Monday, October 5, 2015

WINTER TRIP TO VAYK AND NORAVANK

This is a very belated posting. Last December, 2014 my PC friend Susan Spano and I took a trip to southern Armenia to visit our other PC friend Carol, who is stationed in Vayk.  We took public transportation via a marshutni (a van that is loaded with 20 or more people) from Yerevan. It weas a four hour uncomfortable trip. We visited the town of Vayk where Carol (another 'senior' volunteer) lived and also went to see the beautiful monastery of Noravank way up in the mountains.  So, here is the journey in pictures. 

Me, Susan and Carol...
 
Our hotel on the hill in Vayk with a bee farm below.
The pipe across is the above ground gas line...
 
Another view of our hotel after a storm...
 
A view of Vayk from the hotel balcony. . .
 
Advertising in Vayk. . .
 
A local water fountain in Vayk . . .
 
How one dries their laundry in Armenia. It is
always hung outside as there are virtually no
indoor dryers in the homes.. even in Yerevan, laundry
hangs outside . . . all of it...
 
 
Now we head up into the mountains where the Noravank Monastary can be found. It is also an Important Bird Area in the world and here is some information about IBAs. 
 
 

 

IBA sign in Armenian language...
 
 
View from parking area. . .
 

First sighting of Noravank from the road driving up
into the mountains. . . built in 7th century AD 
 
Noravank Monastary
 
View from parking area . . .
 
 

Front of monastery - outside stairs leading to upper rooms . . .
View from behind the monastery . . .
Natural caves up there where the monks lived...
 
 
Sculpture in front over the stairs . . .
 
Inside  the monastery - the alter . . .
 
Khachkars
 
Information about Khachkars
 
On the way back stopped at an old dwelling where
there was a lavash oven... Lavash is unleavened
Armenian bread made in these ovens built into the ground.
It is still a staple food of every Armenian.. eaten with every meal.
 Still often made in the villages in this way - the bread is baked around the wall
of the oven. In cities it is  now made in commercial ovens.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

1 comment:

  1. Good morning, how are you?

    My name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.

    I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.

    For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
    Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Armenia? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Armenia in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:

    Emilio Fernandez Esteban
    Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
    28902 Getafe (Madrid)
    Spain

    If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.

    Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.

    Yours Sincerely

    Emilio Fernandez

    ReplyDelete