Lunch and Learn

     Our next stop this day was for lunch. But it was more than just eating lunch. This family started a business catering to tourist groups, right in their backyard. They have developed quite a business for themselves. It was 80 degrees on this day, but they had their grounds all set up for cool and comfort. It was a pleasant place to be on a warm day. You can see where we were below. Our table was right behind the table in the photo.

     Before we got to sit down and eat, we had a working lesson in making 'Gata.' Gata is an Armenian pastry or sweet bread. There are evidently many variations in different regions of Armenia. In our case, Gata was flour, butter, and sugar. We were told that other fillings can be added to it such as nuts and such, but we didn't add anything to the insides. Ours was round and about a foot in diameter. You can see Vicky with our tutor to the left of Vicky.

    Vicky finished up and then put our Gata on the holder to take to the oven. Gata was our dessert for our lunch.

     As we entered the back yard for our lunch and learn, I noticed some large fish tanks. Our guide said to take a good look because I was looking at our main course for lunch. The fish tanks held both trout and sturgeon. We ended up having sturgeon. The trout are on top and sturgeon on the bottom.

     Lunch was green onions, an eggplant dish, lavash bread, tabule, cheese, sturgeon (I had 3rds), potatoes, and Vicky's Gata for dessert with tea.

Armenian Agriculture

     I knew some Armenian farmers in Stockton when I was growing up, so I thought agriculture would be the leading industry in Armenia. I was wrong. The mining industry accounts for about half of Armenia's exports. Agriculture might be the number two industry, but it depends on how you measure it. Some 30 percent of the workforce are in agriculture, so that's a big number. The agriculture sector is divided about half and half between crops and animal husbandry.

     Crop cultivation focuses on wheat and barley plus fruits such as figs, apricots, olives, and pomegranates. They also raise lots of vegetables. Animals include sheep, goats, cattle, and horses.

     While Armenia has over 335,000 farms, the average farm is only about 3.5 acres which is very small. Fortunately for me, the Ararat Valley is the primary agricultural area, and we spend most of our time there. 

     The first photo is just a general photo, but a good one as I was on a high hill to take it.

     We did manage to see quite a few wheat fields and some of them were relatively large, like below.

     In terms of orchards and vineyards, grapes were still the crop that I saw the most of on our trip.

     In Armenia and the Caucasus, we had excellent fresh tomatoes and cucumbers with every meal, but I never saw any growing in any farm fields. I finally asked our guide who said that they were all grown in greenhouses. It took me awhile but in this area, I saw lots of greenhouses.

     One peculiar thing was that I rarely ever saw a person working in the agriculture fields, save for some guys operating tractors. The photo below is only included because it was such a rare site on this trip. (a moving bus photo)

     I didn't see a lot of bee hives but the ones that I did see were peculiar. In the US, bee hives are always all white in color. I have been to a few other countries where they decorate their bee hives. But I had never seen hives of various colors with no decorations, but I guess they still work. We were served honey frequently.

     We already visited a Lavash bakery. But after seeing it, I started to pay more attention to the piles of brush along the roadways. It turns out that lots of farmers sell fresh breads along the road, as part of their farming business. In our country, we might sell fruits, vegetables, hay or other crops, along the road, but in Armenia, the farmers sell fresh breads. At this farm, they were selling “Zhingyalov hats” which is an Armenian flatbread stuffed with finely diced herbs and green vegetables. It's tough to beat their fresh breads. This woman was right in the corner of their wheat field and the yard of their house.

Genocide Monument and Music

     I will cover two stops along our tour in this post. First is the Genocide Memorial and Museum. This commemorates the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1922. This brought the Ottomans into World War I, on the side of Germany. The complex is on Tsitsernakaberd Hill, across the Hrazdan Gorge from central Yerevan. The Ottoman Turks had undergone a leadership change and the new leaders wanted to purify and protect their empire by getting rid of the Armenians. Mind you, this area used to be Armenia and the Armenians wanted to be a part of it.

