Road to Lake Sevan with Elizabeth, and two of my good friends on the AUA faculty, Brian and Cyrus
Lake Sevan from the car
Khatchkars in a field outside of the Hayrivank monastery on the coast of Lake Sevan
Mansion visible from the hill where the Hayrivank monastery is located
Shore of Lake Sevan from Hayrivank. According to the Stone Garden Guide, Sevan is “one of the largest freshwater alpine lakes in the world and in Europe only Lake Geneva is larger . . . .”
Fisherman on Sevan. The Ishkhan is a fish unique to Lake Sevan, but its harvest has been restricted by the government for over 30 years. Overfishing has made the Ishkhan an endangered species.
The Hayrivank monastery
(from left) Myself, Cyrus, Brian, and Vahan, our wonderful driver that day, on the shore of Sevan. In the background you can see ongoing construction of a new hotel on the shore.
Some khatchkars outside of Hayrivank
Another shot of the mansion
Inside our Russian Volga automobile on the trip. You can see “Volga” in stylized Cyrillic letters above the glove box.
Along the road to Sevan. According to the Stone Garden Guide, Sevan is “in great peril. Its troubled history dates back to the 1930s. That's when the Soviet government embarked on a scheme to reduce the surface area of the lake by approximately 80 percent. Their objective was to reduce evaporation and thereby increase the commercial availability of the lake's water. . . . for irrigation and for hydroelectric generation. By the early 1960s, the water level of the lake had decreased 19 meters [about 65 feet], and the water volume had been diminished by more than 40 percent.” Today the Armenian government is trying to raise the lake level by 6 meters over the next 20 years.
On the far side of the tunnel along the road to Dilijan.
Dilijan from the back window of our Volga
Inside the Haghartsin monastery
Here are the beehives that supply the beeswax to make the candles for the monastery.
St. Astvatsatsin church at the Haghartsin monastery. Astvatsatsin means “mother of God.”
Inside a church at Haghartsin.
Another picture inside
Beautiful fall view from Haghartsin, with a khatchkar to the right. The large walnut on the left is estimated to be about 700 years old.
Lovely fall view of Haghartsin
Another fall view
Haghartsin
Landscape near Haghartsin
Scenic overlook where we stopped to buy some tasty boiled corn from a roadside vendor
Brian takes a forbidden shot of the Armenian President's retreat on the shore of Lake Sevan, on the peninsula known as the “Isle of Sevan.” It used to be an island before the water level was lowered; now it is a peninsula.
