Day 6

We left Goris and started our very picturesque drive. Lots of mountains and valleys and all brown. High voltage electrical towers everywhere so there must be adequate electricity everywhere. Most roads are good but have intervals where they are terrible. We stopped for gas and it was gas and not gasoline. 90% of the cars in Armenia run on gas.. We stopped at an archeological site containing many large stones. It’s called the Armenian Stonehenge or Zorats Carer or Carahunge. They date back to 10000 BCE, and scientists are not sure if this was a necropolis or a site of an astronomical observatory. From there we followed the ancient silk road through many mountain passes the biggest was Selim pass and stopped at a place where the caravans stopped. The caravanseray was built in 1300s. The next stop was Lake Sevan. It is one of the largest freshwater high-altitude lakes in Eurasia. It is 480 sq miles at the altitude of 1900 meters. During Soviet occupation they stole water for hydroelectric power and reduced the level by 60 ft but it is now recovering slowly. We stopped at a restaurant that was recommended to us by the owner of the restaurant in Yerevan to have trout from Lake Sevan. The restaurant was right on the lake and completely full. We had to wait a long time for our fish, but it was worth it, the food was great. Bo tried to make reservations at Radisson Lake Sevan but could not. The second choice was a B&B Guest House in some village about 15 km from the Sevan town, down a road which barely qualifies as a road, in the middle of nowhere. It does look nicer than anything around for miles. But when we got inside they said they did not have our room. We told them “But we have a reservation”. They offered us wine and after 2 glasses and a chat with the owner, they had our room. The room turned out to be very nice. After a walk we went for dinner. It was the best meal we have had so far. It was fantastic. The guest house owner is the chef. He treated us to wine, brandy and brought out his wife and kids. There was also a guy playing the piano all evening – and quite well.