Travel Destination Blog

There are so many countries in the world that it usually takes weeks to choose where to travel. That’s why I have recently developed a new technique of choosing a travel destination.

I open the map of the world and look for the smallest countries. You can’t brag about your wonderful vacation, if you’ve traveled to one of the most popular tourism places like Maldives, Egypt or Paris. But if you choose the yet undiscovered trip destinations, you’ll have something to surprise your friends with.

You might  want to travel to Armenia, a small country with an extremely beautiful culture. There are two ways of spending your vacation in Armenia: traveling to the memorials and monuments to see Armenia’s cultural heritage or staying in the capital city Yerevan and enjoy the city life. Depending on the duration of your stay, you can choose both.

Let’s start with the cultural tourism trends in Armenia.

The Noravank monastery (meaning “new monastery” in Armenian), Vayots Dzor province, is breathtaking. Armenia is home to lots of churches, but Noravank (13th century) is especially unique. It is built at the end of a gorge and is surrounded by a range of mountains.

The way to Noravank is equally gorgeous. There is a narrow corridor that goes right into a huge rock. Be attentive to see the cave restaurant on your right.

On the way to the monastery, you can see the cave from where the oldest leather shoe was found. You won’t be able to enter the cave as there is some archeological work going on now, but at least you’ll see the place where neolithic people lived 5000 years ago.

You will also pass through the village Areni, where many wine factories are located. They organize wine tasting tours that you can take on your way back.

Another place you should pay a visit to is the city Ejmiadzin. The city is a very small one and you’ll hardly find a lot of entertainment there. But as a classic traveler you must visit one of the most important sites Armenia has, the Ejmiadzin cathedral,  a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is home to the Catholicosate of the Armenian Apostolic church.

The cathedral was founded by St. Gregory Illuminator, who brought Christianity to Armenia, and it was believed to be built in 301-303 AD. During this time Armenia was the only country in the world that had adopted Christianity as a state religion.

As Ejmiadzin means “the descent of the only Begotten” in Armenian, there is a legend according to which St. Gregory the Illuminator saw a dream where Jesus Christ descended from the sky and showed him the place to build the church. The cathedral is built right on that spot.

Read about Lake Sevan in my next post.

Photo: © 10b travelling, Rita Willaert

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