Day 2 : Lake Sevan,Dilijan,Yerevan Zoo,Hagartsin Monastery,Goshavank Monastery

Day 2: Lake Sevan, Dilijan

We left for Lake Sevan tour. This day there was just us and another couple in the bus. Others were all Russian speakers, so they left in a different bus all of us won’t fit together in 1 bus. Lake Sevan is quite big and   28 rivers flows into it. Only 1 river called Hrazdan flows out of it. Lake Sevan is 2^nd largest river in world.

Dilijan is a hill city and very beautiful. The temperature also dropped significantly here.A boy called Dili got lost in the forest here and so his mother came searching for him calling “Dili Jaan” meaning Dear Dili. That’s how the city got this name. This city is scarcely populated, so the government is shifting few big institutions here to reduce the population in Yerevan.

Dilijan is 60% forests. Dilijan is Armenian Switzerland. Armenians believe that the Architect who built the roads on the mountain is like donkey as they know how to climb a steep mountain. This is 1^st city where archaeological work started in 20^th century. There is a folk art museum here named after a Painter.

Tsaghkadzor Ski Resort here is same elevation as Mexico Olympic city of 1968.

The breakfast packed by our hotel –Aghababyan’s was very bad. They had packed 4 mini Choco chip croissants, some apples, nectarines, 2 yoghurt and 2 huge ham lavash bread rolls. We had clearly advised the guy at the reception, that we need vegetarian food the previous night .But there was ham. We couldn’t eat yoghurt as   there was no spoon; also fruits cannot be eaten in bus as the juices may spill. So all we could eat was mini croissants. We did try to eat the sandwich by removing the ham pieces, but there was so much bread and just 2 slices each of cucumber and tomato, so we couldn’t eat it too.

Our first stop was at Tsovagyux supermarket for a coffee and WC break.

We bought few cookies and hot chocolate here.Hubby also could not resist French fries, so he bought that too.

We visited 2 monasteries here.

Goshavank Monastery:

Goshavank means monastery of Gosh.Mahika Gosh has a city named after him. He has written a book where he says we cannot judge people according to Bible. His book is used to judge people now in Poland.

In 13^th century complex, there is auditorium and place where the scriptures were kept similar to Matenadaran in Yerevan .It is believed the students will walk more (due to the design of the class room) and hence their memory will increase and study well. There are chambers in four corners of the room so that the temperature inside the library will remain the same irrespective of the outside temperature and hence the manuscripts will be in good condition. There is chapel, church, bell tower.

Hagartsin Monastery:

Princess Mariam built many churches to convince her father that she will remarry again. She had lost her husband at a very young age. There is a sun dial(below)  which reflects the sunlight and hence shows the time of the day.

 Also there are gaps in the monastery building complex, so that the building will withstand earthquake tremors(below).

There is a dining room for the monks to have food when they lived here.There is Jesus in a Kachkar here in this complex which is very unique.

The king, other important people are buried just in front of the church, so that as people walk on their tomb while praying, some of their sins also get washed off and they stay closer to God. Also this is another way of serving the people even after their death.

We also got to walk for few minutes at Dilijan city. It was a beautiful old city with fruit trees.

We had lunch at Restaurant Collette. They served BBQ Fish that was freshly caught in the Lake Sevan.There was bread, Homemade sour cream, Roasted potatoes, tea, drinks, yoghurt , salad too.

Later we went to Monastery.This monastery was up on the hill and needs climbing many stairs. But it was also raining heavily and the temperature was also very cold. So returned back to Yerevan.

Yerevan City Zoo

On the way we got dropped off at Yerevan City Zoo. The entrance ticket was 800 ADM per person on Monday. I believe the ticket price is little higher on weekends. Hence we avoided going the previous day as it was Sunday. It is 400 ADM to buy feed to feed animals. It is quite a big zoo and there are many animals, I haven’t seen in any other zoos before. So if you have time for 2 hrs, do visit the zoo. The zoo is open till 7 pm, so it is really convenient to visit even after a day tour. Also we reached the entrance around 4 45 pm and left the zoo at 7 15 pm.The snake, reptiles, fish part of the zoo is separate and luckily it was open at 7 pm.It is a small hall with the creatures in glass enclosures.

 

We got to see  Elephants, Horses, Camel, Lion, tiger, bear, fox, eagles, vultures, hippopotamus, wallaby, black bear ,variety of monkeys, parrots, birds, deer.

We saw the Monkey  Mandrill which was the first for me.

Also they have a big brown bear enclosure so many bears can be seen.

We crossed  the road through the subway. We could not book taxi as the mobile data didn’t work. We caught a taxi on the road  for 1000 ADM  to go to  Opera House. Then we got down there and walked first to Beeline office which is where we bought the sim card.On enquiring, they informed us that the sim card was not verified so the mobile data didn’t work. It was their mistake to have not verified it yet. They asked us to wait  till next day afternoon  .But since data was very necessary to book taxi and check maps, we again recharged for 600 ADM  and left. We followed the maps and went to India Palace restaurant which was very close to Republic Square. This is the same owner as Karma Indian Restaurant and we were told about this restaurant there. We had dinner here .Dinner was very good and we enjoyed the food. The Manager was very attentive.

From here we crossed the road and exchanged some money at Imperial Plaza and booked taxi and left to hotel.