Road Trip - Destination Dilijan

Old Dilijan Complex hotel, restaurant, shops

Road trip! I know you probably think I would be sick of getting out and seeing new places, at least in a car. For a few days after the 750 km trip with Peter, I admit I was loathe to get in a car for anything longer than a taxi ride to the opera house. But that only lasted a few days.

Reconstruction WITH satellite dishes

Ready to go again, Denise and I took a fun weekend in a town named Dilijan, in Tavoush marz (province) about 75 minutes north of Yerevan. An office friend arranged a taxi for us for about $80 round trip. The car even had seats belts in the back seat!

The guidebook and friends all promised a weekend of rest as well as great hiking (national park) and...you guessed it!...monasteries, especially Goshavank in the village of Gosh near Lake Parz. Beautiful autumn scenery, cooler temps (now down to 70 or so), clear air, history, hiking, AND it's a center for traditional crafts. Hog 

heaven.

The road to Dilijan is a national highway that eventually leads to Tbilisi, Georgia. Outside of the portion that serves Greater Yerevan, the road gets more narrow, the surface less smooth, and switchbacks up and down the mountains are common. The narrow twisting mountain road does not in any way impede drivers from passing on curves (I was thinking "These seatbelts are not going to be a lot of help if we  go careening over the side into the valley.")

Acorn season!

On the highway, on the smaller roads, and even on the town streets, cows wander pretty freely. We saw pigs and sheep doing the same for the first time. Chickens seem to know their way around too. The litter of piglets foraging for nuts was our favorite.

Large gas pipe along the mountain road

Something we see all the time was more noticeable during this trip. In this earthquake-prone region, the gas pipes are laid above ground. One sees them all over Yerevan, in parks, as well as along the roads and highways. Much of the gas comes from Iran, which maintains a friendly and very active trade with Armenia in everything from edibles to energy.

Mineral water fountain

At almost 5,000 feet above sea level, Dilijan has long been a favorite of kings, and later of rich people from across Transcaucasia who built summer villas here. Its forests, lake, 3 rivers and mineral springs drew people for rest and cultural events. Next year in 2013, a major banking and finance center will open here led by the Central Bank of Armenia. There is already an international school. Word has it as a motivation to move here to work, employers are offering that after five years you would own your own apartment. I might be in on that, how about you?

No sugar maples but lots of golds from the beeches and birches

We hit the fall colors maybe about a week beyond peak, but still lovely, so we got our Vermont on, doing the usual oohs and ahhs as we looked here and there. The weather was very cloudy, so at times the colors did not sing as much as at others, but we did get a little autumn satisfaction anyway.

Thick as thieves at the amphitheater

Traditional style small house

Trucks, cement mixers in the yard--on its way back?

On the ground it is difficult to imagine that Dilijan is going to be ready for all this activity in a year. There is, like here in Yerevan, a lot of construction underway (or abandoned--it is not always easy to tell if any progress is being made). But there is also a ton of obviously abandoned real estate and old spa hotels from the Soviet era when grand buildings and walkways were installed around mineral springs. There is an effort underway to rebuild walkways along the river and around a pond in the center of town. To be fair we visited at low season. I am sure things are hopping in the summer.

Hand-carving on the cello

We stumbled onto the Dilijan Museum where we were surprised to find two Rockwell Kent paintings side by side as well as a painting by Vilik Zarakyan, an Armenian painter we met in September on our walking tour in Yerevan (see September 17 post). I was also drawn to a hand-carved string quartet of instruments displayed on a beautiful Armenian carpet. 


We also visited a small folk art museum, formerly the home of another painter. Standing on the upper level porch of this old house, it was easy to imagine spending summers here, looking out on the river and up to the forested hills--before all the modern day construction took place. This is especially true if you just don't look at the hideous Soviet monument to the unity of the Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) under Soviet rule.

Carved spoons

Baby cradle and carpets

A second museum of life in Tavoush province consisted of one very heavily furnished room that included very good examples of furnishings from the early 20th C.--from saddlebags to parlor games to kitchen items to a baby cradle.

Apple pie

During our stay at the Old Dilijan Complex, which is run by the Tufenkian Foundation of rug fame, we had perhaps the best food we have had in Armenia. Lamb stew with prunes and green beans, lamb stew with apricots, beef stew with pomegranates, a mushroom and apricot soup, orange and pear and bell pepper salad. There is a theme here that I love--fruit with everything else imaginable. Desserts are not overly sweet. The apple pie was a mixture of apples, raisins, cinnamon rolled in a light pastry and sliced into generous portions. From the dining room we could see ripe pears hanging on a tree in the yard next door. It all felt very localvore!!

Sliced wood floor in a shop

Part of this restoration is a "street" of handicrafts shops--a woodcarver, a potter, and a couple of other gift shops, one of which was filled with Grandma-bait, including a $150 hand-painted silk skirt (size 4) with an autumn theme, complete with crinoline. I confess, I thought about how much fun Mica Reed (Peter's oldest granddaughter) would have wearing that skirt and then decided (happily for my pocket book) that it would likely be too small for her.We ended up patronizing most of them in some small way and bought carved pear wood pomegranate ornaments for the Christmas tree from the wood carver.

Part of the complex is an Armenian Apostolic Church congregation, but at this time it does not look like a church until you get inside. The Old Dilijan Complex is part of the rebirth of Dilijan. They have done well architecturally in creating a very attractive space. My usual complaint applies here though--no good reading lights, no comfy places to sit and read. Good thing I took my head lamp.