This morning we enjoyed a short break from churches and monasteries.

We left Yerevan and made the trip to Garni (a good half hour of driving), where we were heading off for a short hike. The description in the itinerary simply stated “hike through Garni Gorge” – so we did not really know, what to expect.

That mystery got resolved, when we finally made it into the gorge – and were now standing in front of a wall of basalt columns. These basalt columns are also known as the Symphony of the Stones – and were clearly the attraction here.

As we continued our hike through the gorge, the next attraction got into view already – Garni Temple (Գառնու հեթանոսական տաճար). We were now turning towards the temple and did leave the gorge behind. A steep path led us uphill and eventually we made it to the entrance of the temple grounds.

The Temple of Garni dates back to the first century; similar to other buildings in the region, it got destroyed and reconstructed at least once over the millennia. The temple grounds also feature the ruin of a church, as well as the ruins of a Roman bath house.

From the temple we continued to a nearby cafe for a well deserved coffee and an introduction into traditional Armenian sweets.

After sweets we changed to proper food, which we had in a nearby guesthouse. The highlight here was the fresh lavash, a variety of Armenian bread, that our host was preparing right in front of our eyes and that made a very good (second) starter with some cucumber, tomato, cheese and herbs added to it. Lunch was enjoyable as well – but the star here clearly was the bread.