Day 4

We started the day with a visit to Sevanavank Monastery on Sevan Peninsula, formerly Sevan Island, on Lake Sevan. The level of the lake was lowered during the soviet era to provide hydroelectric power. It is now being slowly raised for ecological reasons. The monastery was near the site of the first church in Armenia, dating from the third century. The monastery itself was built in the tenth century and is still functioning as a church with a seminary nearby.

We then went to buy lunch at a supermarket and thence to Lake Parz where we started our walk in the Dilijan National Park. After walking uphill through woodland we had lunch at a picnic table in a clearing. The walk then went down through more open country with lovely views to the village of Gosh. We visited the monastery founded by Mkhitar Gosh, a notable 13th century scholar. There was a cross-stone with a needlepoint carving style. There are only two such and the other is in a museum.

The day finished with a visit to the craft village of Dilijan. We went into the studio of a woodcarver who was delighted to hear that we were from Sheffield and to show off the Sheffield-made chisels that he had used for forty years. We were happy to buy a wooden carving of the “tree of life”, in this case a pomegranate tree.