     Armenians charge that the Ottomans undertook a deliberate campaign to deport or massacre all the Armenians from the Ottoman territory. Armenia considers it an act of genocide. The Turkish government resists this charge and contends that, although atrocities took place, there was no official policy of extermination against the Armenian people. 

     Whatever the accurate explanation, some 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Turks during this period of time. As of today, Armenia, at a minimum, wants an admission of guilt from Turkey. The Turks refuse to admit there was a genocide, despite all the deaths and records of them.  

     Construction of the monument took place in 1966 and 1967, during Soviet times. One hundred thousand Armenians demonstrated in 1965 in Yerevan to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the genocide. They demanded that the Soviet authorities officially recognize it as a genocide.

     The 145-foot monument symbolizes the national rebirth of Armenians. A 328-foot wall (on the left) lists the names and towns and villages where massacres and deportations took place. The memorial has 12 slabs in a circle, representing the 12 lost provinces in present-day Turkey. In the middle is an eternal flame for the 1.5 million people killed.

     Adjacent to the memorial is the Genocide Museum and Institute which opened in 1995. The museum contains photographs, documents, reports, and films that document the genocide. It was extensive and difficult to see and read about.

     Our next stop was unusual and very uplifting compared to the genocide museum. We stopped in an old section of Yerevan. We walked into a person's home, by way of some narrow alleys. When it seemed like we might be entering a peculiar place, we came into the person's backyard. The family has lived here in Yerevan for many generations and our guide said this home was typical of an old Yerevan family.

     This stop was to meet a local musician who is also makes musical instruments. He showed us some uniquely Armenian woodwind instruments, such as the duduk, zurna, and shvi. They just looked like flutes to me. They are all made from Armenian-grown apricot wood. 

     Our host explained the instruments to us, and he also played several of them. These instruments are evidently important to Armenian's cultural identity and play a key role in Armenia's national folk music. You can see some of his instruments to the right of him.

     The piano had an unusual story to it. This man purchased it to be part of his whimsical backyard. He planned to make it into a waterfall. But before he converted the piano, he found out that it has been a gift to the Belgian Royal Family. It was a long story, but he decided to refurbish it and keep it as a piano. He played us some music on the piano, then his wife joined him for a duet. They were quite good musicians.

Caucasus Quiz

     It's time for a Caucasus Quiz. But don't think of this as a test of whether or not you've been paying attention. No, this is a learning experience quiz. This is just for fun. If anyone gets two or three answers correct, they have overachieved!

     The questions come from our trip and from all three countries: Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. Answers will be posted several posts down.

1. What is, or was, the following device, which is hanging in the photo, used for?  (Hint: we were on a farm in the mountains)

2. What is this Azerbaijani farmer doing wrong?   (A just for fun question)

3. Our 'shebeke' (glass window) workshop instructor, in Shaki Azerbaijan, also trains young people. It's very competitive to get into his program.  What skill or knowledge does he value the most in choosing kids for his training program?

4. At numerous places in the Caucasus, but especially in Georgia, we saw piles of grape pruning branches for sale. Most often, like in this photo, we saw them for sale in grocery stores. What are they used for?

5. The item below was served to us several times, primarily as a snack. I had never before experienced eating this food product prepared this way. I was actually quite shocked to find out what it was. But I managed to empty the dish every time they were served. What are they?

(and I'll give you one piece of information, they are not plums.)

6. We attended another centuries-old traditional craft workshop in Kazbegi Georgia that I never posted about. The process in the studio took many steps. Vicky is doing one of the steps, near the finish of the process. What is she making?

7. We met a local Armenian musician in Yerevan, Armenia who showed us and played a number of unique woodwind instruments.

What instrument is he playing here?

