Geghard and Garni

With Geghard and Garni relatively close to Yerevan, on this particularly hot day we decided to leave the urban likes of Yerevan and see some of the more historical Armenia. Namely to explore a couple of the moment well-known sites in the country, Geghard and Garni.

Geghard

Geghard is a medieval era monastery a couple of hours drive east of Yerevan. If you take the marshrutka out of town, you simply take it until the last stop at Goght where taxi drivers hung around looking for fares. We managed to get one for a 10km ride to and back to the actual monastery site for around 5 euro. Since here you pay the taxi driver upon conclusion of the fare, there was no risk of him taking off after leaving us at the site. This monastery was founded in the 4th century, by St Gregory the patron saint of the Armenian Church who also converted the country to the religion and created the Armenian alphabet as we know it today. Surrounding this monastery is a number of caves and grottos as well as various inscriptions, such as the one in the heading photo.

Garni

Garni, on the other hand, was a couple of bus stops after Goght on the way back to Yerevan. The town itself was rural with the Temple of Garni being less than a 2 km walk from the stop. A bit of history; The Temple of Garni is known as the only Pagan Temple in Armenia, a relic of the days of pre-Christian Armenia. It is said to have been built by the ancient Armenian king Tiridates 1 during the first century AD. It is evidently of Ancient Greek architectural design, proof of the extent of Hellenic culture even though the area was under Parthian influence during its construction. These days apart from being a major tourist draw for classical and ancient history fans, it is a central shrine for a number of Armenian neopagans who hold annual ceremonies at the location, such as March 21st - the pagan New Year.

The trip back to Yerevan was backtracking to the Garni town bus stop and from there waiting for a marshutka with Yerevan/Ереван or the windscreen. The toilet near the bus stop was absolutely horrific though, certainly up there with the world's worst toilets!

Next: Lake Sevan, Dilijan, and the Armenian Wine Festival