Experiences in Armenia

Armenia the beauty and history:

On our second trip to Armenia, we had a chance to see

some of the historic and scenic things. Mount Ararat is actually in Turkey, but is seen from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia and the Armenian people consider it a national treasure. It is prominent on their coat of arms and is something most tourists

buy pictures of. It is snow covered most of the year and has 2 peaks. Bibically it is believed to be the mountain where Noah’s arc landed after the flood.

We went to Khor Virap, which is where the pagan King Trdat III imprisoned Saint Gregory, the Illuminator in a deep pit for 13 years. A woman lowered food to him. He was brought out of the pit to cure King Trdat of a disease. He did that and the king converted to Christianity and ordered his court to convert and Christianity became the religion of Armenia. Thus, Armenia became the first official Christian nation (301AD). It is believed that in the 1^st century, Christ’s apostles, Thaddaeus and Bartholomew came to the area that is now Armenia.

Jack and I actually climbed down into the pit, which was easier than coming up.

We went to a more modern monastery. The priests were using cell phones.

This monastery was not destroyed in WWII because

of the bell in this tower.

There is a monument to the Armenian holocaust. This took place begin

ning in 1915 and is recognized as the first modern genocide. It was carried out by the Ottoman empire and is still the reason that the Turks and Armenians have armed borders. They are trying to resolve the issue now.

Driving along the road you find people who have beehives and sell honey.

In the rural area we saw a man herding his cows.

We gave fruit trees to a village and every family got 3 trees.

This is a home

where a refugee family lives.

The wife is working in the field.

There is also a place where they have statues on the Armenian

alphabet. It is traditional to have your picture taken

with the letter that

begins your name.

There are many storks in the area. They mate for life and build their

nests in high places. We saw several nests along the arm of a crane.

The last day we went to a restaurant for a barbeque. They had bears and other animals there. The restaurant owner got very nervous if you got too close.