Armenia, day 2 (am)

We started off with a visit to the Vernissage, a huge open air market featuring painted art, rugs, carved wood, tapestries, 

collections of coins, medallions, dining ware, 

jewelry, books, instruments, traditional Armenian souvenirs, and much much more.

We made a quick stop at the Matenaderan, the museum of ancient manuscripts. This was probably a lowpoint for the kids as far as attention span was concerned.

Outside of Yerevan we visited the Temple of Garni, the only surviving pagan temple in Armenia, and indeed the entire former Soviet Union. The temple was sacked in 1386 and destroyed by earthquake in 1679, but most of the original building blocks remained on the site until the 20th century allowing it to be rebuilt just 40 years ago.

The ancient Greek Hellenic Temple was constructed in the first century and believed to be funded by Nero.
We also had a friendly Armenian guide for the whole trip.

Of course the kids were on their best behaviour, as usual. 

The area surrounding the temple was epic, sweeping, majestic . . . impossible to really capture on film. No mystery why the ancients selected this choice location.

It was a hot breezy spring day.

Our resident florist gathered the usual,

and spring was in full bloom all around. There seems to be a special atmosphere surrounding these ancient pilgrimage destinations--something about the power of centuries of the faithful offering up prayers that consecrates a place and grants it a tangible peace.