This morning, we had breakfast at the hotel, then left with the bus for Lori. We would be making some visits to important sites on the way there. We were going to first stop at the Letter’s Park, where all the Armenian letters that are engraved with beautiful designs are placed. On the way there, we saw a beautiful view of Arakadz Mountain and Ara Mountain. The fields were filled with yellow flowers and nice green grass. We finally got there. In front of all the letters was a man-made lake with a little fountain. Some letters were next to each other, and some of them were by theirselves. There were also statues of famous Armenian people. We took a picture next to the letter’s the Armenian S and V for Soorp Stepanos and Varhjaran. Then, we all took pictures next to our letter.
After, we left the park for Abaran, the place where the battle of Pash Abaran, lead by General Tro. We saw the monument for the battle while driving through the town. We stopped at a bakery, where you could smell the wonderful scent of the bread from far away. There was a huge tonir where we got fresh bread from. We all got something from the store and went into the bus for Haghpat.
To get to Haghpat, we went through lots of different provinces and villages. We saw donkeys and other different farm animals. The Haghpat Monastery complex was on a hill, like most of the places we went. I saw the dome of the main church as we got closer. The engravings were very cool. I loved hearing the stories of how the buildings were made and what all the pictures and khatchkars meant. The main church is called St. Nishan. There is a small church that we didn’t pay much attention to, but it was nice. The view from up there was very pretty. There was something really cool about the library that they had there. There were a bunch of holes in the ground that they used as hiding places for there most precious things: Books and manuscripts. There was also a music school with a small alter. Then, we saw a secret passage, that every church has to sneak away. After, we went to have lunch.
Lunch was great. It was in a hotel, and the hotel was in a nice village. We saw kids playing outside. We finished our lunch and went to tour the hotel. The hotel was wonderful. The rooms were huge and the view was amazing.
After we had lunch, we went to one of my favorite authors house museum, Hovhannes Toumanian. We first took a picture next to a small statue of him, then went inside the house. Hovhannes Toumanian had 5 brothers and 3 sisters. The house was very big for a house in their time. We saw different tools that they used back then and different books and poems he wrote. There were two levels. These rooms and levels were added on as time passed by in that house. What I thought was really cool was that his heart was buried in the front yard of that house. Not his body, his heart. Then we left the museum and went back to the bus to have dinner.
To dinner, it was probably 3 hours. On the way there, we saw Lake Sevan, but we didn’t stop. That’s for another day. We also saw the statue of Akhtamar, a statue of a girl named Tamar. We learn the story in class. Meanwhile, it was pouring outside. It was all thunder and lightning, and at one point, it started to hail.
The restaurant was called Derian Kebab and it was great. They made traditional Armenian food. It was really good. We had a lot of fun today, and I’m really excited for tomorrow.
Ani Belorian