Vayots Dzor
Traveling south from Yerevan towards Artsakh, after passing through Ararat province, the main highway enters Vayots Dzor. Shortly thereafter there is the village of Areni, famous for its wine, and where the world’s oldest shoe was found in a cave. Nearby is the spectacular Noravank Monastery.
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I have been living in Armenia my whole life but still never heard about Getikvank. I always thought that Armenia is very Yerevan oriented. We have so many beautiful sights, but even native Armenian do not know about these places. Armenia is full of ancient cathedrals and monasteries, tiny beautiful villages with mindblowing nature. Wonderful places like Avarayr and Getikvank stay unseen because all the investments are being made in the Yerevan. In my personal perspective, the time for developing such sites has come, that would be very beneficial for Armenia. People living in those areas will have proper jobs, and more tourists will come to Armenia.
I greatly appreciate these articles by Mr. Daghdigian.
I bet many people who live in Yerevan have never been to any of these places.
Armenia and Artsakh should have many more tourists. There should be explicit Christian tours.
Hats off to Joe for creating a terrific awareness of
The many historic sites in our Armenian homeland. During my three trips to Armenia, I especially enjoy excursions to the country side.
I had the good fortune of witnessing a slide presentation by Hovsep Dagdigian in NYC. There I observed where Kevork Chavoush had his last stand and where vartan mamigonian prayed before going into battle, among many other notable places visited by and reported upon by Hovsep. How else but through the few on-the -ground record-keepers and village historians that are left — and reportage by Hovsep — would we know such things?
We have many volunteers doing important work for the Armenian nation. Hovsep heads that list by performing this unique and necessary service.
The towns and villages if Armenia and Artsakh need our support, investment, tourism, development and moral support far more than Yerevan does!
Fantastic! I’m keeping track of these places for when I retire and can spend lots of time in Armenia. Joe you are our eyes and ears and longing hearts to be there.
One must talk about some places in Syunik as well. There are a lot of beautiful and historical views which are unexplored. I used to travel Syunik when I was a child because my grandmother had a house there. While talking about Syunik, the first thing which comes to our mind is probably the Tatev monastery. However, when there’s no ropeway, no one cared about a significant historical value of Tatev. Hence, after building the ropeway, people of Tatev started to live more or less well, since there are new workplaces and touristic opportunities. But where my grandmother’s house is located, there is no special ropeway or something which can attract tourists. And hence, people live in a parallel reality with the worst conditions of life. There are no workplaces, and the only thing that they can do is some agricultural stuff which is not that much profitable and constant. So what is the moral of my story, there are a lot of places in Armenia which are underrated, but they can be excellent touristic places.
We visited Armenia last year and loved it. I wish I had seen this article before going and will be sure to add some of these more off the beaten path destinations next time we go!