other armenia things...

So we did a few other touristy things while in Armenia. We were really enjoying our new hostel and were having some conversations about God with a few new people which went well I suppose. We went to a monastery called Khor Vrap that was built where a kingdom used to once be. Under one of the monastaries was a prison where a man named Grigor was kept for 13 years. The story behind this man went as follows..

Once upon a time there was a King and a kings advisor. One day the kings advisor kills the King of Armenia and the advisors two sons went into hiding. One of the sons was a boy named Grigor ho converted to Chrisianity later in his life. He then befriended the old kings son (so the new king of Armenia) and became part of his council all the while keeping his faith a secret. One day the King ordered Grigor to bow and place a wreath at the feet of one his pagan god idols. Once Grigor refused and revealed his faith, the King realized he was the son of the man who killed his father and had him thrown into prison to die. However, someone within the noble family was sneaking food to Grigor who sat down in his tiny little whole deep under the earth. The King then got very sick/cursed becoming insane in the mine and grew pigs ears until one night his sister came to him telling him of a dream she had. In her dream she had to let Grigor, who was still alive, go free and listen to what he says. So he lets Grigor go and Grigor tells him that in order to be cured he had to denounce his Pagan faith and become Christian. So the King oes so and was cured and then declared Armenia the first ever Christian Nation. The End.

So we went to the old monastery and then went down into the whole that Grigor was kept. It was just a ladder down through a whole to a circular stone room with one tiny little air/light whole. How this man kept sane and remained faithful while in this whole we have no clue. Then Jef and I got laughed at by a bunch of locals (which is not rare). Some of which followed Jef around and giggled for a while, then we took our leave and met a weird Russian universalist/budhist of some srt who decided to lecture us on how all religions are the same…it was strange.
We also went to the equal of the Vatican within Armenia called Ejmiastin (I butchered the name) and we went to the local relics museum where all the old pope like dudes outfits and staffs and chalices and incense things were kept, and the spear point that pierced Jesus’s side. I asked a couple questions about how they would have gotten ahold of this spear tip since there are 4 recorded throughout the world. Apparently this is the only spear tip that dates back to the year of Jesus’s death and when the Roman soldiers blind eye got healed by the drop of blood from Jesus’s body he realized the Jesus was indeed God and gave it to Bartholomew. However, they do not really know how it came into the hands of the ancient Armenian church so I’m definitely still skeptical and doubt it is accurate.

We went to a pretty nice fountain light show in he downtown court yard and then went to a place that looked amazing from the outside and all the locals were telling us to go to. It was some pizza bistro thing and I wanted the super cool looking salad bar full of unique treats. Once we get inside we order ONE salad bar and a pizza. The waitress asks if we want 2 plates for the salad bar so we can share so we are like SHWEET yes! But once we get to the salad bar it was soooo nasty. You didn't know what you could eat from because everyone left their half empty plates up there. Everything was cold and stale and or smothered in ketchup (LUKE: you may have liked it). So we pushed that away dissapointed and waited for our pizza which was again a little ketchup, barely any cheese and shredded chicken. It was very awful, and it was the most expensive meal we had and the waitress charged us for 3 things we didn't want and we had to pay for it because she would just shrug when we tried to explain and say sorry. So we left totally pissed and to throw a little of God's grace in there we left all of our money on the table there that night because we were so flustered. Oh-well.

I was pretty done with Armenia and ready to leave, it is nice, but overall I don't think we were to impressed. If you leave Yerevan though than it's wonderful, always escape the citiesif you want a real taste of a place.