The above pictures are of a very strange - even bizarre -structure we came across in a small village. It's a restaurant/bar built in the shape of a ship with a marine theme running through. There are transparent panels in the floor with illuminated dead starfish, seashells and stuff underneath. I suppose the more you drink, the more you feel you're on a ship. Apparently, it was a gift from an ex pat Armenia living in Moscow. He built a school as well which, although much more sober in design, is nevertheless an impressive addition to the village. We saw the president of Karabakh dropping in for a visit (maybe a quiet drink?) while we were visiting.
The number-plate wall and fence pictured below, were in the same village. I don't know why, but I'd like to.
After the ship-village, we traveled north to visit Dadivank Monastery. We traveled along a broad river valley with beautiful mature walnut trees in it. Dadivank was built on the site of an older Greek temple and it's being restored at the moment. The buildings are impressive, as is the setting; however, it's not an easy place to visit. It took us over three hours to travel sixty kilometres along the potholed and mostly untarred road.
After the monastery, we stopped at a quiet riverside spot that our escorts assured us probably didn't have buried mines or other unexploded ordinance lying about. We dined on zhangel ov hats, a local specialty of thin bread stuffed with greens. It was delicious and went particularly well with the vodka. As you can see, the boys got a bit wired. Even the rocks started looking strange after that.
On the way back to Armenia, we stopped at Shushi to visit the church. There's not a lot else to see in Shushi except the church. There are still some burned out and bombed buildings from the war and there doesn't seem to be a lot of activity, but a lot of people still live there.
The scenery was beautiful on the way back to Yerevan and we stopped to buy fresh mushrooms where the road is highest and the climate cool. Later, at the village of Armash, we saw storks on their nests.
