Excursion to Lori Region and Arsen's Village

By September the number of Birthright Armenia volunteers was down to only a few. Most volunteers come in the summer months while on break from college/grad school. With only a few volunteers on this Birthright excursion, we were able to be flexible and spontaneous-- this led us to the village you see below.

Arsen, Birthright's tour guide, said "Hey guys, wanna skip the Toumanian museum and go to my grandmother's village instead?" Of course we wanted to!

Growing up, Arsen used to come stay with grandma during the summer months. He had many friends, who also came back to the village during school vacation times. I couldn't get over how idyllic this place was. The view was grand. It made the outhouse look good.


Christoff is an Armenian-French volunteer from France. I wanted to play "King on the Ledge" with him but he was chicken.

It's my thing for edges....

This is Arsen's uncle, whose family lives with Arsen's grandma.

Arsen's grandma was a character. Very funny, and more than happy to share her political views. She brought out her homemade vodka for us. Arsen shook hit, watched the bubbles, and said, "60% alcohol." His grandma taught him how to measure the alc. content. As he set the bottle on the table, his grandma said "Arsen you must eat bread if you're gonna drink that! Pretty soon the table was covered with bread, fruits, greeens, pickles, and cheeses. All homemade stuff.
We had not regrets for skipping the museum.

We did, however, make it to Haghpat monastery, where I'd been once before.



The cliffs on each side of the spectacular gorge are visible in the distance.

Arsen explained all sorts of symbolism in the religious artwork.

We met the priest, who took us inside and gave us a special blessing as a group. His prayers were beautifully melodic and moving. Haykak and Arsen, on the left, are Birthright staff. Zavin and Christoff are the other two volunteers on this excursion.


We stopped for a luxurious lunch at the Tufenkian Hotel in Lori.

Not sure who the guy on the left is, but Miko, next to him, is also Birthright staff.

This is one of three hotels in the Tufenkian chain. The others are in Yerevan and Lake Sevan.

On the way home we stopped to see the ruins of an old Georgian church. The wall paintings were incredible.

The facade and a only a few other parts remained standing.

Getting there required a short hike up the hillside.

And it was well worth it. See the view...

We then headed back to Yerevan.