Wanderings: Caucusas etc: Tatev and Norovank

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

I had a nice chat with the young lady at the hotel desk who was admiring my detailed relief map of Armenia. She had climbed Mount Aragat, the tallest peak in Armenia, last year in late May. I pointed to the snow on the nearby mountains, and she said this year was unusually cold and snowy; when she climbed last year, there was no snow on Aragats. I took a quick look at the ruins of a Monastery nearby at Aragats before descending the valley and heading southwest.

At Vyad, a modern church looked inviting, so I stopped for a quick look. There was a modern Khashkar (pictues or saying etched in stone) sculpture there incorporating many of the more famous Khashkars from throughout Armenia. Upon entering the church courtyard, I had waved to a woman nearby. She soon approached me and asked (in Russian) if I wanted coffee, tea, or the bathroom. She was rather insistent (and I was thirsty), so I bought a Coke and sat at her little cafe overlooking a nearby gorge, which she pointed out to me with a broad sweep of her hands and some Russian I did not understand.

Back on the road, my plan was to drive to Jemruk, a spa town to take the waters. At the turnoff for Jemruk (33km), I noticed a sign for the Wings of Tatev 90 km (1), with a picture of a cable car. I checked my fuel level and the time and headed south toward Tatev.

I soon began ascending Vorotan Pass at 2,344 meters. There were so many switchbacks, I could not count them all. The road was one lane in each direction, heavily rutted and occassionally, the pavement would stop and become dirt. I passed a wide variety of

trucks lumbering up the mountain plus the ocassional Soviet-era Lada Sedan that seemed equally reluctant to make the climb (2). South of the pass, there are some signs in Farsi, Iran being the closest country to this part of Armenia (3).

The Wings of Tatev is a cable way opened in 2010. You cut off over 12 kms relative to taking the serpentine road up and down the mountains. The Tatev Monastery is high in the hills. While the Monastery site is ancient, little remains of the older buildings after the 1931 earthquake. Tatev was the center of a republic briefly after the fall of the Tsars, but was captured by the Soviets after a short time.

The highlight of the day was back north at Norovank. This Monastery is in a spectacular location at the end of a very narrow canyon. There was a small deer clambering among the steep cliffs beside the Monastery. The setting sun highlighted the red in the cliffs, while the almost-full moon rose behind the church.

I stayed at a guest house at the end of a dirt road just past the old Lada with no windiws propped up on blocks. There were two guys from France also staying the night. We all helped prepare dinner, then drank all the vodka we wanted (4).

(1) 90 km is less than 60 miles. However, these are not 60 miles on a US interstate, so I was making a 3 to 4 hour (round trip) time commitment in choosing to head for Tatev.

(2) The passing procedure is as follows:

(a) check for oncoming traffic

(b) downsfhift to first (the trucks go very slowly up the hill)

(d) make sure you're not being passed.

(e) GO!

(f) bonus step if you have stopped to take a picture and are at a complete stop: repeat the refrain from "The Little Engine that Could" ( I think I can, I think I can) like an incantation.

(3) While Azerbaijan is closer, the border has been closed for more than 20 years in the wake of the Nagorno Karaback war.

(4) Which, in my case is 1 very small glass. After 1 sip, I sputtered and cough and turned bright red. The Armernian hostess and the guys from France thought this was hilarious.