my sunday trip

So like people in Armenia know it was raining all night and most part of the day in Yerevan and in other parts of the country. Nevertheless me and mom still went to this 1-day trip. At first we went to Khor Virap.

I had taken photos of everything there already so, took only several.


Here I wanted to take a photo of myself for my 365-days project, but didn't manage to run all the way to the wall in 10 seconds (can't set timer to more). However I mdae it in the second one... but the angle was a bit different and the reflection of the wall can't be seen well enough :(


what i didn't know the last time I was here with Michael, was this path leading to the top of the hill (yes Michael, it's only a hill in Armenian standards :D) The view from there was picturesque and beautiful!


the raindrops kept falling on the lense of the cam.. that's what the blurry white spot is


mommy with her life-long friend Goharic (Gabriel's mom. Gabriel is one of childhood friends).


then we were to go to Noravank but on the way there visited house museum of Vazgen Sargsyan and Paruyr Sevak.

this was a present to V. Sargsyan... it's Noah's Arch made of stone and bronze i guess. really beautiful work!


some trees at Paruyr Sevak's garden. it was a very very beautiful garden with many trees.. but it was c-c-c-cooooooooooooooold there! so i didn't take much photos and ran back to the bus :D


then finally we arrived at Noravank. I can't describe with words how beautiful it was so i will just show it with photos... but you have to see it with your own eyes. the rocks, the gorge, the hawks (or smth like that) flying here and there...



The Noravank is a complex of 2 churches. the name means "New monastery" and the architecture was very beautiful and had unique elements that i had never seen on any other church here. For more history just visit Wikipedia article here, as i can't write better than it's written :D



The other interesting thing was that an architect had carved the image of the God the Father, which was actually forbidden and is forbidden because of the question "and what does he look like?". In the hand was Adam's head, symbolizing the world and the foundation (sorry i wasn't paying much attention to the guide's words here because was looking around :D ). Also there were signs of the Moon and the Sun carved, symbolizing changes and stability respectively... Armenian Yin-Yang :D. Then there was a water drop symbolizing the truth, the pureness, which came after the Word (and the word was the beginning). and on the final piece Holy mother of God and small Jesus are depicted. And the surprising thing is that they are on a carpet (which is unusual depiction for armenian style).



That was what the guide told, and he actually caught my attention since the story was interesting.

some photos from inside of the church:


i don't know whose bright idea it was to burry people inside of the church so that you will actually walk on graves, but i have seen this in several other places here..

Now the fun part - the stairs (no it's not just design element, they have practical use). you could fall easily from them and there was nothing to hold on from - only the wall of the church. Also it was wet and slippery but oh how could i skip the fun? (even though i had climbed them once several years ago). i'm a small girl but it was a bit difficult for me to climb, and i can say that anyone who has broader shoulders than i do (many people go under this category) will find it very difficult and dangerous... but it was worth it!



view from inside to inside and outside :D


view from outside:


landscape photos



then after we spent some time here, we started the way back. it stopped raining and the weather was fine and the sun was shining. on the way back we made a small stop at Areni village famous for its wines. we went to the wine factory and tried some wine there, but it wasn't really good (Armenian standards ;) )
so we left the factory and bought some wine from local people who made it themselves. there were stands at the road all over this village!

there IS happiness in this world! i'm in heaven! :D:D:D




I took some more photos from the road... but don't want to post them here and now. i will make a post "photos from the road" someday :)

the photos posted here can be found in this album:

Noravank