Dadivank

I know I'm getting annoying with all of these monasteries, but Dadivank really is something special. First of all, getting there is a feat in and of itself. For part of the way, the road is completely destroyed so you are essentially driving through wet mud (no wonder we get a flat right). When you finally get up to the top of the mountain, you are greeted by the sight of Dadivank, which looks like a natural progression of the scenery. There are lots of nooks and crannies to explore, both within the church and outside of it. 

A combination of different factors all worked together to make this one of the most gratifying  days of my entire life.  The difficult trek up to the monastery, the surrounding mountains, the khorovats, and the apricot vodka...along with all of my fellow Birthrighter's of course. Let me elaborate a little more on the khorovats. I don't even particularly like khorovats, I hadn't had any in years. But Mr. Khorovats Master Hratch sure knows what he's doing. Building the campfire from scratch- with no grill (no lighter fluid, no nothing)-  and cooking the meat and vegetables on all that smoke was amazing!!!

We had to do it right- the khorovats on the fire pulled right off the skewer with a piece of lavash- down with a shot of homemade apricot vodka. Pure bliss. Whoever thought of this was genius....

It was literally food for thought...

(Images from top: Our group with Dadivank in the background, the monastery itself, the refectory,  yours truly in one of the nooks, Melody Ani and I, Armen and I,  the three red musketeers Haykak yours truly and Sevan, Mandy and I enjoying the rain, setting up a makeshift tent to protect the khorovats, Hratch climbing up and down the trees, how does one start a campfire, Melody and I peeling eggplant, look at all that smoke, is that not the most amazing khorovats you've ever seen, look at the view I'm looking at- breathtaking)!!