July 18, 2011
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The Silk Road Overland
Sunday 17 July 2011
Bahrom and I had booked a 10-hour tour for today called Enlightened Armenia, with the Envoy Hostel, the hostel of our choice, but one of the hostels that had been full when we arrived yesterday.This tour was excellent! First we saw two churches linked to the acceptance of Christianity by Armenia in 301AD, an aspect of Armenian history which seems crucial to their sense of national identity – these were the churches of St Hripsime and of St Gayne. We also went to St Echmiadzin, the “Vatican of Armenia”, and stayed for part of the Sunday service. Oh, boy, could this Armenian church choir sing? You bet!
Next, we went to the Khor Virap monastery (meaning “deep pit”), with the dungeon where St Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned for 13 years. We all climbed down into this pit as well. This monastery is located on the Ararat pains and for the second time, Bahrom and I got this great view of Mt Ararat.
Next door to Khor Virap were the ruins of second century Artashat, an ancient Armenian capital and Silk Road town. And I didn’t even know this though I’m on a Silk Road trip! Serendipity.
After Khor Virap, we all had lunch with an Armenian family. The table was full of amazing, delicious salads, and had I not known, I could have sworn that the thin crisp bread we hsd was Swedish tunnbröd! Our host suggested that maybe the Swedes in the north had always bought their flour from the Armenians. Things like this kind of food stop make a day tour really different and memorable.
But that was not all. A visit to the Noravank two-storey church and monastery complex from 1339 was another spectacular visit. A stunning church set in stunning surroundings, near the Turkish border.
And to finish off a perfect day, we stopped at the Areni winery, where we sampled some ten different wines, including a fabulous 1991 dry red, as well as pomegranate, peach and apricot wine. I think the wine sampling somehow reduced the effects of the fast driving through those mountain roads, rather than making it worse.
I think somewhere between Khor Virap and Noravank today, I made the decision that I should fly to Aktau on Wednesday, and not Almaty. If I can put the “overland” back into my summer travels, I think I should. I know that 67 hours on a Kazakh train sounds a bit overwhelming, but it might also be one of those things that makes this summer really memorable.
So, tomorrow, I’m going back to the travel agent to buy the ticket to Aktau. Decided.
