Privat Tour in Khor Virap church, Areni winery free tasting, Noravank church

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Khor Virap, Artashat, Lusarat Armenia

Khor Virap

When King Tiridates III ruled over Armenia, his assistant was the Christian Grigor Lusavorich who preached the Christian religion. Tiridates, a follower of pagan religion, was not pleased with having an advisor with a different religion. So the king ordered that Gregorys hands and legs be tied and that he be thrown into the Khor Virap to die in the dark dungeon located in Artashat. However, Gregory did not die during his 13 years of imprisonment. His survival was attributed to a Christian widow from the local town who, under the influence of strange dream vision, regularly fed Gregory by dropping a loaf of freshly baked bread into the pit. When Tiridates went mad his sister, Khosrovidhukt, had a vision in the night, where an angel told her about the prisoner Gregory who could end the torments with the words "when he comes he will teach you the remedies for all your ills". Gregory was brought out in a miserable state. He was taken to the king, who had gone mad "foraging among the pigs at Valarshapar", tearing his own skin. Gregory cured the king and brought him back to his senses King Tiridates, who had embraced Christianity as his religion following the miraculous cure effected by Gregorys divine intervention, proclaimed Christianity as the state religion of Armenia in 301 AD. Gregory became the Bishop of Caesarea and remained in service of the King until about 314 AD.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Areni Wine Factory, Areni Armenia

Areni winery

The Areni winery is a 6100-year-old winery that was discovered in 2007 in the Areni cave complex in the village of Areni in the Vayots Dzor province of Armenia by a team of Armenian and Irish archaeologists. The winery consists of fermentation vats, a wine press, storage jars, pottery sherds, and is believed to be at least a thousand years older than the winery unearthed in Judea and Samaria in 1963, which is the second oldest currently known. 

Areni cave

The Areni Cave is a multicomponent cave site with artifacts dating from the Chalcolithic to the Bronze Age. In Armenia, the Areni Cave complex is also known as "Birds Cave" ("Trchuneri" in Armenian). Located near the town of Areni, which lies close to the Arpa River and the Gnishik River in Armenias central Vayots Dzor Province, the caves are the site at which archaeologists have discovered what is likely the worlds oldest winery, and ancient human brain, the remnants of a 5,000-year-old skirt made of straw, and the worlds oldest leather shoe. 

Duration: 40 minutes

Stop At: Noravank Monastery, Areni Armenia

Noravank

Noravank literally "new monastery" is a 13th-century Armenian monastery. The monastery is best known for its two-storey Surb Astvatsatsin church, which grants access to the second floor by way of a narrow stone-made staircase jutting out from the face of building. In the 13th–14th centuries the monastery became a residence of Syuniks bishops and, consequently. a major religious and, later, cultural center of Armenia closely connected with many of the local seats of learning, especially with Gladzors famed university and library.

Duration: 1 hour