Results tagged “Nagorno-Karabakh”

Having agreed the previous night to attempt one very long day trip, we wake early to try and visit Tatev and Gandzasar on the same day. Vladimir convinces us that his car is unable to make the trip to Tatev, so we organise with the owner of the hotel where we stay to drive us.

The scenic drive to Tatev is shrouded in a fog which only lifts just before we arrive.

Naturally formed bridge and limestone caves several kilometres from Tatev.

Tatev from a distance.

Tatev up close, the crane remains from Soviet times. Prior to the collapse of the USSR, the church was to have some restoration work performed. A lack of funds led to an abandonment of the project.

After visiting Tatev, we begin the drive to Gandzasar, stopping in Goris along the way to have a look at many cave-dwellings carved into the soft rock skirting the town.

Shortly afterwards, we cross into Nagorno-Karabakh to drive to Gandzasar. We make a quick stop in a cafe where the drunk owner decides to show off his trophy.

Yes, he really is as drunk as he looks, how else would you explain showing a goat’s head to customer’s while they eat?

With only a few minutes of daylight left, we arrive at Gandzasar. The story of its survival in the Nagorno-Karabakh War is interesting.  Whether or not the story is complete truth is a different matter.

Given that all capable fighters of the region had left to fight in the war, the only people that remained were the monks. They took up arms, justifying it as protection of holy grounds, and set up lookout points around the monastery. When the Azeri army positioned a Grad on the mountains in order to destroy the monastery, the monks were able to attack them. The story goes that a small number of monks with little weaponry, aided by god (as all these stories go), were able to take on a much larger, better equipped group of Azeri soldiers.

No tour of Gandzasar is complete without showing the unexploded rocket shell which landed and became wedged in the wall surrounding the monastery. While the living quarters were destroyed (and since rebuilt), the church itself suffered very little damage.

In the town of Vank, just before Gandzasar, is a wall, decorated with Azeri license plates, issued in Soviet times and featuring the Cyrillic alphabet.

After the long day, we spend the night in a Stepanakert.

Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh in Armenian) is an interesting place. It declared independence during the fall of the Soviet Union but is currently unrecognised by any other nation. If you find the situation interesting, you might also want to read about these other partially recognised states: Abkhazia, Kosovo, South Ossetia and Transnistria.

The Armenia/Azerbaijan war was fought here until a 1994 ceasefire, although smart traveller still considers the place incredibly dangerous and recommends anyone currently in Karabakh, to get out: “We strongly advise you not to travel to Nagorno-Karabakh and the military occupied area surrounding it because of the unstable security situation.” For this reason, I take smart traveller recommendations with a grain of salt.

Karabakh visa, since I was travelling on my Russian passport, I didn’t need one, though you can get one on the border for $10-20 USD.

The national symbol of Karabakh, the story goes that only the heads are above ground while the body/roots are in the ground.

Stepanakert shows no visible traces of the war and has a war museum dedicated to showing the Armenian/Karabakh side of the war. The girl (20 years old born just before the war started) is good at reciting all the atrocities committed by Azerbaijan during the war, contrary to the museum tour in Ganja, Azerbaijan where the guide only talked about the atrocities committed by the Armenians. When I ask her about the Khojaly Massacre, she tells me that that’s all been fabricated by the Azeri government and was in fact caused by the Azeri government in order for Heydar Aliyev. I decide that it’s pointless to talk about the situation with her because she can only recite what she’s been told to say and won’t think for herself.

It’s a sad fact that in my encounters with the youth of Armenia, Karabakh and Azerbaijan, very few of them are informed about the situation or have any interest in finding a solution to the problem, they’re all much more keen to talk about how the other side has wronged them and how they must all die.

Shushi, in contrast to Stepanakert, very much shows signs of the war as there are few people living there and little money going towards the rebuilding of the city. It does have a beautiful church in the centre though.

As we’re leaving Karabakh, Vladimir presents our passports to the border guards (only present on the Karabakh side, there are none on the Armenian side). One of them comes to the car and thoroughly inspects our faces, turns out they’re looking for a blonde Russian guy. He decides that I’m not the wanted Russian and lets us leave.

As we drive back into Armenia, I wonder out loud, what would happen if you never obtained a Karabakh visa and didn’t stop at the checkpoint prior to leaving the country. Would they follow you in Armenia?