Lovely day from start to finish. First stop, the Armenian Manuscript Museum. Full of very old parchment and paper books, wonderfully illustrated with beautiful natural dyes.
Armenia’s script including its alphabet was developed around 405AD by Mesrop Mashots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader.
The script originally had 36 letters. Eventually, two more were adopted in the 13th century. Kids at school learn Armenian script in their first year of school. , then Russian in year 2, and English in year 3. There is some resistance to Russian, as during the Soviet era, the Armenian language was actively discouraged.
Next, outside the city, while the others visit yet another monastery, I manage to buy a quarter of an beautifully decorated ‘Easter Bread’- delicious -filled with marzipan and nuts . It’s often sold outside churches.
We then go to the village of Garni to visit the last remaining pre-Christian temple, built on top of a moutain, with great views. It’s called a pagan temple, indicating the country’s commitment to a Christian past, even though it’s a small version of a Hellenic structure). Considered an eastern outpost of the Greco-Roman world, it is dedicated to the sun god Mihr (Mithra). Built by King Titidates in the first century AD, it collapsed in a 17th-century earthquake, but much of its fragments remained on the site, and was excavated in the mid-20th century.
Lunch is just down the road in the same village. On site are local women making lavosh in a well oven, which becomes our entree, filled with herbs
This is followed by salads and very yummy bbq pork.
In the evening Lay and I go to Dolmama’s, which is quite famous (even Putin ate there – which is a bit off putting). I had quail wrapped in grapes and Lay had Cornish hen with peaches, and a very dry Armenian bubbles followed by Armenian cognac (I am a convert).
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