Today has been an incredible day. I decided to get out of the city and visit two very popular sites, Garni and Geghard. Garni is a pagan temple dating from about 1000 B.C. if I remember correctly. Maybe it's even older. It has been lovingly rebuilt.
The journey there was an adventure in itself. My landlady, Anahit assured me it would be easy since I speak some Armenian. I managed to get on the correct marshrutka (minibus) from my room to one of the main bus pick-up areas at the south end of Yerevan. I got there fine just as the rain kicked up a notch. I remember Anahit saying that there would be a bus but I wasn't sure if she meant a marshrutka or a bus. After standing and looking at marshrutka after marshrutka go past - none with Garni written on them (of course, I read Armenian so slowly, it was an effort and I had to ask help). Finally after asking a few people I found out that the bus left from around the corner. I found it, got on and began the 20 kilometer journey. It took about 45 minutes - the road is really rough.
What a joy to walk through the village of Garni. There were chickens and ducks and burros all over. It looked and smelled like a village. The people were much more open with a smile and a "Barev Dzez."
As I was walking to the temple, I heard the sound of a duduk. I stopped into the souvenir shop and there was a man playing wonderful duduk. I made eye contact with him and touched my heart to let him know how beautiful his playing was. He smiled. Later I found him playing inside the temple itself. Well, one thing led to another and pretty soon we taking turns playing duduk and he was giving me lots of tips. His name is Voscan (don't have his last name here) and we spent an hour or so together.
Then as I was leaving, he introduced me to a man named Vache, his daughter Diana, his Russian brother-in-law Mikhail and Mikhail's daughter Kristiana. They gave me a ride and pretty much adopted me for the rest of the day. It was pretty odd since Vache is this bigger than life guy who reminded me so much of Fred Loushin (for those of you who know Fred) and I was both having a great time with them and also wanting to get away. But that was all after we went to Geghard.
Geghard is a church and series of chapels carved out of solid rock into a mountainside. There should be a picture in the photo gallery. It is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. It's dark inside with some natural light and water running through channels cut in the floor. It is several stories tall and is very hard to describe. I'll have pictures at some point. I might have stayed longer but Vache and company offered me a ride all the way to Yerevan. This of course took a few side trips including a huge lunch at a roadside restaurant.
But now, I'm safe and sound back in Yerevan and getting ready to plan my next trip out. I'm going to do a few day trips around here and then by Friday I think I'll head out to Sisian for a few days. Today just reemphasized for me how much I like the outdoors and how the city, while fascinating, doesn't hold my attention for long.
One last note,I am really enjoying staying with my landlady, Anahit Stepanyan and her two grown sons, Vahan and Zaven. Last night we had guests from Italy, Romania, Germany and Spain. And of course, the common language is English.
So until later, Bari Chanapar Kez,
Bob
