Khor Virap, Garni Temple and Geghard Monastery
Travel to Khor Virap Monastery, located about an hour's drive from the capital, Yerevan, and offering an amazing view of Armenia's defining symbol - the majestic Ararat. "Khor Virap" translates as "deep dungeon" and was built on the site of the former royal prison in historic Artashat. It was in this very prison that Gregory the Illuminator, the first Armenian Catholicos, was kept for 13 years.
See how this fantastic tour introduces you to the exotic Pagan history of Armenia and shows the later development and spread of Christianity in the country. Garni Temple (77 A.D.) - our first stop - is the only standing heathen temple in the whole post-Soviet area. The temple gracefully stands on a high plateau overlooking the Azat River Gorge. It is also home to the Roman bathhouse with its mysterious mosaic, made out of 30,000 pieces of natural stones, as well as the ruins of the royal palace dating back to the 3rd century A.D.
Continue to the monastic complex of Geghard, another historical site included in this tour. Approximately translated into English as "Monastery of the Holy Lance," it refers to the lance with which Longinus pierced Jesus while he was still hanging on the cross, later brought to Armenia and kept in Geghard Monastery for 5 centuries. The complex is a representation of 13th-century Armenia, considered the Golden Age of the country's architecture. However, the most astonishing part is the skill of the architect, who cut the church right into the solid rock while observing all the rules of Armenian architecture.
