Ch 41, Days 30-31: The World's Oldest Church

 

39.5
kms, Sept 20, 2012

Today
the Traveler has decided to move on, and bid Yerevan farewell. Yes,
he knows he could stay here much, much longer and be happy. But he's
finally getting that “call of the wild”... the urge to head out
into the unexpected and unknown every day. And he's going to respond
to that call.

He
packs his bags, bids farewell to his friends at the hostel... enjoys
one more delicious fruit smoothie... and heads down the road.
Part
of him does want to take the shortest route north, and continue on to
the next country. It is still very hot, and trudging across the open
plains in the heat does not appeal to him. But there are a number of
things in the east that are drawing him that direction. Like the
oldest church in the world. And, even more intriguing, one of the
world's only Yazidi temples—right here in Armenia.

Seems
like a place worthy of a pilgrimage on foot. So east it is.

As
he is walking along, he comes across a run of the mill statue, and
pulls out his camera to take a picture. You know, the typical thing
tourists do when exploring new city. Suddenly a man approached him
and begins to question him. “What are you doing here? Why are you
taking pictures?”

Suddenly
the Traveler gets a time warp feel. It's like he's entered Communist
Soviet Union and is being questioned by an undercover KGB agent that
is always watching this foreigner suspiciously.

But
no. This is no KGB. The only time the Traveler is interrogated in
this country is here... why? Because he is taken pictures in the
proximity of the US embassy. It is here where he is treated with the
most suspicion.

The
Traveler shows the agent the pictures he took and allowed to leave...
shaking his head at the irony...

The
Western Suburbs

The
city starts to fade out a bit, then comes back to life again---but
this time it's sort of a mix between casinos and furniture stores.
Not grand, La Vegas style casinos, but rather crammed tightly
together to get as many in a block as you can. The Traveler assumes
these cater to Russian--maybe some Iranian tourists?

In
Parakar
down
a side street you a find a nice little park with a stately arched
building in the center. Turns out it's a conservatory and parents
are bringing their kids in to learn musical instruments. It's nice
that all the Soviet era appreciation for the arts hasn't been lost.

He
continues on east, across a field to the village of Musaler.
Atop
a hill overlooking the town is a tower like structure which he goes
to check out. It's dedicated the to resistance at Musa Dagh, one of
the few times when the Armenians were able to successfully resist
Turkish extermination. They gathered at Musa Dagh mountain and
managed to fight off the Turks for 40 days. Just as they were
running out of ammunition, a French ship spotted them and rescued
them.

The
Traveler pauses here to gaze out across the plains... with Turkey
visible on the other side, and ponder once again on the painful
relationship between these two peoples.

The
Orchard Watchman

There's
never a day during his Armenian adventure that he doesn't have an
interesting encounter. Today it's an older fellow--a watchman
overseeing the orchards, who insists that the Traveler come into the
little hovel, where he lives to play some music for him... in
exchange the watchman shares some apples.

Finally
as dusk sets in, He reaches the city of Echmiadzin.
At the edge of the city is a large abandoned Ferris wheel--quite a
depressing sight, seems to say "life used to be fun here, but
not any more"

The
Traveler enters a quiet churchyard. No one is there except a simple
groundskeeper. He wanders around the exterior of this unique
cathedral, which is built in the shape of a cross, with apses
reaching out in four directions—but not entirely uniform. You can
see that different parts of this cathedral were added on in different
eras.

It
is not until later that the Traveler realizes that... he has
performed a pilgrimage to the most important church of the Armenian
faith! Not only that, but at 1,700 years old this relatively humble
structure is considered to be the oldest standing cathedral in the
world.

No
crowds of worshipers or tight security here though. Quite the
opposite! When the Traveler heads out to leave he finds that...
apparently the groundskeeper forgot about him and he's been locked
inside!

The
Traveler wanders about, wondering what he will do... luckily he finds
the guys in his humble room on site... and is let out...

Day
31: The Seminary

19.8
kms, June 29, 2021

The
next day, the Traveler comes back to the ancient church again, to
explore in on the inside. Here it becomes clear how this is actually
many churches built on top of one another—a bit like the Holy
Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem. A narrow passageway takes you down to
a mysterious crypt where a saint was buried... another passageway
takes you to what looks like was an ancient chapel.

It
does strike the Traveler as surprising that the “world's oldest
church”, isn't hidden away in some mountaintop where it avoided
being destroyed by invaders, but rather here in a very exposed, open
plain, where countless armies have swept through.

He
continues on into the heart of town, which feels like a kind of
sleepy big town, in contrast to bustling Yerevan, but is still
clearly a city in its own right. Right next to the main intersection
is a very stately university campus—actually a seminary to be
precise.

Founded
in the mid-1800s, it was a place for training priests in the Armenian
church, but also for teaching secular subjects as well.

As
throughout the Soviet Union, religious teaching was severely
curtailed and this seminary was shut down. But in 1945 it was opened
again, and priests were trained to serve in Armenian churches once
again.

Up
through the Plains

It
looks like there's another provincial capital just a day's hike away
to the north, so the Traveler decides to continue with this rather
zig-zaggy hike through eastern Armenia. He follows a fairly busy
road past fertile farmland. People are harvesting onions in the
fields in the scorching sun. Again, the Traveler notices that they
are all older women...

The
first village, Shahunyan, has a scrappy feel with dirt roads.
The grandeur of Yerevan feels very far away. Here business seems to
revolve around selling live chickens by the side of the road. Next,
down a side road is Dasht, which has a very sleepy feel, not
much activity going on in the heat of the day.

Then,
up a gentle ridge is the border to Aragatsotn province, the seventh
the Traveler has visited in Armenia. Instead of farmland, this ridge
is just a barren rocky wasteland, it feels. Off in the distance the
Traveler sees he is approaching mountains again to the north... He is
starting to miss mountains, after a week or so in the plains, but no,
he reminds himself...he still has things to do to the east.

Sasunik
does look like just another dusty, forgettable town. But it does
have a divided street in the middle with a string of shady
gazebos—perfect for sitting to do his official Sasunik Parkbench
Concert.

There
is a group of older men in one gazebo, and a group of teenage boys in
the other. And all eyes are on the Traveler as he picks a third
gazebo. He got used to just being ignored during his time in
Yerevan, and isn't quite sure how he feels about being the focus of
everyone's attention. They're obviously curious as to what he's
doing in their town. He realizes his typical response of “American
tourist” is logical when hiking through beautiful mountains. Not
so logical when hiking through a sun scorched wasteland.

Sure
enough, they all come over and seem to get a chuckle as he gestures
that he's just walking and enjoying the scenery. And, of course,
they're all eager to listen to some music, as clearly not many
traveling minstrels make their way to Sasunik. The older fellows
then go back to their gazebo, but the younger boys stick around to
listen to more—and kindly buy the Traveler a cold drink.

It
does feel nice to be back in “real Armenia”, the Traveler smiles
to himself.

He
continues on down the road. Not far away is the provincial capital
of Ashkarat. There are storm clouds on the horizon, but honestly he
doesn't care. Right now, he really wouldn't mind getting rained on.

Finally
he reaches the city, where he he enjoys a good kebab meal... and
decides to call it a day.