Noravank & Selim Caravanserai

Here's a picture of the two story church/monastary that Madisen wrote about and why the kids think it is so cool to climb up the narrow, steep, and no railing stairs.

The other picture is the entrance to Selim Caravanserai. Imagine driving for an hour on a two lane deserted "highway" up, through, and around mountains to find this place. When the taxi driver pulled over next to a snowbank and pointed out a building barely visible, I thought he was joking. We traipsed through about 4 feet of snow to find the one entrance to the place (only one entrance to deter thieves so says the guidebook). The Selim Caravanseri was on the ancient trade routes and is where merchants would meet to feed their horses (?), etc. while they traded with other merchants. It was dark, dank, cold and would have been much worse in the 14th century as the animals were inside with the people.

Next chapter: gross 60-70 Armenian man with horrible breath hitting on American single mom with three kids riding in martshrutka (shared minivan-taxi) using Armenian man who spoke a little English as interpreter.