A Journey from Guyrmi to Yerevan

Portraits of two famous Armenia heroes, made from bottle caps.

The rebuilt Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God.

Enjoying the warm sunshine and a coffee before boarding the coach.

Poppies in front of Mt Ararat which is in Turkey.

Wood stork and chick, one of many nests along the road from Gyurmi to Yerevan.

The King and Gergory the Illuminator saving Christianity from the Persian invaders.

Etchmiadzin Cathedral, often considered the oldest cathedral in the world.

Interior ceiling...

altar...

and ceiling of exterior entrance.

And again from the other side.

A beautiful carving of Noah and the creatures from the Ark with Mt Ararat in the background, inside Noy Wine, Cognac and Brandy Factory.

A small portion of the oak casks in the cellars of Noy.

Our Madeira 1944 wine tasting.

The group at our cognac tasting.

Yerevan city centre at night.

Our last pool, and the first outdoors.

Tuesday, May 20th.

In the morning we had a short tour of Guyrmi with Marianna. She highlighted some cultural places for us as we wandered around the city centre. The highlight was the rebuilt Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God, (Our Lady of Seven Wounds), which was built between 1873-1874 and was badly damaged in the 1988 earthquake and rebuilt in recent years. It is very attractive in a two toned rock construction. Then we boarded the bus and drove towards Yerevan, the capital of Armenia and our last destination on this amazing journey. We could see Mt Ararat in the distance (it’s actually in Turkey) and the coach driver found us a great spot to stop to take photos with a beautiful field of poppies in the foreground. Apparently they only bloom for a few days in the spring so our timing was good. Then we drove to the Armenian holy city of Vagharshapat to see Etchmiadzin Cathedral, which is the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and is usually considered the first cathedral built in ancient Armenia, and often regarded as the oldest cathedral in the world. The original church was built in the early fourth century, between 301 and 303 according to tradition, by Armenia's patron saint Gregory the Illuminator, following the adoption of Christianity as a state religion by King Tiridates III. It was built over a pagan temple, symbolizing the conversion from paganism to Christianity. On the complex is a facade with a depiction of King Tiridates III and Gregory the Illuminator who are credited with saving Christianity from the muslim invaders. Then we boarded the coach again and drove to Yerevan. On route we saw more nests of wood storks with chicks perched on the top of light posts. Smaller birds were taking advantage of the large nests to make their own inside. We checked into our last hotel, a Best Western, in the centre of Yerevan before a quick turn around when some of us went with Jordan and Marianna for a tour of the world famous Noy (which means Noah in Armenian) Brandy-Wine-Vodka Factory built inside an ancient fortress in 1877. We learned of its history of the fortress and its role in a war between Persians and Russians and about its secret underground tunnels. Housed in the fortress and the four underground levels is this massive alcohol factory. We had a sample of a wine called Madiera 1944 and later two samples of Noy cognac, one 5 years old and the other 10, along with few bits of fruit and a piece of chocolate. Winston Churchill apparently liked this cognac so much that he had Stalin send him a case of it every week during the war. Very interesting place. Then we headed to a nice restaurant for a really nice meal before going back to the hotel, where John, Jordan and I swam in the beautiful outdoor pool. The three of us shared a last drink with Pauline and Sherril before heading off to bed.