Armenia: Scenic Alaverdi

We based ourselves in Alaverdi to visit the UNESCO monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin. Alaverdi is set in the very scenic Debed river gorge. Its copper smelter was the largest in the Caucasus until it was forced to close due to environmental damages. There are efforts to put copper back to work, lucky for us that it hasn't happened, though not so good for the local economy.

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).

Armenia: Hilly Dilijan

Dilijan is home to the Dilijan National Park. It has been a mountain retreat for Russian artists since the 19th century. Today with the Russian-Ukrainian War, there are 1400 people in the Russian social media group, while the population is only 26000. The town itself is rather spread out and hilly.

Originally we had ambitions to hike from Haghartsin Monastery back to town. The tourist office warned us off - not maintained. We ended up walking back on the Transcaucasian Trail (TCT) from Lake Parz. Except for the mud puddles made by ATVs, it was a beautiful hike. The highlight was the millions of wildflowers blooming in the high meadow (1700 m.a.s.l).

On the way to Diligan we changed buses at the massive, Soviet-built, and nearly empty Northern Bus Station.










Just before reaching Dilijan, we passed Lake Sevan, a popular weekend destination for Yerevanites and foreign tourists.








The tourist office was well-staffed, very helpful, and there were useful signboards outside.


We walked up to the town center to buy groceries, and Sun-Ling cooked a tasty dinner back in our apartment which came with a baby grand piano.








The next morning we used the Yandex ride hailing app to get a car to Parz Lake - no hassle. The plan is to walk about 14kms back to Dilijan and our apartment.


The first part of the walk around Lake Parz and on the connector to the TCT (Transcaucasian Trail) was very muddy in spots.






The TCT was was awesome. Well marked. No 4WDs or ATVs here. Thousands of towering beech trees. And an occaisonal view of high meadows, and pastures.










After and hour or so we reached the most beautiful alpine meadow and followed the TCT-signed poles to the other end for the lunch-stop-of-the-day.
















Sun-Ling was very happy to snap a bunch of flower photos.














After another 8 kms of walking through smalls pasture and farms, and by a newish hotel, we found ourselves in the suburbs with viewpoint of Dilijan. Then a big downhill to our apartment.