Adventures in Lori - Part I

One of the A-17s is a group organizer (every group needs one of those) and she put together a trip to visit the UNESCO World Heritage monasteries and other churches of the Debed Canyon. The group size kept changing and it ended up that we took a taxi, with one person in the front and four in the back (one of whom was her mother, who served in the Peace Corps 30 years ago!). The taxi was smaller than the grand taxis in Morocco and the people were bigger, so it wasn’t a comfortable day, but it was fun.

Our first stop was in Aparan, where there’s a renowned bakery. It lives up to the hype – I had a warm potato piroshki and a ponchik, which is like a cream-filled doughnut. We then started at Haghpat, perched – as so many of these monasteries are – on the edge of the canyon, with a magnificent view. It’s one of the UNESCO sites. What, to me, distinguishes it from the others is the bell tower, the decoration on the side of two brothers holding a model of the church, the fact that the buildings are separate where in most others they are contiguous, a dramatic khatchkar featuring human figures, and a library/repository in which there were holes in the ground for storage jars.

We passed through the town of Alaverdi, which is dominated by a copper mine. There’s also some strip mining nearby, which is not beautiful, but the rest of the landscape and the canyon was. Lots of trees in Lori marz! Our northernmost destination was Akhtala monastery. It’s surrounded by a fortress, similar to others I have seen – fortress and church all in one! The main attraction is the frescoes inside. Built and decorated in the Georgian style – it’s not far from the border and at one time was under Georgian control - it was awe-inspiring. It should have more visitors! But it was nice that we had it all to ourselves.

Sanahin is a contemporary of Haghpat (its name means “older than the other one,” while Haghpat means “huge wall”). It was built by the same family and has the same carving of the brothers holding the model of the church. It has a nice bell tower as well, and a little round chapel in the back. Sanahin has more trees on its property, so it felt cozier. And there were nice benches outside, where we had a picnic lunch. This is the other UNESCO site.

Maybe the best was the last, though – Odzun. As we approached the property, we saw a café across the way, where the priest was sitting. He came over and gave us a tour. He was obviously very proud of his church, pointing out 4th-century stones and 6th-century elements, including one of the world’s oldest Madonna and child stone carving. Then he demonstrated the building’s acoustics by singing; his voice was beautiful and the sound rang out and he was so sincere that we all felt compelled to make a donation or to buy something. This is another church that most tour buses pass by, so it was worth being in the crowded taxi to see all four of these outstanding sites!