Armenia - Day 4

I needed a break from walking around, so I went on two group tours on days four and five.

Day four first started with a visit of Echmiadzin, the oldest cathedral in the world.

We started off with a visit to St. Hripsime, one of the older churches in Armenia.





Then was to the Gayane Church, which is much younger than Hripsime (built in 630 AD vs. 618 AD).





We ended this with a visit to the Echmiadzin Catherdral, which is the oldest in the world. I was quite impressed with the entrance to the cathedral compound.







The day ended with a trip to Zvartnots. This was a cathedral that was supposed to be built to be even more grand than Echmiadzin, however it was destroyed by an earthquake. The ruins are quite interesting - I found them much neater than any of the other stuff I saw.





An ancient sundial.

These old jugs were used for wine. They may even be big enough to supply Sarah!

Some of the collapsed stonework that they've tried to document and reassemble.

I wish I had thought to take a shot with Mount Ararat in the background earlier, but it didn't dawn on me until we were leaving, and by then I couldn't take the time to get a good picture. Oh well.