Khor Virap, Noravank & Jermuk

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   Hotel in YerevanPick-up at your address at the chosen time09:00
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   Khor Virap MonasteryKhor Virap is a working monastery on a rocky hill in the Ararat Valley, close to the Turkish border, with Mount Ararat rising directly opposite. According to church tradition, Gregory the Illuminator was held here in an underground dungeon for thirteen years. Most of today's buildings date from the 17th century: a wall with round towers, the Church of the Holy Mother of God and a chapel where a narrow iron ladder leads down into a pit about six metres deep. The surrounding hills hold the ruins of Artashat, an ancient Armenian capital.45 min

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   © BarevTrip

   Khor Virap is a working monastery on a rocky hill in the Ararat Valley, close to the Turkish border, with Mount Ararat rising directly opposite. According to church tradition, Gregory the Illuminator was held here in an underground dungeon for thirteen years. Most of today's buildings date from the 17th century: a wall with round towers, the Church of the Holy Mother of God and a chapel where a narrow iron ladder leads down into a pit about six metres deep. The surrounding hills hold the ruins of Artashat, an ancient Armenian capital.

   Free entry

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   Noravank MonasteryNoravank is a 12th–14th century monastery in the narrow gorge of the Gnishik River, beneath sheer red cliffs. In the 13th and 14th centuries it was the seat of the metropolitans of Syunik and the burial place of the Orbelian princes. Its best-known building is the two-storey Surb Astvatsatsin church of 1339, with narrow steps running straight up the facade to the upper chapel. Next to it stands the 13th-century main church, whose narthex keeps carved tympana and tombstones.60 min
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   Jermuk waterfall and mineral water galleryThis stop in the centre of the spa town of Jermuk combines two sights a few hundred metres apart. The waterfall on a tributary of the Arpa runs down a dark rock face into the gorge in many thin streams, and locals call it the “mermaid’s hair”. The drinking gallery, a pale arcade on columns, was built in 1966 to a design by the architect Gevorg Tamanyan. Taps along its wall pour mineral water of different temperatures into stone vessels, and visitors can taste it.90 min
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   Hotel in YerevanReturn to the same or another address in the city≈ 19:00

Driving between stops takes about 7 h. You can change the order by telling the driver.