Jan 16 Dilijan, Lake Sevan

We stayed overnight at TUMO Dilijan, where we each had a queen bed and room to ourselves. The one drawback was that the dogs outside barked and howled loudly through the night.

In the morning, the TUMO staff helped us hire a taxi for the day.

First, we visited Goshavank Monastery which was built during the 12th or 13th century.

View of Gosh (town) from monastery

Then we headed to Lake Sevan.

Different people want to tell different stories and thus take different pictures. Can you tell which ones I took?

Such a vast, beautiful, blueness!

Ice forming along the shore

Old rubber tires as life saving devices?

Not far from the lake was Sevanavank Monastery.

At the base, vendors displayed souvenirs and goods for tourists. I bought some syrup and wine of what I believe to be sea buckthorn.

Sea buckthorn, I think?

Syrup, wine, liquor, 'vodka', oil made from sea buckthorn

To reach the monastery, we had to climb several flights of stairs.

Look at the craftsmanship!

View from monastery

Upon returning to the base of the monastery, we purchased some gata. This gata is different from the one I had at Gwoog Gastrohouse because the dough was closer to sweet bread as opposed to laminated dough, so it had more eggs and a different texture. The fillings were pretty similar - doughs with coarse sugar, but the one from Gwoog seemed to have more flavor, probably due to the addition of yogurt.

Then, we ate lunch at Semoyi Mot, which is a restaurant along the lake. We had barbecued and fried sig, which is a freshwater fish found in the lake. It was quite tasty, probably because it wasn't farm raised. The bread was also great - tasted almost like sourdough, but perhaps simply had a starter. The bread was also quite tender. We also chatted with some Georgians sitting at the neighboring table.

Then, back to Dilijan where we went on a short hike through the "Drunken Forest."

And some buckthorn tea at Cafe #2, a hip cafe which also provides work experience to adolescents in the area.

We then decided to head back to Gyumri. We called a taxi via GGTaxi, but the driver decided he didn't want to go to Gyumri after driving a kilometer or so. Thankfully, Garik the owner of a sushi restaurant in Dilijan helped us call another driver. Garik was born in Dilijan but studied in Russia before returning to Dilijan in 2020. He wants to come to New York one day.

Our new driver was the first I've seen wearing a seatbelt. Based on his home screen photo, probably because he has a baby to come home too. Anyway, along the drive, we passed by Vagharshapat - the third largest city in Armenia. At one point, police were stopping cars and asking for IDs. We passed without any trouble. I also noticed that they fill the gas from the trunk instead of the side??!

Finally back in Gyumri, we had dinner at Florence Gyumri. 

• Fried cheese appetizer - salty cheese coated in breadcrumbs and fried
• Veal kabob with mushrooms and cheese - ground veal, ground mushrooms, bits of cheese
• Broccoli - they added wine to it, so it tasted like Chinese broccoli prepared at a restaurant!

Bonus Photos