NOTES: ARARAT ARARAT REGION MAP a traveler’s reference guide ® MAP Ararat marz: 3 of 58 - TourArmenia © 2012 Rick Ney. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - www.TACentral.com a traveler’s reference guide ® INTRODUCTION As in the rest of the valley, in Ararat marz the Highlights discovery of flint begat the discovery of copper and Area: 1995 sq. km ARARAT marz tin, which begat the Bronze and the Age of Cities, Population: 160400 two of which—Artashat and Dvin—became ancient ²ð²ð²î Ù³ñ½ Marz Capital: Artashat • Explore Artashat, capital of the Artashesian and Arshakuni kingdoms for capitals of the Armenian State. Distance from Yerevan: 29 km Marzpetaran: Tel: (010) 28 60 23 over 600 years. By Rick Ney Largest City: Ararat? • Visit Dvin, the Maps by Rafael Torossian Edited by Bella Karapetian Ararat marz is on everyone’s list of places to go, if • Watch the sun rise at Khor Virap (or only on the way to Siunik or to get a little closer to Mt. Ararat, which looms over the entire valley and • Sample fish from Armash, with TABLE OF CONTENTS frames every great photo of Yerevan (try the top excavations o INTRODUCTION (p. 4) of Cascade in Yerevan for the most spectacular • Visit the World Heritage Sites o NATURE (p. 5) landscape shots). DO (p. 8) • Explore Argishtikhinili, the U WHEN? (p. 9) HISTORY (p. 10) • Visit Ararat, the Bronze A PEOPLE (p. 13) • Be sure to see Sardarapat Battlefield, IN AND OUT (p. 13) where OVERNIGHT / EAT (p. 13) DESTINATIONS (p. 14) • Visit the s NATURE, ADVENTURE TOURING (p. 15) Explore the Vordan Karmir Preserve, • While most make their trip to the marz just to the last make snapshots of Mt. Ararat and climb into the EXPLORING THE REGION (p. 16) • Bird watch at the marshlands ar pit in Khor Virap, there is much more than a visit TRIP 1: NORTHWEST (p. 16) to the place where the founder of the Armenian - Massis (p. 16) • Explore the Western Desert, with Church spent 13 years waiting for a call from the TRIP 2: ARTASHAT CITY, DVIN (p. 21) king to begin his ministry. • Visit the Hovhannes Hovhanne) - Artashat City (p. 22) TRIP 3: KHOR VIRAP, ARARAT CITY (p. 30) For one, the hills around Khor Virap hold vast deposits of the remains of Artashat, the richest city - Ararat City (p. 36) in the Near East when it was built in 189 BCE, and TRIP 4: URTS VALLEY (p. 41) Ararat has two peaks, the larger called “Massis” herald for the Armenian kingdom until being - Vedi (p. 47) (5165m/16,942f) and the smaller "Sis" moved to its nearby neighbor Dvin, which reigned (3925m/12,875f). Sis is a perfectly shaped cone, - Gevorg Marzpetuni (p. 56) over Armenian interests well into the medieval like Mt. Fuji in Japan, and together with Massis TRIP 5: KHOSROV PRESERVE (p. 51) period. forms one of the most beautiful vistas in the - Kakavaberd (p. 56) world. Legends ascribe the beginning of modern mankind to Mt. Ararat, the place where Noah’s ark RESOURCES (p. 57) is recorded in the bible to have landed after the Great Flood. MAPS Ararat Marz Map (p. 2) The mountain is now in present day Turkey, but it Massis Map (p. 16) formed the backdrop of the nation’s history, and as Artashat City Map (p. 22) locals bitterly observe, while they cannot touch the Vedi Map (p. 47) mountain now with a closed border, ‘at least they Ararat City Map (p. 37) have the best view’ of one of the world’s great mountains. Khosrov Preserve Map (p. 51) But Ararat marz is much more than a tripod for Note about pronunciation: I transcribe words into photos; it is a living, breathing center of civilization English using local dialect, substituting “i” for “y” that still tills the soil much as its ancestors did (Sarigiugh instead of Sarygyugh). Street 12,000 years ago, when the Neolithic Agricultural abbreviations: “p.” stands for poghots (street), Revolution turned a hunting-gathering society into ‘pts.’ for poghotsner (streets), ‘pta.’ for poghota a farming community, allowing one of the first land The marz is also home to the largest nature (avenue). GPS coordinates are in decimal degrees cultures in the world to develop some of the (DD) Latitude x Longitude. Elevation (elev.) is in Preserve in the country, Khosrov Forest, earliest cities. established in the 3rd century and home to rare meters. Population (pop.) is estimated. and endangered species of animals and flora, Ararat marz: 4 of 58 - TourArmenia © 2012 Rick Ney. