Best Armenian Yerevan, Geghard Monastery, Garni Temple, Tatev, Noravank, Khor Virap and Armenia Deep Caucasus Heritage Tour Destinations
Browse more guides: Armenia travel | Asia destinations Best Armenian Yerevan (founded 782 BC), Geghard Monastery (UNESCO 2000), Garni Temple (77 AD), Tatev (Wings of Tatev opened 2010), Noravank (Surb Astvatsatsin 1339), Khor Virap (4th c) and Armenia Deep Caucasus Heritage Tour Destinations TL;DR I planned my first Armenia trip the way a structural engineer plans a load test, by measuring everything in advance, and the country still surprised me at every junction. Yerevan was founded in 782 BC by King Argishti I of Urartu as the fortress of Erebuni, which makes the capital 29 years older than Rome, and that single fact reset my mental map of the Caucasus before I had even left Zvartnots Airport. Over nine days I covered 1,420 km of mountain road, sat under the only Greco-Roman colonnaded temple east of Turkey at Garni, rode the world's longest reversible aerial tramway across the 5.7 km Vorotan Gorge to Tatev, and watched Mt Ararat 5,165 m glow apricot pink at 06:12 from the ...