Your Travel Experience with Finest Journeys
Drive to Georgian-Armenian border. Check point Sadakhlo. Change guide and transport and continue trip to Armenia. Start your acquaintance with Armenia with the monastic complex of Haghpat (976 AD) which is among the outstanding works of medieval Armenian architecture and is inscribed in UNESCO World Heritage list. Drive to Vanadzor to visit Bogdan (Cross-stone maker). Bodgan has made cross-stones for 30 years. He believes crafts should be taught at schools. His studio is open to anyone who seeks the space to create. Bogdan Hovhannisyan is a stone sculptor and cross-stone carver from Vanadzor, Armenia. He has specialized in the local traditional art of cross-stone making for almost 30 years. Initially he went to a painting school, and later continued with sculpture. Being born into a family of stone masters, he remembers carving tuff stones when he was only in his first year at school. For him following in his family’s footsteps is his destiny. Bogdan has his own unique approach to everything, he describes it as “abstract”, but simple and beautiful. He strongly believes, that school children should be exposed to different crafts at school as it shapes their creativity and mindset. Then drive to Gyumri – second largest city in Armenia. In Gyumri we will visit Chalet Gyumri, an authentic place with ancient Armenian spirit. Here we will enjoy masterclass of traditional “Gyumrish” dish and have welcome right in the chalet. Overnight at the hotel in Gyumri.