%cgArteni Village in Ashtarak Region%c* and other Armenia Off The Beaten Path Tips

We stopped by at a village called Arteni to buy some apricots. For those who don't know, Armenian apricots are known to be the sweetest and tastiest.. You just have to taste some when you go to Armenia.. If they're in season which they were when we were there in July, you get to taste the fruit but if you go off season, you can always puchase from the store the halved dried apricots which they call "Apricot Cheer" in Armenia.. The picture is of a villager in Arteni who proudly stands infront of the table in his backyard where he is drying halved apricots to sell in off season.. We bought apricots from them to take with us on our journey that day. They tasted sweet and so wonderful.

To read more about Arteni and the villagers, please visit Arteni village

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The road heading north from "Aparan" passed through many villages. Several of those villages are inhabited by Yezidi people. Mostly working as shepherds, they are fire-worshipping Zoroastrians and recognizable (to the Armenians) as having darker skin. The women tend to wear more colorful clothes and a scarf over their heads.

As we stopped by the village, I got out of the car to take a few pictures.. I looked back and saw Christine out of the car handing out little toys or presents to the children of the village.. The kids were very excited and they were playing around and letting me take pictures of them and their village. It was one of our highlights of our trip to Armenia to meet the Yezidi children..

To get there, just look for Rya Taza Village on the map and drive there pass the Aparan Village.

For more photos of Yezidi Children from Rya Taza Village, Please refer to my travelogue Rya Taza Children

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Yezidi people are fire-worshipping Zoroastrians. Modern Yezidi cemeteries are distinctive with graves that look almost like small houses. An older cemetery is by the road in the village of Rya Taza where there are tombstones in the form of horses for the men though much simpler ones, sometimes depicting a cradle, for women.

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On our way to Khor Virap, we stopped by the statue of Gevorg Chavush, a historic Armenian freedom fighter in the late 1800's. There are many stories in history books of the battles he led and his expertise on the battle grounds. The site where the statue is situated is breath taking.. It is not to be missed when visiting Khor Virap by the road leading to the monestery. The background is of mount Ararat with its to peaks, Sis and Masis currently situated in Turkey. We enjoyed our stop by this statue and the great view of mount Ararat in the background along with Khor Virap on the right hand side.

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When traveling Armenia's off the beaten paths and visiting monastaries and villages away from Yerevan, the capital city.. You will see many shepherds with their cows or ship grazing the lands by the roads..

They're very genuine people and we had the opportunity and the fortune to speak to a couple of them when we were taking a break from driving and walking and just sitting with nature absorbing the beauty of the mountains and the blue color of the sky contrasting the clear white clouds...... They were great moments!!

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This bridge was built in 1664 and is called the three-arch bridge and is situated on the river called the "Kasagh". It is a bridge heavily used in the past for transport from Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia to the city of Gyumri but now it is less commonly travelled due to a newly constructed bridge elsewhere.

The old bridge has a rather unusual appearance in that the three arches are unequal in size with the southernmost arch almost twice the height of the northernmost.

This region of Ashtarak is not very commonly visited by tourists.. Many tourists pass by this bridge and area on their way to the three churches (one of which is the small red tuff church of St. Sargis) a little to the north of where the bridge is.

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This picture was taken in the streets of Yerevan, by an enterance of metro station underground.

You can see the symbol of former communist Russia, the Hammer and Sickle with the letters "CCCP" written on the hammer. Armenia became independent in September of 1991 and no longer ruled by the former Communist Russia.

I had to take a picture of this when I saw it. I don't quite remember where it was located.

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The cemetery of Yerablur in Yerevan houses the dead from Nagorno Karabagh war together with Andranik Ozanian, fighter against Turkey in the late 19th centuries and Vazgen Sarkissian, the prime minister who was assassinated in parliament in 1999.

There are fedayees (soldiers) who have participated in the war in early 1990's on the premisses who can give you a tour and point out some of the most famous heros of the Armenian military personel. I recommend you taking the tour but need a translator as they do not speak english or any other language other than Russian and Armenian.

To visit this cemetery particularly on one of the traditional Armenian days for visiting graves such as Easter Monday is even more poignant than with most war cemeteries because the war in which they were killed is so recent (1989-1994) and many of the figures tending the graves are the mothers or other close relatives of those who died. Most of the graves carry a picture of the deceased.

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The central square of the town Ejmiatsin is called the Komitas Square and a statue of Komitas, the composer, made by Ervand Kochar (Same person responsible for the eagle at Zvartnots) was erected in 1969.

Komitas (1869-1935) is perhaps the best known composer of more recent times in Armenian history. He has written many wonderful chants as well as other compositions in traditional Armenian style.

Listening to Komitas beautiful chants in any of Armenia's churches on a sunday morning is an experience which every visitor to Armenia should seek out.

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