Wednesday - Gorat and Sisian

We stopped at the Armenian Stonehenge, Gorat Stones and two other local names, one of which meant whispering stones. There were lots of ragged stones standing. each numbered, presumably by archaeologists at some time. Some stones had holes, 2-3 inches across, which Anna said were used to line up with horizon and some sun event much like our own Stonehenge. There was another tourist, thought she was German, with three Armenians in a car, complaining about all the tourists.

Roads around here were a bit bad. We left the site as the sun was setting and drove the short distance to Sisian and our hotel. Glad to get off the bus, the driver never stopped talking at Anna, and Anna always had the coach window open rendering the air conditioning useless to the rest of us.

The hotel was cleaner than the last, but shared everything else. There were other guests staying here. Shower was downstairs at the end of a long corridor, and was one of those you plug onto the end of bathroom tap. After 8.00pm the rest of the town could come and use it! We have hot water in the shower and it is running, something of a luxury.

Supper of salads, lamb, spuds, peppers, vine leaves yogurt and orange wine tasting like Masala. Steve stayed up late with others drinking some Vodka before going to bed. The "German" tourist was staying in the same hotel as us. She was not German, but Norwegian and the captain of a ship. This was her four weeks off and she had hitched out to Armenia.

The town of Sisian has a military base nearby. There are not many shops and restaurants, and we did not go out an explore. There was a museum, but again we did not go and take a look at it.

Looking through a stone at the rest of the site.		View of the stones and the tour bus. It had gone off road to get us here without walking.
A line of Gorat Stones		Stones
Stones		Sun catching the top of one of the stones, just before sunset.
The sun shining through a hole in a Gorat stone.		Stones.