3rd October – Areni, Armenia
The sunshine peaked through the curtains, illuminating the cliffs across the valley. From the breakfast room of the guesthouse, the view was stupendous with the vines and fruit trees in the foreground. Breakfast itself was mainly from that garden, with the highlight being an apricot jam where the fruits were still whole but so soft they were spreadable.
Not far from town, multiples cave complexes have been discovered. We walked the 1,500 metres along the side of the highway, passed by numerous Iranian trucks, to get to the turn off for Areni-1. This, as a guide told us, is partially excavated, and work is still ongoing, led by a locally famous archaeologist who was on site at the time. It’s known to be a Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age ritual site, with various other user through the intervening periods. Amongst the incredible finds to date are the world’s oldest known leather shoe (5,500 years) and, fittingly for Areni, the world’s oldest known wine making (6,100 years). Not many photos from inside as there was a power cut when we were at the deepest point! Luckily, it wasn’t too far back out and there were only a couple of narrowing sections. That might be the last cave Kaja goes in for a while!
Given the perfect weather, we decided we did head further up the canyon. This is the canyon of wails, where pistachios grow, and Caucasian Leopards sometimes prowl the cliffs. The origin of the province name, Vayots Dzor, is understood to come from the crying of people coming out of this canyon after a disastrous ancient earthquake.
We walked to the next cave site, but didn’t venture in. Instead, we decided to attempt hitchhiking to the monastery 8km upriver. For the first time, we stuck our thumbs out and within minutes were on our way. Two friends from St Petersburg and their driver from Jermuk kindly took us to the famous Norovank Monastery. Without wishing to sound like a broken record, the scenery was the star of the show. Armenian monasteries might be relatively simple affairs but, wow, they know how to pick a location! Deep red cliffs towered in all directions. Spiders’ webs floated high on the wind. There was just enough greenery to accentuate the abutments in the afternoon light.
Khachkars dotted the hillside, as we climbed around to get a better view. These are an ancient tradition of gravestones, dating back millennia. The circle on the bottom half represents the sun but the cross on the top half hasn’t always been present. As in many places, Christianity built on / stole from (delete as you find appropriate) existing beliefs and in this case the cross replaced carvings of a dragon. The view from the rock outcrop back over the monastery complex and the valley was impressive. It was only on the way back that we realised how big the drop was!
Getting back to Areni wasn’t quite as straightforward as our journey up the valley! Car after car was full, so we’d walked the first 3km before being picked up. Another friendly Russian pick up, this time a family from Kazan who kindly made room for us. They stopped at an unmarked cave and all bar the mother ascended the scree slopes to check out the cavern. We decided we also weren’t hardcore enough, so watched from below. Before long they re-emerged and slid unceremoniously back down. Before long, we were back close to the road and walked the final stretch, having been saved a good hour.
We finished the day in the same way as yesterday, with more local veg and wine. We’re very glad to have seen this side of Armenia after the cities of the north. This weekend marks the official wine festival in Areni, but we will be celebrating the harvest elsewhere. Tomorrow, we head back to the capital to return over the border to Georgia, where wine will also very much be on the agenda. The spend below includes tomorrow’s sleeper train, which bumps the average up by £3-4,
Spend for Armenia: £27.29 per person per day