Hiking Tour: Arch of Charents, Symphony of Stones, Havuts Tar Monastery Complex, Garni Old Bridge (6 km)

• Arch of Charents
• Symphony of Stones
• Havuts Tar Monastery Complex
• Garni Old Bridge

Today we will start our tour from the Arch of Charents located on the road to Garni and Geghard. The Arch of Charents is one of the favorite places of tourists as it offers a bizarre view of the biblical Mount Ararat. The Charents Arch was built in 1957 by architect Rafael Israyelyan and is dedicated to the famous Armenian poet Yeghishe Charents, who liked walking here. The  words from the popular poem of Charents "I Love the Sun-Baked Taste of Armenian Words" are engraved on the arch. 

The next point of the tour is  the famous natural monument "Symphony of Stones", located not far from the Garni pagan temple, in the gorge of the Azat River, which is included in the list of natural monuments of Armenia. The "Symphony of Stones" is basalt rocks in the form of straight pipes of about 50-m height, which, due to their amazing symmetry, look as man-made and resemble an organ from a distance, in connection with which the "Symphony of Stones" is also called the "Basalt Organ".

Hiking to the Havuts Tar monastery complex will start from the Khosrov Reserve. The length of the hiking is about 6 km. Hiking is of medium difficulty, and it is required to have non-slip sports shoes, comfortable clothing, sun and rain protection items (glasses, hat, cream, raincoat), as well as food and water for one day.

The Havuts Tar Monastery is one of the significant spiritual and cultural centers of the medieval Armenia. The monastery is located east of Garni village, on the high left bank of the Azat River, on the top of a mountain spur, in front of  Goght village. The ensemble consists of two main and adjacent groups of monuments located at a distance of 100, 200 (and even 500) m from each other. The Havuts Tar monastery complex in the Middle Ages was also known as a significant manuscript center, where numerous manuscripts were created and rewritten.

During the tour, we will also see the medieval bridge of Garni built on the Azat River in the 11th century and representing a semicircular single-span structure.

Departure: 10:00

Arrival: 19:00

Departure place: Hakob Hakobyan str. 1/ next to the Mergelyan Institute