The route is crowded with mind blowing venues to explore. The first day I cycle south on the Aras plain, to see Khor Virap Monastery and Artashat, the ancient capital of the Urartu kingdom. Said to be the first Armenian kingdom. Founded 180 BC it is truely old. All along the way I have the mighty Ararat to my right. Its head in the clouds on the beginning, but clearing up over the day, so I finally get to see its majesty in all its glory. Seen from Artashat, the two Ararat stand singularely against the sky, and I wonder not, that these mountains have been regarded sacred through the aeons.
Khor Virap is famous for its location. The architecture is nothing special. What fascinates me, every room in this monastery is a church or chapel or something else for praying in. Artashat itself is a dissapointment. It is excavated maybe 10%, some foundation walls, thats it. Next to it stretches the natural reserve wetlands. While the land dryed up on the way to the south, this patch boasts of pure green in all the brown lands. I pitch up my tent on a hill, according to the map, the non excavated acropolis of Artashat, with a wonderful view on the two Ararat. The night starts nice, but soon a heavy wind drives up. For the first time for long I take my big yellow bag inside, to stabilise the tent. Every now and then it rains a bit, what gives me more horror. In the morning everything is dust dry.
I use the heavy wind to make way in the morning. With the wind in my back I reach an average speed over 30 kmh and soon reach the slope of todays pass. The land here has a strange feeling. Already yesterday evening I see the military installations on the border to Turkey. But here on the border to Nascitshevan (Azerbajan) you can sense the hostilities in the air. Dirt walls have been put up along the border and more than once, I cross the path of some soldiers. Down on the plain, the land is brown and barren, but the more I gain hight, the greener the land gets, until farming is possible again. On the other side of the pass I get across unnumbered fruit plantations and when I aproach Areni, small wine selling stands pop up along the street like mushrooms after rain. I stop at one and taste myself through the wines. The lady makes fruit wine and I end up, letting one of my waterbottles filled with dangerously tasty raspberry wine and buy a small bottle of apricot chacha (spirit)
Just around the corner starts Noravank canion. Here I will spend the night and hope to see some bats. But first I head up to Noravank Monastery for dinner at a restaurant and the sunset. The monastery is made for kids like me. There are two churches with narrow stairs to climb around and a water cysterne with an altar in it to climb down. I have a lot of fun. The canyon itself makes a fantastic landscape. I am waiting for the sunset. The spectacle of colours is overwhelming. The walls around the canyon turn from a bright orange to blood red before they fade.
I am camping about halfway up the canyon. When I cycle up and find this place, a group of diaspora Armenians are having a picnic. The owner of the ground is there too and generously permits me to pitch my tent and use the facilities. Thanks to him I can visit the monastry without my baggage. I sleep in the canyon because it is famous for its bats. I seem to have picked the wrong spot, I don't see a single one. Foolishly I forget to cover the top of the tent and even more foolishly I pack the cover into the yellow bag left some 20 meters away. When the rain starts, I can only pack my sleepingbags watertight and then go and find that cover. My matress is wet, I manage to dry it to a "moist" level, but the rest of the night is not very pleasant.
I leave early. In Yehegnadzor I try to get a replacement for the cam. I find a shop, but they dont manage to get the cams running. In a restaurant I do what I should have done for a long time. I drink a café and eat something. I pass an archeologic site, that is not more than a pile of stones but was inhabited since 3000 BC. I pass a working irrigation system, that works only with the power of the water flowing through and finally I reach the narrow valley that leads up. The landscape is great as ever. Soon I reach Zaritap, but what follows is pain. The road to Gomk is a path completely unfit for my bike. I cannot cycle due to the conditions of the surface and because it is too steep. In plain sunshine I push my bike 7 km and 400m altitude uphill. But Gomk, and the reason that I will spend 3 nights here pay for the pain. I am on almost 2000m altitude again. The village hosts the last trees.
The Festival people are building up the facilities. I join them and pitch my tent next to theirs.