Leaving Yerevan, our first stop was Khor Virap Monastery, one of Armenia's major places of pilgrimage
Areni Winery
Along the way there was a winery stop at Areni Winery, which was more of a tourist trap than a winery. Anyway it was an innocent enough stop and I bought a bottle of wine for the evenings, plus a bottle of Armenian brandy to share.
I would agree with the review that said "the place was sparse and frequented mostly by gaggles of tourists. Wine seemed so so, but they have some locally made liquor that you can buy that might be of an interest (but they don't sell in a nicely bottled format). There's not much to see here other than very quick wine/liquor tasting."
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And a cave restaurant for lunch. Standard tourist lunch, but an interesting setting
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And another monastery Noravank Monastery was the first stop after lunch
Zorats Karer
An odd "stonehenge" type site, around 7000 years old, for which nobody knows the origins. There are many theories, but none have been proven, and most are speculative - to put it kindly.
The astronomical significance of megalithic structures at Zorats Karer was first explored by Armenian archaeologist Onik Khnkikyan in 1984. A year later , a hypothesis about the existence of an astronomical observatory at Zorats Karer (Carahunge), as well as analyses of other megalithic sites at Metzamor and Angeghakot, was made by Armenian astrophysicist Elma Parsamyan.
Investigation by radiophysicist Paris Herouni and his research team during 1994-2001 led them to the now disputed conclusion that Carahunge is the world's oldest astronomical observatory. In 1999, Herouni got in touch with British-born American astronomer and archaeo-astronomer Gerald Hawkins, renowned for his analysis of Stonehenge in which he proposed its purpose as an ancient astronomical observatory. In a letter to Herouni, Professor Hawkins confirmed his Armenian colleague’s similar conclusions about Zorats Karer, stating, in particular: “I admire the precise calculations you have made. I am most impressed with the careful work you have done, and hope that the result will ultimately get recorded in literature.”
Zorats Karer was investigated in 2000 by archaeologists from the Institut für Vorderasiatische Archäologie, University of Munich, as part of a field survey of prehistoric sites in southern Armenia. They identified the site as a necropolis dating mainly from the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age, finding enormous stone tombs from those periods within the area. Team leader Stephan Kroll also concluded that the lines of stones were actually the remains of a city wall, possibly from the Hellenistic-period, that had been constructed mostly of rubble and loam, and in which the upright stones had acted as reinforcements.
Archaeo-astronomer Clive Ruggles wrote that 'Inevitably there have been other claims—more speculative and less supportable—relating to the astronomical significance of the site. One is that it can be astronomically dated to the sixth millennium BCE and direct comparisons with Stonehenge, which few now believe, that it was an observatory, are less than helpful. Armenian biologist and mathematician Vachagan Vahradyan has recently further developed the hypothesis about the astronomical function of this archaeological complex. A recent critical assessment found several problems with the archaeo-astronomer interpretations of the site. The northeast avenue, which extends about 50 meters from the centre, has been inconsistently associated with the summer solstice, the major northern lunistice, or the rising of Venus. Herouni had postulated that in order to use the holes in the megaliths for astronomical observations sufficiently precisely to determine the date of the solstices, it would have been necessary to restrict the field of vision by inserting a narrow tube in the existing perforations. Without these modifications, for which there is no archaeological evidence, the claimed astronomical significance of the orientations of the holes vanishes. As a consequence, González-Garcia concluded that the archaeo-astronomer claims for the site are untenable, although further investigations to determine the astronomical potential of Carahunge and similar sites are merited.
Despite all the controversy and whatever you end up deciding to call it, the monument itself is stunning and located in an area of Armenia well-endowed with natural beauty, making it an attractive journey for many tourists each year. It has even become an object of contemporary interest to young urbanites and neo-Pagans from Yerevan, who are known to celebrate certain solstices there. In many ways, Zorats Karer is a testament to the elusive nature of archaeology, and it’s perhaps the case that the mystery is–and will remain–part of its appeal.
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Hotel Mirav, Goris
It is a perfectly adequate hotel for a one night stay, and most foreigners will only be staying one night.
We tried walking the streets around the hotel, but could not find anything of interest
The hotel has a small fairly overgrown garden at the back, which (almost) leads to an overgrown stream.
Breakfast was pretty basic, though they had been to a lot of trouble to keep flies off the buffet
It is probably the place to stay in Goris - it is perfectly adequate and you are unlikely to find anything better here
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