…. we returned to Garni Temple and it was open. We paid our $6 plus some change for parking and went through the unlocked gate to the back of the grounds. I have included photos of both visits to this Temple, below.
is a reconstructed classical Hellenistic temple near Garni. It is the only “Greco-Roman colonnaded building” in Armenia and the entire former Soviet Union.
It is the best-known structure and symbol of pre-Christian Armenia, and was probably built by King Tiridates I in the first century AD as a temple to the sun god Mithra; (known as Mihr in Armenian). After Armenia’s conversion to Christianity in the early fourth century, it was converted into a royal summer house of Khosrovidukht, the sister of Tiridates III.
According to some scholars, it was not a temple but a tomb and thus survived the universal destruction of pagan structures. It collapsed in a 1679 earthquake.
Renewed interest in the 19th century led to its eventual reconstruction between 1969 and 1975. It is one of the main tourist attractions in Armenia and the central shrine of Armenian neopaganism.
We are in a hotel, tonight, that we don’t know the name of…just Hotel, and nobody speaks any English. We managed to get a room, and had to pay cash. We do not have WIFI in our room. Bummer, but we have 4G. Credit cards are normally, widely accepted in Armenia, so we haven’t been needing to keep cash on hand like in Pakistan. Its been very nice! BUT, we got caught off guard and had to pay cash for our room and a small meal for dinner, tonight. We barely had enough! Tomorrow we will need an ATM stop to replenish, just in case we can’t use our card at another hotel down the road.
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About Us
Hello and Welcome to our Travel Blog Website, We enjoy writing about our experiences and taking photos of our adventuring along the way. Our names are: Daryl and Pen, but Daryl calls me “Bunny.” We met, quite randomly, whilst both… Read More