Kavkaz Explorer: Explore Southern Artsakh

Nagorno-Karabakh, 7-14 and 17-24 of September. October expeditions are also possible upon request. Guide: Dmitry Egorov It’s a week tour for those who crave adventures and new discoveries. We’ll walk around historical places, see beautiful creations of ancient architects, enjoy alpine views and mountain air, and communication with the locals will help us to discover a totally different reality. We’ll visit small villages where the invigorating spirit of Artsakh lives and the old capital where different epochs left their mark. We’ll walk and go by off-road vehicle. We’ll have only healthy and delicious rural food on the menu. Spring perhaps is the best season for traveling in Karabakh: the mountain slopes are covered with flowers and local residents make zhingalyav hats or traditional Karabakh bread stuffed with extremely tasty spring herbs. Our trip is going to bring us closer to nature. We’ll spend several nights in the mountains, in sleeping bags and tents and all the rest nights – in hospitable homes of Karabakh people. We’ll move during the daytime little by little. We take only the most necessary things with us. If you have no sleeping bags or tents we can rent them in Stepanakert. 0. Meeting in Stepanakert * In the evening I meet you in Stepanakert, at the house of winemaker Joseph. Locals call him an “alchemist” because of his experiments with liqueurs and liquors. We’ll also taste something from his famous cellars. We spend the night here. Day 1. Shushi and the surroundings The city of Shushi is located on a huge rock at the heart of modern Karabakh. The rock has been inhabited since ancient times. Shushi was founded in the 18th century and in the 19th century it became one of the most important centers of the Transcaucasia and the multicultural capital of the Karabakh khanate. The city was divided into two parts: the Muslim and the Armenian ones. During the ethnic massacres at the beginning of twentieth century, the Armenian part was almost completely destroyed. During the last war, the city was damaged again. Nowadays Shushi is being actively restored, so let’s help the city with our care and attention as it’s really worth it! During the daytime we’ll have a walk looking for rare, but elegant cobblestone streets, old houses, which outlived several generations, get acquainted with the cultural legacy of the city’s 19th century heyday. We’ll also see the patches of the Soviet era. And of course we will meet interesting people. After a light lunch at the cozy restaurant, we’ll climb down a gorge of the Karkar River. A narrow canyon is formed by the steep 300-meter cliffs, and hides many interesting things: the ancient village of Hyunot with the remains of mills and houses, towers, caves, a medieval bridge, the beautiful Umbrella waterfall and other things… But the most interesting is the unusual place of our overnight stay. There you can see the masonry on the narrow canyon edge about one hundred meters high. Locals call these ruins Hanin amanat (Wealth of Khan – ARM). The place is quite impressive. Judging by the architecture, it actually belonged to the imperious person: houses are built in an inaccessible and hidden from everyone place; they were obviously meant for the long siege, as there’s a spring in the cave nearby. We’ll camp in the next cave by the fire. Day 2. Let’s go to the mountains! After having a leisurely breakfast, we go start our walk along the river. We are going to see “Umbrella”- a beautiful waterfall locals are justly proud of. Having passed several kilometers and a few fords we find ourselves in Karintak – a picturesque village with a rich history. Karintak is translated as “under the stone.” This old village is located directly under the rock on which Shushi is situated. From the top you can see Karintak as if on the satellite map! The heroic defense of the village during the Karabakh war became a landmark event for the liberation movement of Artsakh, as it proved that even a strategically defenseless village can repulse an enormous military machine. The village center is well-preserved to everyone’s surprise. Cobbled streets with crowding houses go round in all directions. The village has not lost its national colors despite the proximity to the city: women make bread in the tornirs (traditional Caucasian stoves) and neighbors have a loud chat with each other from their balconies. We have light lunch, then get a good supply of bread, wine and other delicacies and take an offroader to the end of the mountain road where it turns into the rocky ridge which only your feet can get over. We go up to the subalpine zone: you can hardly find any trees as there’re barberry and juniper everywhere. You go up a bit higher – and there’re no trees at all so you can see the vast naked hilly spaces covered with fresh greens and flowers. We put up our tents by the single farm and have our dinner by the fire. Day 3. Conquest of Kirs Today we’ll walk by alpine meadows paths all day through. You can see nimble streams and vast meadows. Autumn is of the best seasons in these mountains: the sun warms the air during the day and the pleasant breeze cools your body in the evening. We climb up to the top of Kirs Mountain (2724 m) that is one of the highest points of the Karabakh Range. From a rocky ridge, you can enjoy the view of Shushi, all the neighboring foothills, endless steppe turning into the mist of the Caspian Sea, and if you are very lucky, you will even see the Great Caucasus! Day 4. Dizapayt and Katarovank ** From Kirs, we continue our route through the Karabakh ridge to the Dizapayt peak. Many legends and fairy-tales relate to this mountain. There is a little basil on one of its spurs. This is Katarovank monastery built in the 17th century instead of the older sanctuary. Katarovank is the highest altitude architectural monument of Nagorno-Karabakh, it is situated at an altitude of 2,150 meters above the sea level! We stay here for the night. Day 5. Tumi and Togh villages We go down to Tumi village. Here craft traditions are still alive and you can see the craftsmen who make the “trehs” or traditional Armenian shoes. Then we go down even lower, to the large village of Togh that used to be the center of the historic province of Dizak and the patrimony of the Meliks Eganyanovs family: their descendants have lived here up to the present. Excavations of the ancestral palace of the 19th century started two years ago and have not finished yet but the silhouette of this interesting building is getting clearer. Soon there will be a museum. We climb Mount Toghasar: its area is a natural reserve. Almost on top of the mountain on a small glade there’s the Gtich (or Gtchavank) monastery – a famous religious and cultural center of the Middle Ages. A masterpiece of Armenian architecture is nowadays covered with graffiti and has not been completely restored yet. But even these circumstances can’t stop us feeling the beauty of this monastery. We have a small picnic at the top and a short walk around the neighborhood. Then we go to Azokh village that is famous for its cave where Neanderthal bones and other ancient things have been found during excavations. Here you’ll have to pass through several huge halls swarming with bats. It’s not a great pleasure for those who might faint, but you’ll surely remember it for the rest of your life! We stay in the village for the night. Day 6. Hadrut and the neighborhood On this day we’ll have a relaxed drive till we reach the southern city of Karabakh – Hadrut. Hadrut as well as Shushi experienced an economic boom in the 19th century: a great number of craft workshops and filatures appeared here at that time. Hadrut silk was well-known far beyond the Russian Empire. Today a cozy regional center has preserved the features of an old settlement: narrow streets, small houses and a church. Two kilometers from the city, the ancient village of Tyak i