1 עמוד
THE
NINTH
centuryTatev Monastery.
fi Todayitholds
Text and photos by MEITALSHARABI
but only receivingindependence through November there's never breakupof the Soviet huge number
young in 1991
with the
Union.
Just 100 years ago, the
nian
people suffered
Arme-
in the
terrible persecu-
even
then,
of tourists
country.
in recently participated triporgaby Israelitour company Medraft, in the Armenian in overseas Genocide; although which specializes jeeptours. Israel has not officially the And let me tell you, after five days in recognized reaArmenia had completely fallen in love genocide,primarilyfor political it'sprettyhard these daysto find toursons, it does acknowledgethe massacre with its colorful people, culinteresting ist spotswhere the natural order hasn't that took placethere in .5191 ture and incredible mountain views. been disturbed and peoplestilllive traAbout million peoplelive in Armetour," it Althoughitwas an "organized as their nia half of them in the capital of feltvery loose and didn't feel constrictditionally, just great-grandpartoday, ents did. Yerevan, overlooking the famed Mount ed at all,even indethough I'm fiercely That's why Armenia small country Ararat. The Armenians are very proud pendent person. loved learningabout located in southwestern Asia, just twoof their heritageand rich language, the history of places and going to sites hour non-stop flight from Tel Aviv is of 39 letters; if you listen to never would have found on my own. consisting so unique. someone to speakingit, you'llbe conAlthough there are direct flights Armenia, we Sharing borders with Turkey,Iran, vinced rightaway that all 39 of those actually began our tripin has lettersare beingput to use. Azerbaijanand Georgia,Armenia Georgia,where we hopped into jeeps varied landscapes, hundreds of rivers The Armenian culture is quitediffer- and headed to Artik to pickup our local and waterfalls and endless mountains ent from that of Western societies. For border. As soon guideon the Armenian and valleys. There are picturesque rural meal as you cross the border into Armenia, example, traditional Armenian at the foot of mountains where can last for more than three hours. It villages you getthe sense you'veentered young farmers work the land usingtime-tested to rebuild beginswith lots of different salads made country that is juststarting from mushrooms and steamed itselfas nation. Some of the roads are plowing and reaping methods, abanvegedoned factories in the middle of notables, with the main course almost falling apart and are full of potholes, where and numerous historical sites. which made me for alwaysincludingbeef and homemade extremelygrateful rich noodles. The weather is almost always the jeep's excellent shock absorbers. Despite the Armenian people's the modern nation is relativelymild and the peak season is from April We drove past huge cliffsuntil we history, tion from
the Ottoman
Empire,ending
nized
reached ate
we
meal
university
the
of Haghpat, where village
our
first authentic
Armenian
of
and cheeses, which vegetables became diet. quickly partof our daily From there we drove to the magnificent Haghpat Monastery,from which the village derived its name. Originally built by the Bagratuniroyalfamily, the stunning structure was destroyedand
rebuilt numerous
times. In the 15th
tury, the monastery
cen-
transformed
and today, it functions university
into as
was
national monument
for Armenian
Christianity. Armenian structures Architecturally, are quitesimilar to those found in Georchurches algia,except that Armenian bell tower. ways incorporate large At the
monastery
entrance
is
floor
comprisedof huge white stones, which turn out to actually be old gravestones; largeceramic jugs submerged in the ground are said to have been used for ,6991 the storingfood and wine. In added to the monastery was officially UNESCO World HeritageList thanks to the khachkars etched in (cross-stones) the 11th to 13th centuries. Our
next
stop, which
is where
we
2 עמוד
AFTER
FIVE
in Armenia,
days had
was spent the night,
known Dilijan,
Switzerland.
fallen in completely
menian
love with itscolorful
famous
people, interesting
leviate
culture and incredible mountain
views .'
for
of
sumed
the Ar-
course,
the resort town the locals
by
This
locally grown
as
is spa town herbs that al-
005,7 years old. Of
to be about
there
dozens
are
of
hypotheses
regardingits originand
what
used for, and
positsit was
of them
one
it
was
and other ailments. if you an respiratory observatoryfor stargazers; is also home to Dilijan highlyregarded look at aerial photographsof the area, international high school, whose grad- the site looks like an eaglewith itswings uates are accepted at renowned universpreadwide, sities around the world. There's small When we reached our hotel in finally statue in Sisian, there was hot food waitingfor us parkwith lovely pond and the town
that
center
created follow-
was
of Soviet-era movie foing the filming cusingon national unity. In the morning, we drove north past
and local dancers put on festiveshow. Lavished with brandy,all of us were feet
dancingto the lively deep connection reached our next with our Armenian hosts by the end of small village the evening; don't think I'llever forget
until we snowy ridge destination: Kalavan
that at firstglancedoes not
look very
soon
on
music.
that
our
feltsuch
We
experience.
