look at this place it's amazing oh my gosh okay they don't really know if it's a temple or a tomb
but it's very tomb like in here but oh it smells so good oh you're so close okay this part looks
just like the organ you were talking about yeah we found the stream like coming out of the rock
and took that as a sign for where to build the monastery so this is actually a
really big moment for us we're nicole amigo in 2021 we decided to take the leap and trade our
9 to 5 jobs in order to travel full-time we believe travel is one of the best ways
to build understanding between people so we've hit the road on a journey to learn
more about new cultures unique places and different foods we'd love for you to join
us and if you're interested in coming along you'll find new videos here twice a week do
look at this place it's amazing oh my gosh
we're in heaven we've gone out of the city and now we're in the countryside of armenia
it is amazing we rented a car which was the best decision we've made since we got here
and that way we can just kind of explore so we are on our way to a couple of stops but we had
to pull off the side of the road and check things out it is so cool it's so gorgeous ah man we're
only what like 25 minutes out of the city not even yeah not even half an hour outside of viera van
and we're already in just this beautiful countryside it's so good we have the car
for two full days and now i am so stoked i wish we'd drown that would have been neat no fancy
drones here though i honestly i've never heard or i haven't really seen anything about the armenian
countryside before we came to this country and i'm glad i didn't look online or anything like that
because when we came out here for the first time nicole and i found a hill and we thought that
would be a great place to just uh have a look at the area and then we parked our car and literally
ran up the hill in order to get to the viewpoint we're so excited it's incredible it's so beautiful
all right our first stop for today is the temple of garni
now what makes this temple so special is the last standing pagan temple in all of armenia
it was built around a thousand years ago and was made to worship the sun god of armenia
look at that landscape like what a backdrop hey so the temple um has been here for ages of course but
it actually was destroyed um by an earthquake in the 17th century so it was sort of remade in the
i believe in the 1900s which is what we see today
they have remnants of the original temple kind of strong around here stairs are made for giants
okay they don't really know if it's a temple or a tomb but it's very tomb like in here
it is too late the outside is temple like the inside is tomb like
echoey for a temple that worships the sun god you definitely need sunlight
so all around us now are the remnants of what was once a palace so a palace sat next to the temple
at one point not exactly sure at which point
so apparently down in that valley below there are natural rock formations on the side of the
cliffs so we're trying to figure out if we can get there somehow good thing we got the suv
you know the temple is very interesting but i gotta say i'm in love with the view
we're leaving the temple we're gonna go get some lunch
i think we can get something in the town nearby which is called garni and
it's a i guess a very old ancient armenian town so we'll see if they've got some good armenian food
so nicole and i have been roaming the streets of garni and there's been a
lot of construction happening good thing we got the bigger car oh my god
did you put this tree in the middle of the road
and we were looking around for a while to find a restaurant and then stumbled across this place
called the bread house this place is gorgeous look at these views out here unbelievable it's got a
great view of the valley and you could also see the temple of garni in the distance it is right
there this is a miko meal messy okay so i got the lamb hash lama oh it smells so good it's just um
lamb on bone and like a soup with uh some vegetables and don't exactly
know what else is in there but it looks very very delicious
oh my goodness that lamb is really really good we love armenian food
that lemon's actually so good so impressed
it feels like it's been cooking for like a day and a half it's really yum this is one
of the best tasting lamb i've ever had growing up it's like very it's part of filipino cuisine
and it tastes very very similar but this is just a little bit different can't really
explain how different and why it's different but man this is so good need some rice though
so this is actually a really big moment for us today we are officially sponsored
basically the host she saw us uh recording a video talking about the food and then she
gave us a free pop so that we could post it on our facebook page so that's great
our next stop now today is going to be to a place called the symphony of stones
which is really close by um so we are gonna get back on the road and head over there
all right not very hard to find wow wow
this is so cool so if you're nearby the temple of garni there's a place called symphony of stones
which we just got to right now they've show a really interesting geometry and it looks like
it's just peeling off the mountain or the side of the hill here look like they're all shaped
like hexagons it looks like a honeycomb of rocks yeah it's like a honeycomb as well but the outside
kind of looks like a organ like a piano organ and you see the big vertical lines what a neat place
so it's really interesting when you come right up to the wall you can see how big they are
and they're all so orderly and hexagonal it's almost like as if it was man-made
okay this part looks just like the organ you were talking about yeah
the missing link how am i doing oh you're so close will our insurance cover this
if it falls on my head i could if you've ever been
to the giants causeway in ireland this is a lot like that really really neat
so we had heard that armenian roads were in rough shape um we didn't know how rough turns out
super rough we're on like a main highway this is supposed to be a main road between two towns
and uh there are just potholes constantly like we're swimming on all sides of the road to get
around them ah we're making it oh actually the road ahead of us now looks pretty nice
we have made our way through very bumpy roads to gegard and what sets this monastery apart from
others is that it is said that the spear that was used to stab christ when he was being crucified
was held here it has been moved to another monastery that is used as a museum it was said to
be held here for many centuries so lots of people came here on pilgrimage
what's it for okay what's going on here it's hard though so we're at
the entrance of the monastery and then all of a sudden we see people
by this wall and they're all picking up rocks and then trying to lob it into this
kind of recessed section of the wall no idea why or what the significance is
but it looks kind of fun probably good luck or something you should go try watch this first try
there's a wedding going on so it's really busy what a beautiful place to get married
well this is a beautiful church
it's very busy i feel like there are more tourists here than people who are celebrating
there's no artificial lighting in this church so everything's lit by either candles or the big
hole in the roof hole in the roof
so the reason that this location was chosen for the monastery was because this stream was here
they found the stream like coming out of the rock and took that as a sign for where to build
what a cool place to get married
we have finally made it to our last stop of the day which is
savannah bank we have a monastery at the edge of uh lake savannah it's like 20 degrees colder
here yeah i don't know what happened but all of a sudden it's like a nice crisp fall
day made it to the top it's a little bit windy it's cold and a lot of cold but it's totally worth
it the monasteries are beautiful i will say it's got a great view of the lake below actually really
nice place to build a monastery always on the top of the hill that's the thing for sure and the
lake goes on pretty far i don't think i can see the end although it's a little fog it's huge oh
i just saw lightning and uh maybe we shouldn't be standing at the top of a hill if there's lightning
consider this our walk around the lake
she could do more but it's too dark and cold and now it's raining i hear thunder and that's fender
oh it's raining
okay i think we're gonna start heading back to the car because we see a lot
of uh lightning and we hear a little bit of thunder creeping up on us so and it's raining
and it's raining right now and we're at the top of the hill so yeah i think it's
time for us to make our move and go yeah we're gonna call it so we will leave you guys here
we are headed back to yerevan to start our day off there tomorrow and uh we've got some
more fun things planned to share with you then all right until then thanks for watching do the
super super neat
was built here to i'm making stuff up now she got a gorgeous view of the valley below
it's got a great view of the lake below it's got a great view of the valley so
apparently down in that valley below well i'm super overexposed how do i fix that hey babe
look at me the brightest thing you ever did see you're so beautiful so bright
you