At the beginning of July last year, adventurer Sergei went on an adventure to Armenia with a small and very fun group. Where did they go, what did they do and experience? Sergei wrote down his impressions!

Even before we flew out of Estonia, we had decided that we would do an unscheduled cultural day together, because there is simply so much to see in Armenia. Thoughtful and done!

The charm of Yerevan streets

We arrived in Armenia early in the morning, when a local representative met us, who first took us to the hotel to rest. After some rest, we set out to explore Yerevan. Yerevan left no one indifferent. You walk around the street and almost around every corner there is a nice cafe, from which the smell of delicious food comes. Grape vines hang and a wonderful veil of fog falls from the pipes built under the ceiling, which provides a pleasant cooling at the same time as you can comfortably strengthen your body with local delicacies. It can be said in advance that the food certainly offered us as much of an experience as what we saw on the hiking route. Yerevan itself was homely, green and pleasantly saturated with local culture.

The cultural days were refreshing, we walked around Yerevan with a local guide, Vassili, and drove to the Tatev Monastery. Vassili is a history lecturer at the university and a bass guitarist in a popular local band in his free time. In addition, he is also an impressive cook and a solver of all kinds of obstacles. We christened him Mighty Eagle quite early on, and he accompanied us throughout the trip.

Nature and monasteries go hand in hand

But then, after a good dose of culture, we put on our hiking boots and headed out into nature. I had planned the route so that we would see as many of the fortresses and monasteries that Armenia is known for as possible while hiking. We had an agreement with our guide Vassil that he would always be waiting for us when we reached another attraction to introduce us to the local attractions. These hiking breaks in the cool monasteries, where authentic Armenian village life was bustling around, were something we had never experienced on other hikes before. The group’s pace always picked up when a monastery-fortress loomed on the horizon, because we knew that now we could take a full break from walking. You buy yourself some fresh pomegranate juice, listen to Vassil’s interesting chatter, and you’re ready to continue your journey.

Another important idea that I had in mind when planning the route was that I wanted to give everyone the opportunity to experience the Armenian nature in the most diverse way possible. And that's why we hiked through blooming mountain meadows, where we met both sheep and goats, looked at the volcanic peak of Azhdahak, which gives strength and power to Armenians, which surprised us with historical traces, but also, for example, completely red rock, and escaped from swarms of mosquitoes in the lush nature of the Dilijan National Park. By the way, local guide Eric got tips from Estonians there on how to relieve mosquito bites (well, finally, these Midsummer's wisdom came in handy internationally 😊). Estonians were also able to scare the locals - Günter showed that a true Estonian strongman goes swimming in a glacial lake at the top of a volcano!

The main purpose of the trip - Aragats

But one of the highlights of the hiking experience was definitely going to Aragats. Aragats is a stratovolcano and has a total of 4 peaks - the northern peak, at 4095 m, is also the highest in Armenia. The climb is not technical, but the height still offers its share of challenges.

Before going to Aragats, we set up camp by Lake Kari. We set up our tents and made a wonderful Armenian shashlik with Vassil. We sat by the smoking campfire and discussed tomorrow's plans. While the temperatures were otherwise quite warm on the hike, it was already feeling cool here.

The morning porridge was planned early - at 6 o'clock our eager group started moving. Well, the mountain gods were not kind to us. Today promised rain and snow and wind and everything that would properly test our spirit. Today's guide was Nare - she trudged along the rocks with the ease of a mountain goat and earned everyone's admiration.

The mountain path led along the rocks and we also walked on wide ridges. Aragats has four peaks and we first reached the southern peak (3879m). Here we were greeted by hail and a fierce wind. We lined up, the Estonian flag fluttering, and took the obligatory summit photo. Now thoughts began to come to mind as to whether we really wanted to conquer the next peak. To do this, we had to go down and then UP again! When we got down, we had a light lunch, the wind had died down, the hail was left behind, and a few pleasant jokes restored everyone's strength. The decision was firm – let's move on towards the summit!

The journey was pleasant – a quiet step up, accompanied by wonderful views of the Aragats volcano. A few hundred meters before the summit, one hiker decided that for him the highlight of the hike would be to stay alone and admire the view that opened up. The opportunity to be alone with nature for an hour in such a place was something he simply had to take advantage of. We didn’t argue either – we could leave our bags with him and continue on with a lighter load. We happily reached the so-called false peak of Aragats, and a little later, those who wanted to climb more rocks also reached the northern peak of Aragats (4095 m) a few dozen meters higher!

And then the journey down. With the snow waters gushing, the greenery growing more and more, we moved down tiredly (but happily). And there it finally appeared – a foaming waterfall and Vassili with a watermelon! It seemed that the group started to run. 😊 Anyway, peak to peak, but the juicy watermelon after the hard effort was undoubtedly the best part of the day!

What remains in your heart about Armenia?

What else did I want to offer with this Armenian hike – campsites with wonderful views. And they were carefully chosen. Every time we opened the tent door, our souls rested. All these places were ours alone – there were no other hikers, no garbage from previous hikers. The pure beauty of nature, which we could enjoy to the fullest. This camp life also remained in our souls for a long time – food prepared with the heart of the locals, long conversations about Armenia and Estonians, hikes and what we had experienced before.

The so-called gastronomic aspect of the Armenian hike deserves special mention. Well, it was still a gourmet hike. At the final dinner in Yerevan, the table was full of local delicacies - dolma, hummus, crispy local breads, cheeses, mouth-watering khachapuri, but of course, plenty of meat dishes spiced with herbs. While we thought that the Aragats peak would be a challenge, the real challenge was actually fitting all these delicacies into our stomachs... During the hiking days, we were also surprised with incredible dinners. We enjoyed soups, meat dishes, and wonderful vegetarian dishes. And to make up for all the lost calories, we also had a good taste of khachapuri. Fresh salads were especially nice on hotter days.