8. Out in the country, not far from Biblical Mount Ararat, we were driving through a small village when we noticed some storks nesting on the top of telephone poles. We stopped to check them out. Our guide said that the storks were migratory and that they only came here during birthing season. Someone put devices on some storks to see where they migrate to from Armenia and found out that they migrate to three other countries. Name one of the three countries where these storks migrate to?

9. We were in Yerevan when we came across this particular tree. Vicky and I know these trees very well but had never seen one so large.

What kind of tree is this?

10. Vicky and I have traveled the world extensively. In terms of foreign countries that we have visited, Armenia was a milestone country for Vicky. This was a celebratory glass of wine that she was drinking.

What number of country visited was Armenia for Vicky?

11. Bonus Question: There were 15 countries in the former USSR. How many former USSR countries have Vicky and I visited?

Khor Virap Monastery

     We drove about twenty miles south of Yerevan, but still in the Ararat Plain, to a hillock at the foot of Mount Ararat. We visited the Khor Virap Monastery. It's located about 110 yards from the Turkish-Armenian border. Mount Ararat is a snow-capped mountain with two long-dormant volcanic cones. It lies in Turkey now, though formerly in Armenia. It is the tallest mountain in Turkey in almost 17,000 feet while Little Ararat is 12,750 feet high. Mount Ararat is considered or claimed to be the landing place of Noah's Ark.

     Khor Virap started out as a castle and royal dungeon near the ancient capital of Artashat around 180 BC. The name means "deep dungeon," and was where King Tiridates III threw Gregory Lusarovich for practicing Christianity instead of the pagan religion at the time. Gregory was kept in the dungeon for thirteen years. He was only let out when the king got ill and the king's sister urged him to release Gregory, who eventually cured the king. According to legend, that was when the king converted to Christianity which led to Armenia becoming the first official Christian country in the world in 301 AD while Gregory became Gregory the Illuminator.

     Khor Virap has since seen many uses such as a chapel and monastery, a Middle Ages education and learning center, and an important pilgrimage site. It also survived a colossal earthquake in 1679. It is still used for regular church services today but from the crowds, I would say that tourism is its main function these days.

     You can see Khor Virap Monastery on the right side as we approached the monastery for a visit.

    The church evidently has some peculiarities so far as its orientation and such. We managed to visit without too many other tourists.

     Off to one side of the main church is a chapel building. It houses the "deep dungeon" where Gregory the Illuminator was kept for 13 years. You can see the chapel and then the dungeon which is 20 feet straight down and 14 feet of room at the bottom. It was unpleasant just to see it.

     As interesting as Khor Virap Monastery might have been with the church, chapel, courtyard, and other features, the view was the highlight for us. We spent more time just admiring Mount Ararat than we spent reviewing the monastery.

     Armenia is a haven for stray cats who all seemed to lead very nice lives. Georgia was more of a stray dog country, but Armenia had cats all about. They all looked well fed and comfortable. The Khor Virap monastery cat below even shared her bench with us, so nice!

Armenian Food

     It's time to share photos of some of the food that we ate in Armenia. For starters, it will be a breakfast at our hotel in Yerevan. I would add that every hotel where we stayed in the Caucasus had an extensive breakfast. The food available included everything you could want for a breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I'm not kidding, food for every meal was there and available. Sometimes there was also champagne and other specialties so lots to choose from. It would have taken about ten photos to get all the foods available for breakfast at most of our hotels.

     So, what did Vicky and I do for breakfast? Well, every hotel had an omelet cook who would make you a fresh omelet or any style eggs such as eggs benedict. Almost every single day, Vicky and I had a fresh omelet or eggs benedict. We would also have fruit juice, coffee, and maybe yogurt, fruit, or toast or things. At any rate, below is an omelet that we enjoyed in our Yerevan hotel for breakfast.

     We ate lunch a short walk from the Genocide Memorial at the Akari Restaurant. We had a tomato-cucumber salad, bread, cheese, a beef and walnut dish, an eggplant-carrot-garlic dish, and roasted whole (small) chickens (not in photo).

