Stayed in Vanadzor as a base for visiting the Debed canyon monasteries. When we got off the bus the town looked awful - dirty, semi-derelict, what had we done? But then our hosts invited us to their Saturday night barbecue party, drove us through the town which away from the bus station was actually quite nice! Spent a very jolly evening with a dozen Armenians, Russians and someone from Kazakhstan. Could they pack away the alcohol!!
Next day rented a taxi for the day, fantastic weather, beautiful old buildings, gorgeous scenery, just great. Cathedral at Akhtala with stunning frescoes,
UNESCO classified monasteries at Haghpat
and Sanahin,
then a ruined monastery at Kobayr that we had to climb to.
Rain the next day but walked a fair bit around Vanadzor, stopping for the best tea and cake so far.
Now in Dilijan, a popular mountain holiday centre with a huge national park which has lots of walking trails. Walked through woods with wonderful autumn colours. Dinner in a yurt!
Then another monastery (Goshavank) and a great walk to Gosh Lake along a very well marked section of the TransCaucasus trail.
Yerevan, capital of Armenia, tomorrow. Last stop before home. It's gone very quickly.
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