So, an exciting day in prospect today: we leave Armenia and head off to Tbilisi the capital of Georgia!

Of course we simply must visit another Monastery before leaving Armenia and so we stopped off at Haghpat Monastery, also known as Haghpatavank…. Those of you who have been paying attention will of course notice this is not the very similarly named Haghartsin Monastery promised in the itinerary advertised and shown on the map above. Sitting here in my bed in the hotel in Kazbegi after a long day and an eight mile hike i don’t have the energy to redo the map, but Haghpat is further west and much closer to the Georgian border….

Here are some pics of our journey:

The Haghpat Monastery complex is also quite a lot older and more extensive than its near namesake, having been founded by Queen Khosrovanuysh, wife of the Bagratid king Ashott 3rd, probably in 976. The largest church in the complex is the Cathedral of St. Nshan [Holy Sign] which was completed in 991. Apart from one or two minor restorations carried out in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the church has retained its original character and is immensely impressive as hopefully my pics will demonstrate. You can also see the impressive three story bell tower and rather smaller domed Church of St. Gregory which dates from 1005. The third church in the complex is the 13th century Chapel of St. Astvatsatsin.

To give you some idea of the stunning location of the Haghpat Monastery Complex, here are a couple of pics of the surrounding countryside.

As we got closer to the Georgian border the countryside became even more spectacular, in particular when we stopped for lunch. Have a look at the astonishing landscape we overlooked as we ate our food….

Sorry folks, it’s almost 11:00 pm here and i have to get some kip, so i will ping you a ‘Day 4: Continued’ hopefully early tomorrow before we set off again…….

This will include the relatively low key crossing of the border between Armenia and Georgia!

Nite, nite…