The next morning, our muscles still only 25 families, number of excitingarcheologicalsore from the previous evening, we discoveries were made in the village in leftfor the capital of Yerevan, stopping ,5002 so we number of spots stoppedthere to listen to along the way at local archeologist Robert Ghukasyan. with gorgeous views such as SpandaryThe artifacts which were found almost an Lake. Drivingalongthe wine route, accident are dated to the the tour stoppedat the village of Areni by Byzantine on in where we were hosted by David Simaperiod,and are currently display the local museum. onian and his family. He showed us his Kalavan residents did not letthis gold- private and the wine distillery vineyard en fame pass where he producesred wine and pomeopportunityof newfound them by,and all the families are collabAfterward, we picked granate liquor. strawberries in Simaonian's fields and oratingon project theycallTime Land Home impressive.
in which
to
visitors
in get to participate
activities such age-old
as
kindlingbon-
learned
fire,building houses from tree branches, medicinal herbs. archeryand gathering Tourists can in hostels or sleeplocally tents, and
homes
as
families open bed and breakfasts
then
We
point over of water meters.
some
continued
to
on
Lake Sevan,
that sits at
an
This rience
in
was,
in rural
lookout
tourists, and
body
Armenian
flat-
essence,
our
tripin
we
last expespent the
Yerevan.
The
bustling metropolisis RepublicSquare,which is alwaysfull of largeand
009,1
moun-
make
Armenia;
of the
remainder
heart of the
altitude of two
to
up their
natural
The lake liesbetween
how
bread
Before
rections
the
cityis divided
into
small centers. we
all set out
to
our explore,
in different di-
last group
ac-
and next to the small village tivity was the Megerian carpet ridges visiting of Tsaghkunk,where we stoppedfor .7191 founded in New York in factory, lunch of smoked lamb chops cooked in Megerian began as carpet-cleaning an outdoor stone oven. and repair service, but in 1970 when the Though it was meal, we that aftertook over the business, huge stoppedagain grandchildren noon to taste smoked fish alongthe stotheir own carpets theydecided to weave ried SilkRoad, which links northern and with allthe weaving done by hand, ussouthern Armenia. We that night ing onlynaturally slept dyed fibers. at the family-run Basen Hotel in Sisian, then set out to exploreYerevan's built on the ruins of Soviet-era factory. nightlife, that it was pretty discovering similar to that of Tel Aviv! Despite being exhausted, we manthe next morning On our last morning, we once agedto wake up early again to perfect weather and extremely canclimbed into and drove high jeeps up We set out right with we were welcomed visibility. away for the yon, where cable-car view of the sun Wings of Tatev, 5.7-km-long rising breathtaking tain
line that
reaches
Monastery,which
the was
century and housed century.
isolated Tatev built in the 9th 000,1 young
men
in the 10th
Period, the During the Seljuk
over
the multicolored
continued
up the
mountains.
We
road until we
narrow
reached
pagan temple (theonly one that remains, since Armenia is strictly
The templewas decountry). but was tery completeby earthquakes, In the 13th century,the rebuilt both times by the Soviet authorlydestroyed. structure was rebuilt and even expand- ities since it was considered an imported, and was ant tourist attraction. university opened within was
monas-
attacked and almost
its walls. As is cient Armenian
common
among
monasteries,
Christian
stroyedtwice
all anthere is
Upon
our
stoppedat
return monument
to
the
city,we
commemorat-
next to it where we were hosted Genocide. village ing the Armenian The modern nation-state of Armeby Isabella and Nikolai Gwarkian. The female familymembers nia is in its and its taught infancy, peoplehave us how to make zingel, herb-filled fried obstacles to overcome as it grows many ourselves, we what and develops but this is exactly dough.After fully stuffing made visiting the country so special. hopped back into the jeepsand drove
towards Sisian. Our stones
next
stop was
entrenched
compound with ground, as
in the
The author
was
Translated
byHannah
Tours. guestofMedraft
Hochner