We took the bus to Haghpat then walked to Sanahin then bused back to Alaverdi, as both monasteries are at the top level of the gorge. By now medieval Armenian monasteries are beginning to look familiar to us. Though neither of the monasteries were particularly compelling, it was a fun outing.
On the way from Dilijan to Alverdi we changed buses at the mostly empty Soviet-built train (1st below left ) and bus station (1st below right) complex in Vanadzor. Fascinating.
Alaverdi sits along the railroad tracks and river in the Debed River Gorge.
Murals. Hmmmm.
The minibus took us all the way up to the parking lot of the Haghpat Monastery Complex.
To get to Sanahin, we first walked down to the bottom of a side gorge, passing a WWII War Memorial and ending up on a Medieval Bridge.
Our goal, Sanahin. is in the far, far, right below. To get to it we must walk through Akner Village, far center below.
Then a steep track up to the Sanahin plateau with some good views of the local "fortress" (1st below) and a view back to Haghpat Monastery (2nd below).
Here's our lunch spot view at the edge of the plateau.
After lunch, we walked towards Sanahin, across wide green pastures and meadows atop the plateau, and through the village of Akner, with awesome views of the gorge, and stopping to wait out several showers. One of the waiting spots was under a rocky overhang.
The Sanahin Monastery was ho-hum (2nd and 3rd below) but there was an awesome view (1st below) way back to Haghpat across the plateaus and over the gorge.
City center Sanahin, a formr copper mining town, was still 1km away. The streets were muddy due to improvements. We passed one parked Soviet era Paz vista dome bus and then rode another down, down, down to Alaverdi with an unexpected stop to wait for a landslide to be cleared.
Bonus: Landslide photos from previous travels. First Peru (2019), then China (2012).
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