What photo takes you right back to Armenia?

Us at Zorats Karer. Just one of the many spectacular sights that we had to ourselves in Armenia.

Summarise Armenia in three words.

• Khachkar – the carved stone crosses are everywhere in the country, especially in graveyards and on church walls
• Pothole – we really enjoyed having a car to explore some of the out of the way corners of Armenia but driving required a lot of concentration as even the main roads had some impressive potholes!
• History – we found the depth and breadth of history in this small country staggering – from ancient standing stones to medieval monasteries to 20th century tragedy and politics

You really know you’re in Armenia when…

…your guesthouse seems to be doing their best to overfeed you! We didn’t know much about Armenian food before we arrived so it was a pleasant surprise to find something akin to a mixture of eastern Mediterranean and northern European cuisines. Just as well as our hosts regularly plied us with more food than we could possibly manage.

What one item should you definitely pack when going to Armenia?

Your thermals. Pretty much the whole country is at high altitude so if you’re travelling in the winter or early spring as we did you’ll need some warm clothes – it gets bitterly cold.