Armenia “Outing to See a One Thousand Year Old Monasteries”

• January 2, 2021
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

We ran aground due to snow storms; about fifteen days ago, and have been hanging low in a comfortable hotel that is easy on the pocketbook. 

A few days back, we ventured out after several sunny days to see a couple Monasteries. We had a nice drive as the sun peered over the mountains and added a golden glow to the roads. Passing shaded spots, the roads had dangerous ice soaked areas. Even the shade from the close cropped trees gave enough shade to bring fear of black ice. 

We passed valleys that captured frozen clouds that enveloped us in a feeling of angelic halos over the fields. Off the side of the road it looked as if diamonds were cast aver the snow-covered valley. The sparkly, glistening effect was mesmerizing. One of the rare glimpses of any excess, even when it is only a mirage. 

We passed many homes built with square stones as the building material. The Soviet influence was evident for there was no glamor or outward pride of ownership. Even the fences showed practical efforts as they were made from car parts and wire. Car bodies turned on their sides with hoods, and doors thrown in to surround their humble abodes, still are seen. The doors and gates are made from steel, many encrusted with rust that never sleeps. 

We passed giant smoke stacks; leftovers of the crumbling past of the failed communist Soviet experiment. The utopian society that did not end well. The hulks of huge, abandoned buildings that must have been manufacturing complex’s. 

South facing hillsides have soil peeking through the snow, exposing lightly terraced hillsides and game trails. Stone quarries tormented and tortured scars reveal themselves along the roads. We see our two Monasteries; one is just under 1000 years old and the other is on the same grounds of an medieval church, originally build around 1100 years ago; where a Monastery was built. They both are in amazingly good shape. 

More recently, we drove to a lake; a flat snow covered area. The drive was on snow covered roads, but luckily the road was mostly a gravel road, so we had a good grip. On the way back, the snow crystalized. This refracted the sunshine and reveals fields of sparkly looking diamonds, again. It was so beautiful but it would not show on the camera. Nothing like a mirage to make us feel richer.