May 24, 2014
Today, May 24th, we ventured into the beautiful city of Lori. Our first stop was Letter Park «Տառերու Պուրակ». It is a somewhat big field that has all the letters of the Armenian alphabet. On that field we took pictures with the letter of our names. The letters were made out of a rock called «Տուֆ Քար». This is a very light rock in a reddish brown color. There were also statues of «Մեսրոպ Մաշտոց» the creator of the Armenian alphabet.
As, we drove away from Letter Park we saw a big brown cross that was made out of 1,700 small brown crosses. The next stop was a bakery. The bakery made delicious breads and pastries. My favorite product from the bakery were the cream puffs. They were really good! At the bakery there was a “tonir”. A “tonir” is a big hole in the ground that has a fire and is used to bake bread. There was also a grocery store attached to the bakery, where we bought a couple of things.
After this stop we headed to Haghpat Monastery. It was made in the 10th century that makes it 1,100 years old. It was built by Khosrovanoush queen, for her 2 sons Kourken and Smpad. The Monastery is made out of a gray colored rock and is very old and delicate. Inside the church there were very high ceilings with intricate carvings. There were also many Swallows flying around the ceilings. The Hayrasbed was there so he preformed a blessing for us.
Outside the church, there was a field that looked out onto the mountains. It was a beautiful sight. After we finished touring and taking pictures, we were off to lunch. We ate lunch at the Toufankian Hotel in Lori. It was a delicious meal. When we had finished lunch we went to visit the Hovhaness Tumanian House Museum.
Hovhaness Tumanyan lived in a fairly big house. His dad was the Der Hayr in his village. We toured his house and observed some of the first drafts of his writing. We got to learn about his family and his life. While we were at his house, it started to hail. Most of the hail were the size of golf balls. Because of the storm, the power went out in the building. Luckily, there were flashlights on other peoples devices so we managed to still be able to read and see the exhibits. The hail finally stopped and turned into rain. When we had finished we hopped in the bus to leave. Unfortunately, we didn’t have all the time in the world, so at one time or another we would have to leave Lori, and that time was now. We headed back to Yerevan to enjoy a delicious dinner at Diamond Pizza.
Lori Ganjian