When in Armenia...part two!

Saturday we got an early start to visit Garni Temple and Geghard Monastery, but first stopped at Ararat Arch to get a great view of the famous Mt. Ararat. According to the Bible, Ararat is where Noah's Ark came to rest, and is a huge national symbol for Armenia. It is now within the Turkish border, but the Armenians still consider it to be theirs and you can see it everywhere you go in Yerevan. It truly is magnificent.

Mt. Ararat...the ark is said to have landed just to the right
 of the highest peak.

me vs. the mountain.

Next, we visited the fortress of Garni, which dates back to the oldest inhabitations in Armenia and was built in the 1st century. The history here was a bit difficult for me to wrap my head around, especially when things are lost in translation, but I was told that Garni, a Pagan temple, was the first Christian church. Now whether or not the temple became the church, or they were placed next to each other, I’m not quite sure. But Armenia is the first country to adopt Christianity so I guess it makes sense…? This is when the ability to smile, nod, and just enjoy the beauty comes in quite handy. 

Garni Temple.

to the right of the temple is where the church was. it was not
rebuilt after the earthquake(s).

After Garni, we headed further up the mountain to Geghard Monastery, a Catholic church built in the 4^th century and believed to have the Holy Lance that pierced Jesus’ side on the cross. The name of the monastery actually means monastery of the Spear. Parts of the monastery site are built into the mountain, creating cave like rooms, and in the main church there’s a natural spring that is considered to be a fountain of youth…of course I drank from it!

natural spring in the church.

Geghard Monastary.

beauty speaks for itself :)

We’d had enough of the mountain roads and headed back to roam the city, which didn’t get old being the country girls that we are now. Although it was chilly, the sun was out and it was amazing to just stick my face in it! The vitamin D was much needed and having a reason to wear sunglasses was a highlight of the trip (oh, the small things :). Back at the hostel we met other TLG teachers that were in the 2^nd group to arrive in Georgia, and we began to swap stories. It turns out I had read one of their blogs when researching the program…it was like a Georgian celebrity sighting! Continuing on our international food journey, we had pizza for dinner, mmmmm. With fulfilled bellies, we moseyed into about 10 different bars searching for our preferred atmosphere but ended up back at the hostel with a bottle of pomegranate wine, something Armenia is famous for but was really nothing to write home about…although apparently I am, hmph? We finished the night at a disco (club) that played only house music and encountered one too many men wearing white.

Sunday we went on a free walking tour, compliments of our hostel. It was another sunny day and it was nice to finally learn the history of what we had been surrounded by since we arrived. After our tour we ventured into a church, catching the end of a Sunday service, and then finished our food tour with lunch at a well to do Mexican restaurant. We were more than impressed with the quality of food and although it was nothing like back home, those chicken taquitos hit the spot! On our way back to the hostel we topped off our bellies with real fruit smoothies, delish!

our guide telling us about Freedom Square.

taquitos!!!

stoked on smoothies :)

We decided to take the overnight train home on Sunday. This elongated our journey by about eight hours but provided us a place to sleep, saving us money in the end. It was an old Soviet train and we were in an open sleeper car with four beds in each section. We had a section to ourselves right in the middle of the train. The attendant immediately took a liking to us, for no reason other than our ethnicity, as did the other patrons. I think someone walked by every five minutes to “slightly” gawk at the Americans. We did our best to ignore it and continue our conversations over Armenian wine and American peanut butter, however, the lack of tact got annoying and this may have been the first time it got to me, especially when I’d catch the men stretching out of their seats to peer around the corner…that’s just creepy. This is when the language barrier works in our favor and our responses can be a little less filtered :). After two bottles of wine and some Tylenol PM, it was time for bed.

Yerevan's train station.

finger lickin' good. 

Sometime in the four o’clock hour we reached the Armenian border and were woken by the attendant hitting our feet. That’s a sure fire way to get a less than friendly response from your passengers. Border patrol seemed to take their sweet time when they reached the Americans, and being slightly out of it, none of us moved from our beds…it was quite the intimate way to cross a border if you ask me. I fell back asleep for what seemed like an hour (but could've been 15 minutes for all I know) until we reached Georgian border patrol. It was the same song and dance but this time it felt like coming home. We were able to use our Georgian for small talk and one even spoke a little English, which he used to propose to Megan on behalf of his partner who wants to work in America. Although she appreciated the honesty of his intentions, she respectfully declined the offer. This comical interaction pretty much rounded up our first international, international trip.

After 12 hours on a train, it took a three-hour marshutka ride for me to get back to Akhmeta, where I had to go straight to the Municipality building to meet the Mayor and other town officials (which I found out about while in Armenia). Although I’d been there a month, they were officially welcoming me and the other English teachers to the town. I love my town, but living in the farthest corner of the country makes traveling that much more difficult and tiresome. If I want to go anywhere outside of my region, it’s a three hour journey just to get to my starting point. I’ve definitely realized that one of the keys to living here is patience :).

lani...megani...racheli.