On the Road- Tatev Monastery

Going to Karabakh was something I was not looking forward to. Road trips, nature and Diana do not mix very well. All I'll say for now is that I surprised even myself. Before I even start talking about Karabakh, I want to comment on some of our pit stops along the way-the first of which is Tatev Monastery, about two hours outside of Yerevan. The last 45 minutes of that two hours is spent on one of the windiest, pot-hole filled roads in all of Armenia- what would have taken 15 minutes took 45. The first view you get as you approach Tatev is from the road, on the other side of the gorge. It is one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen, the monastery perched on the edge of the cliff, with a waterfall running underneath it- all the way down to the gorge. It gives you goosebumps. 

Tatev is a really peaceful place, where you can go and just sit outside in the grass for hours contemplating life or simply enjoying the scenery. In its heyday, around 1000 monks lived in Tatev, which was  quite a large center of religious learning. It was even said that disobedient monks were placed in the cellar under the kitchen so that they could smell the food being cooked, but were not allowed to eat it- could there be a worse type of punishment?

As for the story of the name-Tatev- there are a few different versions. According to the  first version, when the architect finished building the dome of the church he realized that he had no way of getting back down, so he yelled out "Togh astvats indz ta tev (May god give me wings)." The second version again has to do with the architect: after he completed construction he was so astonished by the beauty of what he had created that he wished for wings (tev), so that he could fly over the place and see it from above. In any case, the place was beautiful, the scenery was even more beautiful, and the overall experience was even more beautiful than that.

(Images from top: The monastery of Tatev, the courtyard, Mandy and I on the edge of the cliff, the bell tower- which was believed to predict the coming of earthquakes, side niches and tombstones, yours truly on top of the mountain, the beautiful scenery, our lunch in the caves- just like the monks did it hundreds of years ago).