Older Than the Other One

Another scary place coming up…


Sanahin Monastery, Armenia

This is my last post on Armenia (relieved, huh?). This was the last place we visited in Armenia before crossing the border into Georgia by hired car. If you like old churches, and places where horror movies are made of, this is the right place to be - Armenia!

Welcome to the Sanahin Monastery! Sanahin means ‘older than the other one’ presumably in comparison with the Haghpat Monastery which is located on the same plateau, but separated by a few gorges. We did not visit Haghpat (we thought it’d be a monastery too many! Besides, the taxi wanted a lot more money, if we make another stop). Anyway, Sanahin is at least a thousand years old. (Yeah, no kidding, according to Wikipedia). It was built in the 10th century! This place brings up scenes of vampires lurking in its dark interiors, or demonic spirits trapped beneath ancient hidden underground vaults. OK, that’s all my imagination. Anyway, here’re photos of Sanahin. Enjoy!


Wow, what’s this? The mother of all crosses? Errmm… it’s actually the …let’s Google it …Holy Cross monument (just north of the Armenian Alphabet Monument – I didn’t know such a place exists) on the M3 Road heading north, from Yerevan to Sanahin – (It’s about 33km north from Yerevan. We saw it from our cab)


Getting ready for a vampire hunt? – Sanahin Monastery 2018, Armenia


“That’s my stone! Koko!” Everywhere’s a playground for the kids, regardless of vampires, ghosts or werewolves – Sanahin Monastery


Barricaded! Who knows what horrors lie within? Or maybe it’s just the renovation works…


Wait, there’s a way in…




The interiors of the monastery


“Stop it BOYS! You’re stepping on people’s tombstones…” (Actually there’s no way to avoid them tombstones…)


Is that a fallen chandelier or some ritualistic altar of some sort???


A broken cross (khachkar)


Run! Granny’s coming! (‘Granny’ is the killer from the survival horror video game of the same name which the kids play. Granny can hear almost everything and come hunting for you if you make some sound. The objective of the game is to escape Granny’s house). ...Nah, it’s just the lady priest of the monastery…

OK, that’s all folks. Till next time.

On the home front, the kids have started school. Despite the Pandemic! Summer has ended. (UAE has an official summer period where all mid-day work in the open is banned – 15-Jun to 15-Sep). That’s also the day my Project’s work was expected to finish (but we still have a tiny li’l bit of work left). After this, …I really hope my company comes up with some new Projects soon… Fingers crossed.