Hagpat monastery in the north of Armenia. Click for an even larger image.
The Hagpat minister spoke fluent English, took for us the photo at the top, and told us he lived 20 years in California, worked in Argentina and recently returned to Hagpat, population 750, from working in Las Vegas. Click for an even larger image.
Jenny praying in the Hagpat chapel.
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Jenny hiding behind beautiful Khachkars in the Hagpat monastery complex.
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The 10th century Hagpat chapel.
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Hagpat monastery in northern Armenia.
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Hagpat sits on a hilltop, but unlike some of the isolated monasteries we've seen, this one is surrounded by a small town.
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Sona with Queen Khosrovanush (stone to her right) and her two sons (on the chucrh, to her left) for whom she built the church in 976 - 991.
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An hour later, our friend the Hagpat minister led a funeral procession up to the church. We had to wait until it passed. Click for an even larger image.
On the road north from Yerevan, Sona buys chains of honey-coated walnuts ... delicious, we ate them while driving through Armenia and on to Turkey. Click for an even larger image.
Sona will get married, one day, at this small 7th century Karmravor church in the city of Ashtarak, north of Yerevan.
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It is one of the few Armenian churches to have survived totally unaltered since its construction. It can't be a very big wedding, though.
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North of Ashtarak, another 7th century church, Aruchavank, built in exactly the year 666. This one is huge, it was built next to a palace, now ruined, of Grigor Mamikonian, a prince who enjoyed local autonomy during the period of Arab rule. Nearby are ruins of an old caravanserai, so this town was on the East-West trade routes. Click for an even larger image.
In Armenia, we ate some delicious food. This in a Georgian restaurant in Gyumri, in the north of the country.
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Down the street from the restaurant, this church of Mother of God lost two of its cupolas in the big 1988 earthquake, see them behind Sona and Jenny.
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The main street in Gyumri is pedestrian only. A very nice city. Sona's father is from Gyumri and he hopes that when the Turkish border reopens, there will be a boom there, because of trade with near-by Kars on the other side. Click for an even larger image.
After lunch in Gyumri, we visited the Marmashen monastery, built between 986 and 1029. It it very little visited, except by local school tours. In the distance, on the right, a herd of cattle crossing the plain. And, beyond the cattle, is the now closed Turkish border.
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The herd of cattle is moving to the left. To get to the monastery, we drove several miles through Soviet-era high-rise housing, all destroyed in the 1988 earthquake, and huge mounds of debris taken out of Gyumri after the earthquake.
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The Marmashen monastery has been expertly renovated by an Italian-Armenian couple. Click for an even larger image.
Yet another monastery, Sevanavank, one of Armenia's most visited, on a peninsula jutting into the huge northern Lake Sevan. As we had lunch in a lakeside restaurant, a big wedding party came down from the monastery. Click for an even larger image.
Sevanavank overlooks the lake from a cliff. Founded in 874, it still has an active seminary. Click for a larger image.
Lake Sevan is the principal summer resort area in Armenia. The restaurant we ate in was excellent. Click for a larger image.
After Lake Sevan, we returned to Yerevan, but that was not yet the end of the monasteries. The best, Geghard, was still to come, as well as the Garni temple and another fabulous lunch. See the page on Yerevan.
Click here to see photos from London, Germany, from Istanbul, from Yerevan and Southern Armenia, a trip around Turkey and from Efes/Ephesos, or go back to Barbara's narrative of the trip.
