Tatev
A ninth-century monastery on a spur above the Vorotan gorge in Syunik, reached on a cable car that crosses the gorge for almost six kilometres.
- Arrival
- Zvartnots International · EVN
- To the monastery
- About 180 km south-east of the airport, in a straight line
- Private jets
- Zvartnots, 3,849 m runway, VIP terminal
- Best time
- June to September
The city
Stone above the gorge.
Bishop Hovhannes raised the main church of Tatev in 895, with the backing of the princes of Syunik, and frescoes covered its walls by 930. Around it grew a walled house of churches, a mausoleum and schools that kept learning alive in the south of Armenia for centuries. The cliffs fall away on three sides to the Vorotan river far below.
From Halidzor, on the far side of the gorge, a cabin glides 5,752 metres to the monastery gate in about twelve minutes, up to 320 metres above the river; the road takes some forty minutes of hairpins. Summer and early autumn, June to September, bring warm afternoons around twenty to twenty-three degrees.
- Tatev Monastery The churches of Sts Paul and Peter, St Astvatsatsin and St Grigor, with the tomb of the theologian Grigor Tatevatsi.
- Wings of Tatev The cable car from Halidzor, opened in October 2010 and recorded by Guinness as the longest non-stop reversible aerial tramway.
- The Gavazan A pillar of 906 in the courtyard that rocks at a touch, long said to warn of tremors in the ground.
Arriving
Zvartnots, then south to Syunik.
International arrivals land at Zvartnots, the airport of Yerevan, about 180 km north-west of Tatev in a straight line. The road south crosses the mountains of Vayots Dzor and Syunik.
- Amman 2 h 00
- Istanbul 2 h 15
- Mumbai 4 h 45
- Addis Ababa 4 h 50
- Lagos 7 h 35 long-range jet
When to go
June to September.
A mountain climate with snowy winters and a wet late spring: May is the rainiest month. From June the showers thin out, and July and August are warm and fairly dry, with afternoons in the low twenties. September stays mild; by November highs fall to single figures.
- 0° J 29
- 1° F 43
- 6° M 71
- 11° A 86
- 17° M 108
- 20° J 84
- 23° J 46
- 23° A 34
- 20° S 64
- 15° O 61
- 7° N 49
- 2° D 30
Elsewhere in Armenia
More reasons to come.
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