Day 18 Tuesday 7th October

We have booked a trip with the local travel company Hyur Services. I suspect they have taken over from the old Intourist Services. They are efficient, good value with very knowledgeable guides. Today we get lake, lunch and three monasteries.

Before I describe today's activities, let me tell you about our Wi Fi that comes free with the flat. It's a small device about the size of the smallest mobile phone. You charge the battery once a day and then you can walk around with your own mobile hot spot. Apparently they cost about $100 and there is no contract. It's wonderful, you can use your tablet were ever you are. I want one.

Anyway back on the bus we are heading for Lake Sevan and the Sevanavank (unlike English vank means monastery in Armenian).

This is another 360° photo. You need to expand it to get the full effect. The next 3 pictures are monastery inside and out. 

Lake Sevan is described as the pearl of Armenia. The Soviets used it for HEP production and the water level dropped by 20 meters. This revealed forts, houses and artifacts going back 2000 years. Now the ecologists want more water in the lake and the archeologists want less. The Soviet plan was to reduce the lake to one sixth of it's original size. Thankfully that has now been scotched. 

Next we go through the 2km long Sevan tunnel. At the other end the landscape has completely changed. We have gone from desert arid to Alpine sylvan. 

Now off to the next monastery, Goshavank which you can see below. Then it's off to lunch. 

This bronze is of the saintly founder of the monastery. He was called Mihkitar Gost. He lived in the late 12th century and developed a huge library containing at least 15000 volumes. It was burnt by Timur's army in the 13th century. Such is life. 

The Haghartsin monastery, founded in the 12th century by two brothers who were Princes. The name means dance of the eagles and it's hidden away in a lovely forest valley by some massive nut trees. 

We have tickets for the opera tonight which starts at 7-00pm but we look like being late because of one couple on the trip who were 20 minutes late back to the coach at the first stop. They were last back at every subsequent stop and were, unfortunately sitting next to us. In an English kind of way we sat and fumed. 

After a sprint to get changed and another frantic taxi ride, we made it in just before the curtain rose. The opera was, for one night only, the Armenian classic Anush. From the eponymous poem by Tumanyan and composed by A.Tigranian it is full of Armenian folk music and dancing. We could not have chosen a better opera to watch. It was perfect. 

Just to prove that we really were there. You get a good idea of the auditorium from the pictures, the chandelier is a massive one hung centrally. The locals in the interval "bar" were keen to discuss the merits of the performance with us. We met up again with some people who were also on the trip with us today. Small city syndrome.