August 5 - Monastery to monastery

So it was that I woke up after a restless night, being a bit frustrated - maybe the first signs of being tired? It took an unusual long time to pack my things together, the first visitors had already arrived. The worst thing was that the mountain was not visible from where I had slept, so did not see it in the sunrise.

The monastery

I was compensated with a breathtaking view by the time I got ready, those 5000+ meters right in front of the monastery and me. One could see the Turkish border, it was running just a mile to the south. The church itself was impressive, with all kinds of narrow passages and deep holes one could climb into (which I did).

A beautiful view...

Heading eastwards, it was a smooth road next to farmlands, with craftfully laidvout fruit stands, selling all kinds of delicious produce. Competition was strong, more hunters than rabbits, some of the sellers were sleeping peacefully in matrasses laid boutbin the shade next to the stands.

Fruit stand, with the merchant sleeping on his bed to the right...

...and more of those nice views...

I had reached an intersection which was unmarked (rare thing, usually signs in Armenia are really good). My GPS showed I was then at the Iranian border, and it was time to turn south.

What followed was a brutal climb, the farmlands gave away to a rocky, barren landscape. Heading northeast, the road weared up till the eye could see. It was a tough going, painfully slow at times, really hot and windy. Oh well, but I was going and eventually the road leveled out.

Heading uphill, close to the Iranian border

It was late in the afternoon that I got to the intersection of Noravank, another monastery. There was a sign indicating a steep climb (8% for 8 km), but this place was marked as a do-not-miss on the map.

It turned out as a great decision to go up this cul-de-sac. The road took me through a rep gorge, it was really adventurous. I stopped often to take pictures and was gazing at the bizarre rock shapes formed by nature.

The canyon

Halfway though, a small restaurant hewed in the rock came, they offered I could stay there, but I went on for the remaining four kilometers, when the real climb (struggle?) started. Oh, that view! High up above me, I finally spotted the monastery, with three churches standing out of the rocks. Whoever built it must have had a lot of courage, to erect a construction in such a formidable place. It was amazing, I can say it was one of the highlighs of this entire trip.

The end of the canyon, with the two churches in the middle

Here the caretaker was friendlier than at Khor Virap, he showed mm e a nice patch of grass I could put up my tent, with splendid views of both the monastery and the deep gorge.

Sunset at the monestery

When all visitors had finally look left, including the Australian lady with the loudly meowing kitten she had found, I climbed in the tent and quickly fell asleep...only to be woken up with a large lightning, followed by a thunder. I was scrambling to put on the rain cover on the tent (which I usually don't), but as the windvhad picked up in addition to being pitch dark, was not an easy job. I did get quite wet, but the storm passed quickly, so it was time to return to sleep.