For the past days we’ve been residing in North Armenia. After five weeks of Georgia it was time to leave.
Border crossing
It wasn’t the easiest to cross the border. First, car drivers and passengers cannot get through together. Instead passengers have to stand in a long long line to get through while the drivers get through rather quickly.
Not us though. To enter Georgia one needs to have to do a PCR test before entering and three days after. We didn’t do the second PCR test which resulted in a fine. Not that they mentioned doing this PCR test at the border so how would we know? Internet of course.
Well, not a big problem but it took them a long time to decide what to do with us. Even though we did do PCR tests which were both negative.
Entering Armenia was a hell lot easier. Again, passengers and drivers have to go through separate controls but that was about it. Checking where we’ve been, looking through our passports and giving a stamp. That was it.
Well, we had to buy a Customs declaration and of course a car insurance. Which also was quite the hassle as the first guy tried to rip us off. 50 Euro’s for 30 day car insurance, whereas the second guy we checked gave us a car insurance of 30 days for 10 Euro’s.
Alaverdi & sleeping on bees
Our plan was not to travel too far today, so after about an hour we stopped at Alaverdi. We headed up to the Arm Bee Farm where they had a nice hut for us, right on top of bee hives! We have never heard of sleeping on top of bees but apparently it’s very healthy.
Not long after we arrived two other people arrived, having booked the other hut. They are Armenians but living in the USA, born in Iran though. We got to talk about the great things to do in Armenia, the war in Nagorno-Karabach and ourselves of course. We had so much fun that we soon drank Georgian wine and decided to have diner together.
We both learned a lot about the history of Armenia during diner which was absolutely great.
Hiking from monastery to monastery
The first day in Armenia was great, the second day proofed to be even better. We headed towards our first Armenian monastery with Araz and Romik. Haghpat monastery proofed to be a gem! The monastery was also used as an educational building so there was an amazing library which they later used as winery. The area was so big and still so well preserved. Amazing! Lot’s of crosses, old writings and stone carvings.
Afterwards we hiked to Sanahin monastery. While on the way we had to hike a steep cliff, checked out a fire pit from where they warned the villagers when enemies were on their way and had to shelter for the rain. We also arrived in a village where they celebrated the opening of a new church. There are more than 4.000 churches in Armenia already but apparently that’s not enough. We continued our route through the beautiful village, picked some berries to eat and finally, after about 3 hours we arrived at the Sanahin monastery.
This monastery was a lot less beautiful, though more crowded, than the first one. But, this is the older of the two. Actually Sanahin in Armenian means “this one is older than the other”. A bit strange, being built earlier and named later but alright.
So, we didn’t stay for too long but did has a brief visit to the Anastas and Artyom Mikoyan brothers who are born in this village. Anastas was in charge of administering food in the USSR and survived 60 years in the politburo, outlasting even Staling. Artyom was the one of the designers of the USSR’s first jet fighter in WWII, the MiG. We hadn’t heard from them so it was nice to get to know their stories.
Beekeeping at Arm Bee Farm
The next morning it was time for a beekeeping workshop. Eventhough I, Milene, know most of bees and beekeeping its always good to listen to others and learn from them. As a beekeeper you keep learning. I remember Tony, my teacher, telling me “if you don’t learn anything anymore you’re doing something wrong”. Thus, we got to learn about the worker bees, queen bees and drones. While in England we collect honey every other week here in Armenia they only do it once. It’s the big difference between ecological beekeeping and commercialised beekeeping. Of course we got to see some bees in action as well.
We decided to stay another night whereas Araz and Romik moved on to their next spot. Doing a little work, relaxing and enjoying the bees.
Have a good Sunday!
Love, Milene & Yuri