There were times today when it felt like we were trying to circumnavigate the entire country of Armenia in a single day. That was not really the case but regardless you will see in the images below that we did cover a lot of territory.

Lake Sevan

Lake Sevan is the largest lake in Armenia and was the first stop of the day. Unfortunately the weather was overcast and the light poor so the photos do not show the lake at its best.

On the western side of Lake Sevan we visited the small town of Noratus to view a uniquely Armenian artform called Khahkars. The name translates as something like "cross stones" and indeed these are monument stones with an elaborate Christian Cross carved into the stone.

Caravanseri

Keeping with the theme of stones our next stop was an old Caravanseri built in 1332 just below the summit of Vardenyats Mountain Pass (also known as the Selim Mountain Pass). Caravanseri are essentially motels of the Silk Road period and this one is remarkably well preserved and is built entirely of stone. I invite you to examine the tongue and groove technique used to make the stone roof waterproof. Remarkable work and remarkable that it has survived so well.

Norovank Monastry

Lunch today was to take place at a restaraunt in a narrow valley formed by the Amaghu River, and as a special treat at this lunch we would meet-up with the Sundowners Group undertaking the 60th Anniversary trip starting from the London end.

A noteable feature of this valley is a cave which, according to acheaologists, shows evidence of wine making dating back 6000 years.

Finally perched on a high point at the head of the valley is Norovank Monastry.

The valley walls around the monastry provide a spectacular backdrop to the monastry and are reminicent of South West USA.

The Ararat Valley

The final leg of todays trip was into the Ararat Valley which we entered at its southern end where the border of Armenia meets Turkey and Azerbaijan, and where we find the small town named Ararat. From this point we had hoped to get a good view of Mount Ararat but the clouds foiled us and only the small companion peak of Ararat was visible. See photo 3 below where the conical peak is visible. To the right of that peak the clouds are obscuring all but the shoulders of Mount Ararat.

Also visible in the 3rd photo below, on a hill in the middle ground, Khor Virap Monastryis visible as a small pimple. A little while later we visited that monastery and discovered a wedding in progress.

Yerevan

After Khor Virap we headed for Yerevan the capital city of Armenia and after negotiating a monster traffic jam we were relieved to arrive at our hotel.