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After the Great Flood, Noah’s Ark is said to have landed on Mt. Ararat, which looms over Armenia, a country founded by the Hayks, descendants of Noah. About 1,700 years ago, Armenia is the first country to have adopted Christianity, making it a reservoir of some of the world’s earliest churches and monasteries.

Cradle of civilization

Armenia, too, is the only nation left among the original countries in the 3,000-year-old maps of Anatolia. This ex-Soviet republic’s location between Asia and Europe made it a cradle of civilization, a Silk Road terminus, and a witness to the rise and fall of empires, enabling it to collect heaps of multicultural art and artifacts. Yet despite seeing the world in the eyes of its many migrants and conquerors, Armenia has retained a population that is among the most homogenous in the world.

Sports and nature

Geographically, Armenia is a landlocked country, with only one major body of water, the turquoise Lake Sevan, one of the biggest high-altitude lakes in the world. It serves as the retreat of windsurfers, boaters, and other water sports enthusiasts. Armenia’s mountainous terrain also sets the stage for climbing and skiing. Along the slopes of mountains and valleys are deserts, lush forests, stalactite-filled caves, hot mineral baths like those in Vayots Dzor, and summer villages inhabited by shepherds and Yezidi Kurds.

Art enclaves

Apart from having its own language and alphabet, Armenia has World Heritage-listed monasteries, like Haghpat and Sanahin, and cave paintings like those in Ughtasar Mountain. In the National Art Gallery, around 16,000 works date back to the Middle Ages, including paintings from European masters like Donatello.

Shopping

More churches and ancient architecture, mostly unexplored by scientists, are just on the backyard of the capital, Yerevan, the center of elaborate Armenian wedding ceremonies, classical music, dancing, and opera. Making Armenian gold and hand-knotted kilims (carpets) have long been traditions in Yerevan, whose Versinage or arts and crafts market bustles with a throng of vendors selling these products, alongside antiques, woodcarvings, fine lace, and obsidian jewelry.

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