Travel Guide Haritchavank

From Abaran, one must continue north for a few kilometres before turning left, at the villages of Rya Taze and Alaguiaz, populated mainly by Yezidis, to head west, towards Gyumri and beyond the Akhurian River marking the border with Turkey, along the northern flank of the Arakadz, the plateau on which it rises with its four sharp peaks, at nearly 2,000 m, is much higher than the Ararat plain (700 m). The landscape you drive through to reach Haritch is worthy of American road movies: a flat road as far as the eye can see, in the middle of nowhere, with vast expanses yellowed by the sun, passing through rare villages mostly populated by Yezidi shepherds whose herds of sheep or cows will often slow down your progress. On the right, the Pambak mountain range, whose undulating slopes testify in places to the reforestation efforts, on the left, Mount Arakadz, which keeps the snow longer on this northern slope overlooking the plain of Shirak known for its Siberian cold and heavy snowfall in winter. Its slender peaks in the distance contrast with the rounded buttresses from which they emerge. The further west you go, the more the landscape evokes the Tibetan plateaus, or rather the Andean altiplano, with the sparkling snow-covered wall of the Arakadz standing out against the green or yellow background of the surrounding plateau. Gyumri calls us to the north, or Yerevan well to the south, when we skirt the Arakadz by its western flank, via Artik, but before that, a detour to Haritch is necessary. After 5 or 6 km of a desolate road, among meadows riddled with stones that give meaning to the name Karastan (land of stones), designating Armenia, stands the monastery.