Two Days Wine Tour to Vayots Dzor and Syunik Region

• Khor Virap Monastery
• Wine Tasting in 3 Wineries in Vayots Dzor Region
• Birds Cave Areni-1
• Noravank Monastery
• Tatev Monastery
• Karahunj Observatory

Trips by car can be ordered any day, time and to any destination. The presented prices include transportation expenses, below you can see the prices of entrance tickets:

• The total price for all the entrance tickets will be 15 000 AMD per person
• The overnight in local guest house will be 15 000 AMD
• Lunch at local restaurants or rural houses will be: 3 000 – 5 000 AMD
• You can also use the guide service, if you wish: 30 000 AMD

The tour will give you the opportunity not only to see the main sights of the region, but also to get acquainted with one of the main and oldest wine-growing regions.

Day 1

The tour will begin with a visit of Khor Virap Monastery (“deep dungeon”) – Armenian monastery located in the Ararat plain, near the closed border with Turkey, Ararat Province. The monastery was host to a theological seminary and was the residence of Armenian Catholicos. Khor Virap’s (6 metres deep and 4.4 metres wide) notability as a monastery and pilgrimage site is attributed to the fact that Gregory the Illuminator was initially imprisoned here for 13 years by King Tiridates III of Armenia.

The next stop is in Areni and Aghavnadzor villages in the Vayots Dzor Province of Armenia, when you will also taste the wines. The Areni-1 shoe is a 5500-year-old leather shoe that was found in 2008 in excellent condition in the Areni-1 cave located in the Vayots Dzor province of Armenia. It is a one-piece leather-hide shoe, the oldest piece of leather footwear in the world known to contemporary researchers.

Then you will visit Noravank (“new monastery”) is a 13th-century Armenian monastery. In the 13th–14th centuries the monastery became a major religious and, later, cultural center of Armenia closely connected with many of the local seats of learning, especially with Gladzor’s famed university and library. The grandest structure is Surb Astvatsatsin (Holy Mother of God), also called Burtelashen (Burtel’s construction) in the honour of Prince Burtel Orbelian, its financier. Surb Astvatsatsin was completed in 1339, a masterpiece of the talented sculptor and miniaturist Momik, who designed it, and was also his last work. Near the church there is his tomb khachkar, small and modestly decorated, dated the same year.

Day 2

After a delicious breakfast in the village, you will go to Tatev Monastery – a unique masterpiece of Armenian architecture, which was built in the 9th century. This monastery was one of the oldest spiritual centers of medieval Armenia, as well as the largest university of its time. Thanks to the construction of the longest cable car in the world, “Wings of Tatev” (5.7 km) has made the complex one of the most frequently visited places in Armenia.

Then you will go to the oldest Karahunj Observatory (Zorats Karer). This prehistoric monument, consisting of hundreds of vertically set large stones with through holes in the upper part, is located 200 km from Yerevan on a mountain plateau at an altitude of 1,770 m above sea level and covers an area of ​​more than 7 hectares. Karahunj is a lot like the famous Stonehenge. On the day of the autumnal equinox, the sunrise can be seen directly above the gates of the eastern sector of central Ellipse, just as on the day of the summer solstice – over Stonehenge.

After