     Next was a dinner main course, in the Kilikia Beerhouse. It was beef, red bell peppers, and eggplant in a pomegranate sauce. Delicious!

Other dishes served with the meal included a beetroot salad, cheeses, eggplant rolls (long dish), and tabbouleh (mediterranean salad).

     Next was dinner at Tavern Yerevan. We had a tomato/cucumber salad, coldcuts, cheeses, a vegetable salad, an eggs and green beans dish, breads, eggplant, and BBQ'd beef, chicken, and pork. It was all good plus baklava and tea for dessert. I'm just showing the meats and dessert.

     Fruits were a common dessert. We were served fruit plates for lunch or dinner and often times with something else, like baklava. Their fruits were very good and they usually served a variety of fruits.

Zvartnots Temple

     We visited the ruins of Zvartnots Temple (or Cathedral) out on the Ararat Plateau. It's really an archeological site. Construction began in 643 AD under the instructions of Catholicos Nerses III so it's an ancient and historical temple. The story was that it was an early and enduring architectural design. It changed over the years but in the 10th century, an earthquake largely destroyed it. It was rediscovered and excavated between 1900 and 1907. Someone was assigned the job of attempting to reconstruct what it looked like. They did that and in the 1940's, it was partially reconstructed.

     We visited the entire site, and I was never clear exactly how it was determined exactly what it had looked like but there were plenty of ruins for us to review. Our guide gave us lots of insights but it still looked mostly like an archeological site to me.

     Like most places around the Ararat Plain, the most outstanding feature was Mount Ararat as a backdrop.

     They had a photo that showed what the cathedral had looked like when originally constructed. It must have been magnificent for that time.

     I took photos of the main temple but there were lots of other areas around the temple so it must have been a large complex.

     Some of the pieces discovered by the archeologists were in remarkably good condition, though the sun dial was a little slow.

Odds and Ends

     This post will just be some Armenian odds and ends. We saw more than I could put into posts for Armenia. The first photo is the Matenadaran, in Yerevan. It's a museum, a repository of manuscripts, and a research institute. It holds the world's largest repository of Armenian manuscripts. It was named after Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet and a statue of him stands in front of the building.

     We got a tour of the museum which was interesting. For me, it was too much information - and they had lots of information.

     Armenians are big chess players. Our Armenian guide said that it's common to have at least one Armenian amongst the world's leading chess players. It was common to see vendor after vendor at markets selling chess sets, like below. 

     How big are the Armenians at chess? I never even knew there was such a thing as three-way chess which lets you play two players at once.

     We visited the Temple of Garni which gave us a curious look at how hands have changed here over the centuries. It's been described as the easternmost building of the Greco-Roman empire. It was also the only Hellenistic building largely preserved by the USSR. It's perched on a cliff overlooking the Azat River. 

     It was initially a pagan temple built by King Tiridates I in the first century AD as a temple to the sun god. Of course, there are other explanations about it as well. It collapsed in a 1679 earthquake, but many fragments remained in place. It was reconstructed in 1969-1975 and is an important tourist attraction in Armenia and a central shrine of Armenian neopaganism. It also had other building remains including a large bathhouse. 

     It's not unusual on our visits to see people hanging laundry from their balcony or windows. That's common. But I had never seen people stringing up a clothesline between separate buildings before I saw it on the outskirts of Yerevan. I was impressed.

     Someone, like me, might think that it would be hard to read signs in countries with their own alphabets and languages, like Armenia and Georgia. But despite that, it was not uncommon to be able to read signs.

     Being on the border of East and West (Asia and Europe), I expected to be mostly drinking tea. I was wrong. The Caucasus folks are moving towards coffee like bees to flowers. Coffee places were everywhere, even without people.

     On another note, it doesn't take much to be in business in Yerevan either (but I don't know how you drive it).