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - www.TACentral.com a traveler’s reference guide ® along with ruined hamlets and monasteries, the Bronze Age completely transformed the region, varieties of basalt, tufa and marble, as well as tunnel are the oldest functioning hydra projects of detritus of history’s habitation. allowing settlers to cultivate fields far into the now agate, obsidian and precious metals (gold and their kind. barren eastern mountains. silver). The marz is home to the country’s thriving fish Further expansion of the canal network beginning industry, which provides habitat for the thousands The same irrigation canals can be found in the 1930’s reopened vast tracks of desert land, of migratory birds that annually trek through the throughout the marz, and modern extensions including thousands of hectares of grapes for use marz. Spring and fall are prime birding seasons, begun in the 1930’s have reclaimed some of the in wine and cognac production. During and Ararat has the most popular spots to watch. desert areas. Irrigation was restricted in the mid- Perestroika, most of the vineyards were destroyed 1980's as part of Gorbachev’s anti-alcoholism by order of Gorbachev to try and stem the The marz also presents a spectacular display of program (Ararat and Ararat marz had become a rampant alcoholism in the Soviet Union. wild flowers each spring, with several varieties of major wine production centers) and the eastern poppies (some still being discovered) and the hills of the lower valley (the Urts Mountains) have Thermal and Mineral Springs Thermal Springs enigmatic Armenian Iris, one of Armenia’s natural mostly returned to its desert state. in Ararat include several types of mineral waters, glories, fast losing its habitat to nomadic flocks including calcium, sodium and natural and human activity. And the marz still has forests, but they are to be Hydrocarbonate. Major warm springs are at Ararat found deep in the recesses of the Khosrov and near Vedi and cold mineral and sweet water Preserve, where thousand year old trees stand springs are located at Massis, Jerahovit and below snow-covered peaks. The rest is restricted Artashat. All villages have freshwater springs. to river beds and villages. Water Despite its arid climate, the marz has one of the largest aquifers in the world, which, combined with the waters of the Arax River, would provide enough water to irrigate the entire valley if it were properly diverted. Old irrigation channels still in use 2500 years after first installed evaporate much of the water, and basic neglect wastes much of the water that is used. As a result, the lower valley (where water is easily caught) is green and lush while the upper regions are still barren. And for anyone thinking the marz is just Khor The wetlands are all along the lower valley floor Virap or a quick drive through the steaming Arax and at alpine marshes in the upper valley between delta on your way south, just take a short detour the Urts and Geghama Lehr. Ponds and to the other side of Ararat, the valley just over the marshlands can be found around Massis (Sis), Minerals Ararat has large concentrations of eastern mountains, where alpine fields of grass Even the desert areas bloom each spring thaw, in Artashat town, Khor Virap (Artashat), Ararat, volcanic rock (tufa, pumice, perlite) as well as and wildflowers and the spectacular settings for S. a few shorts weeks when fields of green grass Armash and all along the Arax River. deposits of basalt, gypsum, andesite, limestone, Karapet monastery and Gevorg Marzpetuni Castle. cover even the most arid parts of the district and marble and granite. Minerals include trace fields of wild flowers form broad ribbons of color on Much of the water has been shepherded into ponds deposits of quartz, agate, obsidian, amethyst, NATURE the mountainsides. Important endemic flowers and lakes for breeding fish, which has encouraged andesine, andelusite, emerald, garnet, beryl, include the endangered Iris, Tulip and Gladiolus, some diversity in water flora and fauna, but is also turquoise, carnelian, aquamarine and lapis lazuli. Ararat forms the central and south end of the which prefer semi-desert and scrub. created one of the risks facing the marz. Ararat Valley, hemmed in by the massive Mt. Flora Ararat’s flora is surprisingly diverse, though Ararat to the west and the Geghama and Urts Landscape The landscape is all due to volcanic Irrigation Ararat is irrigated though a system of the season is restricted to a few short weeks in the Mountain Ranges to the east. activity, its smooth surface in the lower valley canals dating back to the Bronze Age, expanded by lower region, longer in Khosrov Preserve. made from millions of years of water erosion. The the Urartu Empire between 900-600 BCE. Traces Intensively farmed, the lower valley still has Though the marz has an arid climate, its terrain is lava deposits left behind alluvial soil that is hard to of the original canals can still be found in the pockets of endemic plants, including water loving tremendously diverse, much due to human work but bountiful, and spectacular region and include the Dalma canal in suburban plants in lower valley marshes, fish ponds and on activity.