Take me to church, ahem, Vank

We have left Yerevan and made our way through the long and windy roads of the lush, emerald Armenia of my memory. Our party bus is air conditioned and comfortable, thanks to Hyur (meaning "guest") service and our faithful driver, Harout.  We have trusted him with our most precious cargo and he is up for the job.  The roads are so much better now than they were 14 years last I was here.  Yet there is fog and gravel and very few rules about passing on the left.  Vision is not the main sense used for driving.  There is an intuition about the bends in the road and whether or not a semi is around the next densely foggy corner.  Better Harout, than Hasmig, is all I have to say. 

Our trusted driver, Harout. It's not a driving trip in Armenia without stopping to fix the car.

Our travels have taken us to Tsaghadzor, Lake Sevan, Goshavank, and Dilijan.  Each stop offers a Vank (church) built in a location you can't totally imagine finding in the year 900, much less praying in.  

Haghartsin Monastery

Highlight for me of course was seeing my sweet Sevan at Lake Sevan. 

A boy and his lake

 When Chaghig, Trey, and I made this journey 14 years ago, it was with Land and Culture Organization, a group that took Armenian Disaporans to Armenia, to work.  We spent most of our time in the hills of Datev (forthcoming) but took a few side trips to see the countryside. I fell in love with the beauty and the grandeur of Lake Sevan, this landlocked country's main access to water.  And as someone who can only find her way by asking "Which way is the water?", it was a relief.  Sevan is a name that can be for either a boy or a girl but for us, he was to be Sevan the lake as a boy or Araz the river as a girl.  Either way, we were destined to have a baby born of and for the water.  It was an honor to show it to Sevan, in person. 

Today's post comes to us from Shant, a perfect narrator to summarize our day:


We got on the bus at our home.  We would go for a while and stop and see a church and then we would go a while more and stop again at another church and then walk around.  Then we would do that again. 

Hagharstin Monastery

 The churches we saw were dark.  There were candles in some of them and there were some that had pictures of Jesus and some that had nothing in them. 

So many prayers...Mara quote: "Is this a birthday cake?"

When I looked outside the window of the bus, I saw a lot of mountains and trees. I feel bad that my little sister vomited and I really like that I got a soccer shirt and shorts and pocket knife at a mini stand  in Sevan. 

Entertaining the sick passenger: Mara says "Arev can you teach me how to throw up?"  Apparently she didn't need any help at all.

 It was really cool. The most delicious thing I ate yesterday was the mashed potatoes that were made by the place we are staying (Daravand Hotel in Dilijan) .  

This is our host, Rasmig's, idea of "We don't have much in the kitchen to offer you..."

Home Made Wine...so juicy

The dining area at Daravand Hotel

Today, Armenia is wet.

Quotes of the Day:

Sevan: "Whoa!  I was named after this place?  It's bigger than I imagined and think it's really awesome!" 

Cousins at Lake Sevan sitting on the original foundation of the church built in 310 AD

 Arev: "It is interesting how when you don't speak the language, you pay more attention to the voices and watch people's faces to understand what they are saying."

The Wishing Tree...crawl on your belly and make a wish!

2000 year old picture window