In Yerevan I stumbled upon perhaps my favourite little church down some side-alleys. The church, 'Zorovator,' is a place of worship so small that many church-goers have to stand outside at important mass times like Christmas and Easter. The best thing about the church, however, is that it is completely orange!
Now, after years spent living in countries littered with temples and mosques I thought I could give churches another try. After all, they can be just a architectually beautiful and grandoise in scale. In order so explore the vast bulk of these Christian houses of God, I had to engage in a lot of hitchhiking. I have had mixed results with hitchhiking in the past (notably Belgians causing me the most grief with their wayward hands on the gear stick!), but in Armenia I found it to be great.
From Yerevan I took a marshrutka (mini-van taxi) to the town of Garni, where a still fully formed pagan temple stands. Before Armenia converted to Christianity, it followed in the same vein as the Roman and Greek civilisations, woshipping various gods of the sun, war, love, etc. Although much of the surroundings are now in ruins, the temple itself remains solid. Intriguingly, when I was there I witnessed a young Armenia couple getting married on the steps. The ceremony seemed to follow the traditional Christian format, so I'm not sure what the thinking behind the pagan setting was.
From Garni to Gerghat, a monastery high up in the hills, I discovered that there wasn't any direct transport other than the taxi drivers who were circling like vultures. I ran for my life when I saw one approach and opted to try my luck at hitchhiking. Almost immediately, a car stopped and the driver ushered me in and took me as far as he was going. No sooner had I got out than another motorist took up the relay. I ended up walking the final 2km, but I didn't mind as the scenery was great. The only downside was that it was during this pursuit that I lost my guide book.
When it was time to head north to the towns bordering Georgia, my Couchsurfer's friend came to the fore and offered me the keys to the family apartment in Vanadzor, as no-one was using it. I had only met this friend the day before so I was surprised at such a generous offer. I promised not to burn the place down!
Around Vanadzor, there were probably two of the best monasteries in Armenia. Sahnin and Haghpat are both listed by UNESCO as Heritage Sites, and they are both impressive structres in even better surroundings. One thing I would say for the guys who designed these places is that they sure knew where to stick a church for the optimum view - and to piss off the actual construction crews who had to carry the stones and rocks up the hills.
On a couple of occassions, as I was exploring the various places, locals would stop and talk to me in Russian and offer me free food and tea as well as a place to take a little nap for half an hour out of the sun. There were no catches, just the opportunity for them to showcase their generosity to a stranger in their country.
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