What to See and Do in Armenia? | Day 2: Mt. Aragats Tour and A Short Trip at the City Center

Have you ever experienced an instance during your travels wherein your itinerary was all planned out, but on the day of your trip, you decided to do something else? Well, this happened to us on the second day of our trip in Armenia. Our initial plan then was to do a tour on the famous and easy to reach tourist attractions, then ride a night train from Armenia going to Georgia. But this plan changed, when our driver/guide Artur introduced to us the Mt. Aragats tour, wherein we get to visit 6 places and experience snow at Mt. Aragats. This was the reason why we extended for one more day in Armenia, and we didn’t regret it.

Our tour started around 11:00 am, where we first visited two monasteries namely Hovhannavank and Saghmosavank, which are five kilometres away from each other. Both were built between the 12th and 13th century and both are situated on the edge of Kasagh River.

Below are some of our photos at the Hovhannavank Monastery.

The facade and altar of the monastery.

On the side of the monastery is this view of the Kasagh River Canyon.

Admiring the stunning view of the mountains and the river canyon.

Here are some of the pictures of Saghmosavank Monastery.

The facade and altar of the monastery.

After visiting the two monasteries, we went to the Armenian Alphabet Monument, where we saw 39 giant carved statues of Armenian letters. Apart from the letters, there were also statues of Jesus Christ’s cross and other famous Armenians.

These are M and S in Armenian alphabet, the first letter of our names.

It was a long drive going to our next destination, Mt. Aragats, which I believe was the highlight of the trip. The temperature then gets colder whenever we drive further up the mountain.

When we reached the top, we walked through a rocky path, in order to get to the part of the mountain that still have snow. Believe me, it was a challenge. You have to be mindful of every rock or stone that you will step on, as some were not stable while others have pointed edges.

It was summer season when we visited, but there were still snow remaining on some parts of the mountain. I wonder how cold and white this place would be during the winter. Hope we can get to experience that soon.

After spending sometime playing with the snow and admiring the beauty of the lake, we went to our last destination then, which was the Amberd Fortress.

Amberd means fortress in the clouds in Armenian. The Amberd Fortress includes a Castle ruins and a Church.

The Church.

The Castle ruins and our picture at the top of the castle.

Amberd Fortress at sunset.

It was already close to 5:00 PM when we finished roaming around the fortress. Our stomachs were growling in hunger that time, as we didn’t eat lunch during the trip. Good thing, there was a restaurant within the fortress’ vicinity, so we decided to have dinner there.

Our dinner: Bread, cheese, vegetables, grilled meat and fish.

We drove back to the city after satisfying ourselves with the sumptous dinner. I believe we arrived around 8:00 PM, which was earlier compared to our trip the day prior.

Our day didn’t end there though, as we still roam around the city center to see the fountain show at the Freedom Square and climb the stairs of the famous Yerevan Cascades.

The fountain.

The Yerevan Cascades

Each level at the Cascades have statues and fountains, and these are just some of them.

We tried to squeeze all the must see attractions at the city center that night, since we will be leaving Armenia the following day. That’s why I would advise you to dedicate atleast one full day to explore city center, as there are a lot of interesting places to see.

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Contact info:
Artur (Driver)
+374 91 584 550 (available also in whatsapp)