The Richness of Armenia

Friday, the team and I left Yerevan in two vehicles to travel for a little more than a couple of hours southeast to the Marz of Vayots Dzor. Exiting Yerevan saw us slowly emerge from the fog and cold of the plain surrounding the capital. Heading south at first, we then took a turn that led southeast which gradually had us ascending to foothills. As we gained elevation, the fog lifted and a brilliant blue sky appeared. the snow began to recede in southern-facing slopes and the sunlight felt warm on my right-passenger side of the vehicle facing the sun.

Before I describe the field testing of the PDA forms, I will tell about what happened later that afternoon after out visits to the village of Saravan and the municipality of Vayk. It is not that the testing did not go well, nor the delight of being entertained by young dancers performing the national dance of Armenia. But, as you can see, the detour to the churches at Novarank was stunning.




After we finished our testing, Margarita asked if I would like to see a church. I figured that I was in for a treat. During our drive to Vayots Dzor, I learned that Margarita had studied geography and tourism during university a few short years ago. This became evident during our travel, since she had printed out a few pages of narrative of the history of where we were traveling to. Thankfully, during our ride, she provided narrative of all that I saw. We now could drive a couple of kilometers to the south towards the border of Iran to view the churches and mausoleum at Novarank.



Soon after we left the highway, we entered a narrow gorge with surrounding cliffs rising hundreds of feet above us. The road was in good shape as Margarita explained that it was in good repair due to the large number of visitors during the summer months. Not far, we emerged into a large bowl-shaped valley that opened up to a cathedral-like view. High to our left, was the church complex situated on a promontory.



I was so entranced just with the view of this valley before me. But I also knew that my life-long delight with history was to be satiated soon. This church was founded in 1205.