[ Autumn, 2005 ] My Malaysian friend whom I met in the Armenian tour often says ‘ the journey to Tatev was terrible, wasn’t it’ even now.
We were on the non paved road for hours.
On top of that, the road went up and down endlessly in the mountainous area.
It was impossible to have a nap in the bus.
Unfortunately, the weather was not very nice, but the view of the clouds hanging in the middle of the mountains were magical.
Our guide told us that there was no public transport to get here.
The Tatev monastery stands on the edge of a cliff.
It is so beautiful and worth visiting.
This was built in the 9th century and in the 14-15th century, it was the centre of education.
At the peak time, there were 1000 monks and a lot of artisans here.
That night, we slept in a guesthouse in a town called Sisian.
IIn Yerevan, it was hotter than I had expected, but here in the mountain, it was very very cold.
The guesthouse was very simple, so much so that I remembered the Transport Hotel in Tashkurgan in China ( which gave me the strongest impression among the hotels I ever stayed in).
I wore socks, the scarf and the jacket, then finally could fall asleep.
Another thing I remember is that the brandy we had here was very good.
