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In this story
  1. Is the Wings of Tatev cable car worth it?
  2. What happens when the Wings of Tatev cable car stops?
  3. Which monasteries in Armenia are worth the drive?
  4. How do you visit Armenia's monasteries without a guide?

Three friends in our cabin had bought a pie at the little market by the monastery. When the cable car stopped, they cut it up and offered it round, us included. There were fifteen of us in the cabin, and everyone was worried and trying not to show it.

That was 8 August 2021, on Wings of Tatev, the world's longest reversible cable car, in southern Armenia. The trip was meant to be about temples and monasteries, and it was, but the cable car was the main thing on the list. We will remember that afternoon for the rest of our lives.

Wings of Tatev cabin waiting at the station platform with passengers boarding and the green Vorotan gorge behind
A Wings of Tatev cabin at the station — The line runs 5,752 metres across the Vorotan gorge and hangs up to 320 metres above it.

Is the Wings of Tatev cable car worth it?

Yes, and on an ordinary day it is the easiest way to reach Tatev Monastery. The line crosses the Vorotan gorge for 5.75 kilometres and the ride takes about twelve minutes. From the side where we were, it was the only way to get to Tatev, so the car stayed in the car park.

Hairpin road winding down into the wooded Vorotan gorge, seen from high up on the Wings of Tatev cable car
The Vorotan gorge from the cable car — The line crosses it for 5.75 kilometres, and the road below takes the same drop in hairpins.

We walked around the monastery above the gorge and started back.

Tatev Monastery church with its conical dome standing on the plateau above the valley, mountains in the distance
Tatev Monastery, seen from above — The oldest surviving church, Saints Paul and Peter, was built between 895 and 906.
Woman in a red polka-dot dress walking a stone path towards the carved doorway of Tatev Monastery, khachkars along the wall
A stone path inside Tatev Monastery.

What happens when the Wings of Tatev cable car stops?

You wait, and then rescuers bring you down. At the last minute we jumped into a cabin that was about to leave, and halfway across it stopped. The company later said the line had halted at 15:40 because of lightning and as a safety measure, that there were 41 passengers and two attendants in the two cabins, and that everyone was evacuated by 18:45. The whole thing lasted about three hours, start to finish. From inside the cabin it felt like a lifetime.

I cannot say how long our own cabin hung there. It felt endless. We were scared, and lucky too: the cabin had stopped frighteningly close to the edge.

Rescuers fitted helmets, clipped us to ropes and brought us down.

I recently found one photograph from that afternoon: me being lowered from the cabin during the evacuation.

Woman in a red helmet and climbing harness holding a rope in the open door of the cable car cabin during the evacuation, the gorge far below
Being lowered from the cabin, 8 August 2021 — The evacuation was finished by 18:45.

Which monasteries in Armenia are worth the drive?

All of them, but Noravank is the one I would put first. The temples were beautiful, and so was the land around them; the nature in Armenia is superb. At Noravank, narrow stone steps jut out from the front of the Surb Astvatsatsin church and lead to a doorway on the upper floor. You can climb them and look inside. The ground floor below was a family burial vault, and red cliffs stand right behind the complex.

The narrow cantilevered stairs on the carved facade of Surb Astvatsatsin at Noravank, with visitors climbing to the upper doorway
The stairs of Surb Astvatsatsin, Noravank — Designed by the sculptor Momik, the church was completed in 1339.
Church at Noravank on its stone terrace with the red cliffs of the Amaghu gorge rising behind it
The church at Noravank against the red cliffs of the Amaghu gorge — The monastery was founded in 1205.

Garni and Geghard are neighbours. They are about eleven kilometres apart along the Azat river. Garni is a temple rather than a church, the only free-standing Greco-Roman building in Armenia, and it stands at the end of a wide paved path. Geghard is partly carved out of the mountain, with carved khachkars set into one of its walls. I sat on a bench under the cliffs there, and a small stone footbridge crosses the stream nearby.

Wide paved path leading to the colonnaded Garni temple, with green lawns on either side and bare hills behind
Garni Temple at the end of the path — It collapsed in the earthquake of 1679 and was rebuilt between 1969 and 1975.
Woman sitting on a bench on the stone terrace at Geghard, with basalt cliffs rising behind the wall
A bench under the cliffs at Geghard — The monastery was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.
Arched stone footbridge with a metal railing crossing the stream below the cliffs near Geghard
A stone footbridge over a stream near Geghard Monastery.

Khor Virap is where, according to tradition, Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned for 13 years.

The belfry and red stone church of Khor Virap monastery against a clear blue sky
Khor Virap Monastery — The main church, Surb Astvatsatsin, dates from 1662.

In the north, Haghpat was under a heavy sky when we got there, its red tile roofs above a grass slope closed off with tape. Sevanavank's dark stone church stood against a cloudless sky. Amberd sits at 2,300 metres on the slope of Mount Aragats, and the view from it was superb.

Haghpat Monastery under heavy grey cloud, its rust-red tiled roofs above a grass slope closed off with tape
Haghpat Monastery under a heavy sky — Listed by UNESCO in 1996.
The roofs and drum of Haghpat Monastery seen across a grassy mound, with red and white tape strung along the slope
Haghpat Monastery from the other side — Red tile roofs and the drum of the main church above the grass slope.
Dark stone church of Sevanavank with its red-tiled dome under a cloudless blue sky
Sevanavank on a cloudless day.
Round towers of Amberd fortress above the slope, with the Vahramashen church to the left and orange marigolds in front
Amberd Fortress and the Vahramashen church below it — The church was built in 1026; the fortress's name means “fortress in the clouds”.

How do you visit Armenia's monasteries without a guide?

By car, with a route you plan yourself. We had no guide. We worked everything out ourselves and drove a car from Sixt, picked up in Yerevan. If you would rather not drive, day trips to Garni and Geghard can be booked through GetYourGuide; we did not use them. To stay connected the whole way we used an Airalo eSIM.

The full route is in the road trip post, and the city we started and finished in is in the Yerevan post.