He finds himself in an narrow gorge, with jagged cliffs rising on both sides. Behind him, the ground climbs steeply into the wild, rugged mountain. Ahead, the gorge twists and turns, widening as as the Azat River flows towards the wide, fertile valley east of Ararat.

He is not alone . There's a crowd of people around. Some are coming to relax by the stream, others are here to pray at the sacred monastary of Geghard, carved right into the mountainside. Unlike in Azerbaijan, religion has made a quick comeback in post-communist Armenia, and people crowd into the dark inner chambers to light candles and pray.

The Traveler doesn't mind the company. It's actually refreshing to see people out and about, enjoying the beauty of nature and the beauty of this amazing structure that blends right in with nature. He takes his time exploring the inner caverns, with multiple levels where front the upper level you can peer down into the mysterious candle lit cavern-chapel below.

He reads about the history of this place--which was sacred even in pre-Christian times. Then when St Gregory came along to convert folks to Christianity, he cleverly turned this into a Christian sacred place, so the transition from Paganism to Christianity would, well, not seem like such a big change . Some sacred relics were kept here--like the spear which supposedly was used to pierce Jesus...

Then, in the 900s, the Arabs came and burned this temple and plundered it, leaving little of the original structure. 200 years later, when the Georgian Empire under Queen Tamar expanded to this area, this monastary here started to get rebuilt. Just two decades after Queen Tamar's death, however the Mongol horde swept through the Caucasus, bringing an abrupt end to her empire.

With mountains and cliffs on three sides and a narrow gorge in front, it feels like a perfect "last resort" hideaway for when the region got invaded. It feels symbolic of a culture that has struggled for its survival and identity for the last 1,700 years.

The Traveler continues on down the gorge through the rural community of Goght where he's struck by the images of social divide. Generally in the rural parts of this country, everyone seems to be pretty much on the same level: poor. But here you see folks driving in their nice cars past old ladies selling little piles of small apples, with decades of hardship etched on their wrinkled faces. he buys a couple of apples--mainly just to be able to connect with them in a small way.