Alaverdi

by

In Georgia I took a break from hitch-hiking, but today I picked it up again. Within 10 minutes a jeep did the ‘stop in the middle of the highway and drive backwards towards the hitch-hiker’ move that has gotten a bit standard from East-Turkey onwards. After crossing the border it was just one ride and 40 km to get to my destination: Alaverdi, a small town in the North of Armenia that lies in a canyon and has two UNESCO monasteries to check out.

On the hill above Alaverdi lies the Sanahin monastery. As the signs told me the name 'Sanahin' translates from Armenian to 'This one is older than that one'; claiming that this one is older (build approx. in the 10th century) than the nearby Haghpat monastery.
... and this is 'that one', the Haghpat monastery which lies 6 km from Alaverdi.
Impromptu choir singing at the Haghpat monastery.
The rest of Alaverdi is not very attractive, old sovjet influences are very much visible. This is the view on the coal power plant from the cable car up the hill towards Sanahin.
Public transport in Alaverdi.