Etchmiadzin Cathedral

     This visit was one of our last in Armenia but an important one. We visited the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, which is in the middle of the Etchmiadzin Monastery complex. Etchmiadzin Cathedral is the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It was the first cathedral built in ancient Armenia and is often regarded as the oldest cathedral in the world. It is said to have been built where Gregory the Illluminator had a vision of Christ striking the ground with a golden hammer. Our guide said that this place is the "Vatican" to the Armenian Apostolic Church.

     The original church was built between 301 and 303, according to tradition. It was built over a pagan temple, symbolizing Armenia's conversion from paganism to Christianity. The current core of the church was built in 483/484 after the cathedral was severely damaged in a Persian invasion. It has, of course, had additional work and some additions since that time. Since the 5th century, Etchmiadzin has been the seat of the Catholicos, the supreme head of the Armenian Church.

     The Etchmiadzin monastery complex is comprised of many buildings including the refectory (17th century), the hotel (18th century), the residence of the Catholicos, the school, the stone reservoir, the printing house, Monk's cells, and over 50 monuments. We had a long visit here but it could have been even longer.

     You can see the entrance first. Behind the entrance to the left (not seen) is an outdoor alter where Pope John Paul II said a mass here in 2001. The next three photos will show you three other buildings but you will also notice the amount of space within the monastery. The place was very large.

     The cathedral was quite nice, especially considering its age. Most of the monastery grounds were not crowded but the cathedral itself was very crowded and busy with people. It's clearly the highlight of visiting the monastery. It looks pretty good for the oldest cathedral in the world.

Etchmiadzin Museum

     After walking all around the monastery and going through the cathedral, we got to visit the museum. We had to enter a building, then cross the Catholicos's (head of the church) courtyard to get to the museum. He has a huge personal courtyard that was well landscaped. No photos were allowed in the courtyard, but they were allowed in the museum itself.

     The museum has several rooms with many items on display. We saw manuscripts and religious objects. The museum rarities includes church accessories of historical and artistic value, costumes embroidered with gold and pearls, crosses and staffs of the Catholicos, numerous ritual objects made of gold, silver, and ivory, decorated with filigree and precious stones. We saw rare antique coins and ancient manuscripts.

     I'll start with a couple of items that I found interesting: an ancient carpet and a very old map of Armenia.

     But let's quit beating around the bush and get to the primary artifacts. The first is the Holy Lance or spear that the centurion Longinus used to pierce Jesus during the Crucifixion. Remember, it had been at Geghard Monastery, which we visited, for 500 years before being moved to Etchmiadzin. There was no indication that its authenticity is in dispute from all that I read or heard.

     Next is a bejeweled cross that sits in an impressive and ornate relic, but neither of those is the significant part. The important part is that the cross is mounted on a piece of wood, that was a part of Noah's Ark. The entire backing behind the cross is supposedly from the Ark. 

     Finally, you can see a another cross in another impressive relic. But the important part of this one is the smaller cross that's in the center of the larger cross. Inside, you can see a small piece of wood. It is claimed to be a piece of wood from Jesus's cross.

 If anyone had asked me to guess where in the world I might find all these artifacts, I would never have guessed Armenia.

QUIZ Answers

     Here are the answers to my Caucasus Quiz. Remember, it was a learning experience quiz and just for fun. I hope you had some fun guessing the answers.

And the winner is: Cory Bosworth, my daughter, with five correct answers.

In second place, we have a tie between Gordon and Eva Bennett and my son Andrew Bosworth, each with four correct answers.

    1. What is, or was, the following device, which is hanging in the photo, used for?  (Hint: we were on a farm in the mountains)

ANSWER: a Butter Churn. A butter churn is a device used to convert cream into butter. It uses an agitating process to separate the butterfat from the liquid, resulting in butter. In the old days, I did this. We had a hand-cranked churn that had to be turned round and round to do the job. Some Azerbaijani figured out that they could swing in a swing or hammock and each time they passed the butter churn below that was tied to a tree, they just gave it a push and eventually, they ended up with their butter. Pretty clever. I wish I had thought of that back when I was churning butter.

