After Goris (Armenia) I decided to drive in the direction of Sisian. Kate (American peace core) told me in Yerevan that it was worth visiting. I stopped close to Sisian and drove into the hills to check out a cave. The cave was a bit disappointing but the surroundings were quite nice. After that I drove on to Sisian where, after I arrived, I noticed that my fleece vest was gone. I left it near the cave On the center square of Sisian someone asked me if I was looking for something and I told her what I was doing in Sisian. At some point she told me that she married an American so I asked if she knew Kate. Of course she did! She (Arus) invited me check out the church and pick plants in the hills the next day. So I went back to search for my vest near the cave and spent the night there.

The disappointing cave

Some wreck completely shot to shit

Camping in nature selfie!
The next day I met with Arus at 12 and she invited me to come to her family’s house. There I met with her parents, sister and husband. Later a bunch of people joined including Kate who they managed to contact. That afternoon we went to a waterfall nearby and later pick some more of the plants. There were a bunch of wild onions growing there as well. Good for making a stew on the way.
That evening the family prepared a feast with barbecued meat, Armenia style (khorovats), a salad made from the plants we picked and a bunch of vodka shots . It was the best meal of the trip and the atmosphere was great! (“sadly” no time for pictures).

The waterfall was turned off

The group picking plants

Wild spring onions!

Sisian church
I stayed the night and in the afternoon we went so check out some more sites near Sisian. Arus, Tyler and I drove to a nearby water basin and found an old church that was probably flooded many times and destroyed. There was also a waterfall nearby. Material for some good pictures. After that we went looking for the road to a large television mast on the peak next to Sisian, which we christened the Eiffel tower. The way up was a nice rocky path which required a bit of off road skills. Once we arrived there was a lot of wind and the view was great. Too bad we were not allowed to climb the 110 meter high mast.

Destroyed church by the tides in the reservior

Icey waterfall near the destroyed church

Eiffel tower on top of the hill

Around the building near the “Eiffel tower”

The family
I felt sad to leave the next day, but it was time to move on. The family was so cosy and kind and generous.

Bye bye!
After Sisian I drove to khndzoresk because there is a hanging bridge there spanning a gorge leading to ancient caves. It was super foggy and snowing a lot but I managed to find it after some searching.

An eery view of the stairs leading to the bridge

The bridge hung over a 100 meter deep gorge

Inside one of the hundreds of caves

Spiring rocks in the mist
Once I was done walking amongst the caves I continued towards Megri, and kept driving well past dusk. I managed to find an ok spot to camp on a hill near the main road with, as it turned out, a great view of Artsvanik reservoir and the mountains behind it. That next morning I decided to check my car import documents and found out that I was supposed to leave Armenia that day (while I thought it would be one or two days later. So I got all my papers in order and hurried to the Iranian border. Once there I crossed the Armenian border without any problems, and also the Iranian border was quite easy. No intensive checks or cranky border guards. Also the Carnet the passage document procedure was quite easy. Some copies and stamps were needed and I was on my way, on to blogpost Iran part I

The view from my camping spot near Artsvanik reservoir

The road to the Iranian border
Man, man, wat een prachtige ontmoetingen en ervaringen! Goeie reis verder!
iwe! leuk! sneeuw, holy shit! en leuke onderschriften van de fotos.xxx
Super vet Iwie! Hoe was het weerzien met het vest? Vast emotioneel. Mooie plaatjes, keep it coming! x
Ik heb de hele dag trillend gehuild en met het vest geknuffeld inderdaad. Heb jij dat ook altijd met verloren vesten?
Thanks! I will
So cool you could put your offroad skills to good use! And again, awesome pics!! You seem to meet great people! Good luck for Iran, I’m excited to read more!
Super trip, super mooie foto’s!