Tuesday, June 6, 2017
I drove to and along the south shore of Lake Sevan, the largest Lake in Armenia. A stop along the shore at the Hairivank Monastery from the 13th century presented a pleasant view
Turning at Martuni, the road began climbing to Selim Pass through endless Alpine meadows. At Selim Pass, there was a Caravanserai (resting place for caravans traversing the silk road). A vertiginous series of switchbacks led down from the pass to the south.
At Shatin, I turned east onto the Yeghegis valley road. I parked in the village of Yeghegis, and walked along a very rutted old road to Saint Zorat's Church. The church was designed with a very wide opening in front of the altar to allow the priests to bless and administer the sacraments to soldiers on horseback who were preparing to go into battle. There were votive candles burning on the right sub-altar, indicating that the church is still a place of devotion.
The final stop of the day was down another rutted cart path to a rickety metal bridge leading to a Jewish cemetery on the other side of the river. The tombstones feature bible verses in Hebrew, and indicate that there was a Jewish community in the town from 1266 to 1346 C.E. Very little is known about this Jewish Community or why they left the valley.
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