2. What is this Azerbaijani farmer doing wrong?   (A just for fun question)

ANSWER: He put the cart before the horse (obviously)

3. Our 'shebeke' (glass window) workshop instructor, in Shaki Azerbaijan, also trains young people. It's very competitive to get into his program.  What skill or knowledge does he value the most in choosing kids for his training program?

ANSWER: Geometry

4. At numerous places in the Caucasus, but especially in Georgia, we saw piles of grape pruning branches for sale. Most often, like in this photo, we saw them for sale in grocery stores. What are they used for?

ANSWER: BBQ wood. They said this is way better than charcoal or other types of wood for BBQ'ing: it burns very hot and very fast.

5. The item below was served to us several times, primarily as a snack. I had never before experienced eating this food product prepared this way. I was actually quite shocked to find out what it was. But I managed to empty the dish every time they were served. What are they?

(and I'll give you one piece of information, they are not plums.)

      ANSWER: Green Boiled Walnuts, shell included but not the husk: They pick the walnuts way before they ripen, but with the shell formed. They boil them for 40 hours. The sauce is very sweet so I know they add lots of sugar but they also must add spices as they tasted wonderful.  

6. We attended another centuries-old traditional craft workshop in Kazbegi Georgia that I never posted about. The process in the studio took many steps. Vicky is doing one of the steps, near the finish of the process. What is she making?

ANSWER: Felt, a decorative wall-hanging. See photo below. It was just a demonstration piece, not a work of art.

7. We met a local Armenian musician in Yerevan, Armenia who showed us and played a number of unique woodwind instruments.

What instrument is he playing here?

ANSWER: An Armenian Bagpipe

8. Out in the country, not far from Biblical Mount Ararat, we were driving through a small village when we noticed some storks nesting on the top of telephone poles. We stopped to check them out. Our guide said that the storks were migratory and that they only came here during birthing season. Someone put devices on some storks to see where they migrate to from Armenia and found out that they migrate to three other countries. Name one of the three countries where these storks migrate to?

ANSWER: Lebanon, Syria, or Iran

9. We were in Yerevan when we came across this particular tree. Vicky and I know these trees very well but had never seen one so large.

What kind of tree is this?

ANSWER: An Apricot tree. It was growing in the musician's backyard. It will probably be turned into flutes some day.

10. Vicky and I have traveled the world extensively. In terms of foreign countries that we have visited, Armenia was a milestone country for Vicky. This was a celebratory glass of wine that she was drinking.

What number of country visited was Armenia for Vicky?

ANSWER: 100 countries visited.

11. Bonus Question: There were 15 countries in the former USSR. How many former USSR countries have Vicky and I visited?

ANSWER: 13 of the 15:   We have visited all except Belarus and Moldova

End of Caucases Trip

     We are finally finished with our Caucasus Mountains trip. We saw the ancient lands of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. I hope you enjoyed the trip as much as Vicky and I did. People often ask me why we go to such odd countries. My answer is usually because I know nothing about them, and it thrills me to go to new places and discover and learn about them. That was certainly true in these southern Caucasus Mountain countries.

     I'll just finish the trip with a couple of photos from each of the three countries, then a few selfies of us.

     Azerbaijan mostly reminds me of ancient cities with incredible new buildings mixed into them. That plus some of the truly ancient small villages that we visited and the people we met there.

Georgia will always remind me of the mountains. That plus some equally impressive ancient cities with modern structures creeping in.

Armenia will also always remind me of mountains and especially Mount Ararat. I will always wonder if Noah really landed his Ark there.

    Several people will inevitably ask me if I was really on the trip...because they mostly just see photos of Vicky. I am the photographer of the two of us, so that's why. But we have learned to take a few selfies along the way, just to prove that I was along on the trip.