Both of these sites are in the Geghama mountain range which gets up to 3600m. For the geographers, we have Mt. Ararat at 5165m and Mt. Aragats 4090m. Ararat is a sacred mountain for the locals who were, and are still very unhappy that it was placed in Turkey when the boundaries were redrawn after the First World War. Mind you that's just a small part of the problems they have with Turkey.
The Garni Temple built to the Hellenic god Mitra (sun) in the 1st century by local King Trdat 1. It became a summer house for Armenian royalty after the Christian conversion. The setting is really quite dramatic.
As the local guide pointed out to us. The temple was destroyed by an earthquake in 14th century. The restoration is a little heavy handed, rebuild might be nearer the mark. There is also a Roman style bathhouse complete with hypocaust and mosaic.
After this we moved on to Geghard monastery. The Lonely Planet Guide for Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan highlights 8 top experiences for the region. This is one of them. It is also a UNESCO world heritage site. Described as half cathedral half cave. Geghard means lance and refers to the fact that the spear that pierced Jesus when he was crucified was brought here at a later date and certainly helped in all sorts of ways both practically and spiritually. It's sort of God meets Indiana Jones. It is a spooky, dimly lit sanctuary, where voices bounce off walls, sunbeams stream through the narrow windows and droplets of water ooze through the walls. Pictures can't really do it justice, but I'll have a try.
I was keen to join the order but they said I was temperamentaly unsuitable. What does that mean? Remember the couple who nearly caused us to be late yesterday? They were on this trip again today. We had quite a chat. She was local and he from the Armenian diaspora living in Canada. They recommended a jazz club cum restaurant in town called Poplavok Jazz Café. Since the LP guide also recommended it and the ex President is a frequent customer we thought we would give it a go.
We took a taxi (no, the taxi didn't take us) the driver hadn't a clue so I took him with the aid of a street plan and hand directions. He seemed very grateful and charged me 80p so I tipped him 20p, honours even.
Still remember that couple? Well they were in there and by now we greeted each other like long lost friends, and had a parting full of kisses and handshakes when they left. The ex President? Well I'm pretty sure he was in there, this distinguished looking old guy on his own.....
Unfortunately the ex President is just out of camera shot to the left. Honest.
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