Day 7

We left our nice B&B (Tsaghkunq Guesthouse – we found out that the owner/chef studied with the most famous chef in Armenia so no wonder the food was so great) in the village near Sevan and drove to Dilijan. Dilijan is sometimes called the Switzerland of Armenia, but Switzerland it is not. The town itself is quite unremarkable and the location in the mountains is nice, but not nearly as spectacular as other places we’ve visited. Before going to town, we visited two monasteries – Haghartsin and Goshavank – both from the 12th century. All Armenian monasteries have incredible locations – on tops of mountains with amazing views – so to get to them, you have to drive up and up on narrow winding roads. Both places were pretty crowded with school kids and families and tour groups. Then we drove to a recreational area with a lake over the worst mountain road imaginable. Armenians consider this a very beautiful lake, but it is quite ordinary, and certainly not worth the horrible drive. Then to our B&B (Casanova Hotel), which turned out to be way out of town on a terrible road, and definitely the worst place we stayed in so far. The only good thing is that is has nice views from the terrace and balcony. After dropping our luggage we walked to old Dilijan. It was 2 miles but when we were almost there a taxi stopped and drove us the final 200 meters, and refused to accept money. It was a quaint place with nice tourist shops, a restaurant, a museum, but nothing else. Our friendly cabbie took us back with a stop at a supermarket for water and wine.