Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument

18 October, 2016 | Tourism objects | 213 seen

In fact I had to open a Wikipedia to learn the name of this place, as I mistakenly thought this is just some cool viewing platform located high in the Caucasus mountains, built by Soviets. Turns out it's not only built by Soviets, but bears the name of The Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument

Located on the Georgian Military Highway between the ski resort town of Gudauri and the Jvari pass, the monument is a large round stone and concrete structure overlooking the Devil's Valley in the Caucasus mountains.

Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument

This monument has been built in 1983 to celebrate the bicentennial of the Treaty of Georgievsk and ongoing friendship between Georgia and Soviet Russia.

Soviet design

Inside the monument is a large tile mural that spans the whole circumference of the structure and depicts scenes of Georgian and Russian history.

But what's cool - a spectacular view can be observed from this viewing platform:

Caucasus Mountains

For the history lovers - Treaty of Georgievsk

The Treaty of Georgievsk was a bilateral treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and the east Georgian kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti on July 24, 1783. The treaty established Georgia as a protectorate of Russia, which guaranteed Georgia's territorial integrity and the continuation of its reigning Bagrationi dynasty in return for prerogatives in the conduct of Georgian foreign affairs. By this, Georgia abjured any form of dependence on Persia (who had been the suzerains of most of Georgia for centuries) or another power, and every new Georgian monarch would require the confirmation and investiture of the Russian tsar.

This place is very cool to fly a drone around, see: Gudauri View Point from a drone flight

Zhinvali Water Reservoir, Georgia

16 October, 2016 | Lakes | 67 seen

Zhinvali, also Jinvali, is an artificial water reservoir located on the river Aragvi in Georgia. The building of the hydroelectric dam formed the Zhinvali Reservoir. The dam has been built in 1986.

You have probably noticed this perfect blue surface lake, if traveled to Gudauri or mount Kazbegi (Gergeti church) via Georgian military road. If not, and you are still planing your trip to this area, the chances are you will make a stop at Ananuri castle complex (which is located near Zhinvali water reservoir), but there is a small watching platform when approaching from Tbilisi - a perfect place for a group photo or as I prefer - landscape photography.

Zhinval water reservoir

We were on a trip to mount Kazbegi (Stepantsminda) and I decided to make a short 10 minute stop here, so I can experiment with a HDR photography

Zhinvali water reservoir

See also: Algeti Reservoir in Georgia

Tbilisoba (Tbilisi City Festival) 2016

15 October, 2016 | Living in Georgia | 13 seen

Tbilisoba or Tbilisi City Festival is an annual October festival which celebrates the diversity and history of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. If you are planing your first trip to Georgia - consider your trip here during city festival and try local cuisine and that awesome Georgian wine. 

Tbilisoba 2016 were held on October 15-16 in the streets of ..you are right - Tbilisi. As usual I took my camera and went for a photo walk, starting Rike Park, ending at the right embankment of Mtkvari. My best finds this year was: Dzin Chao food tent and mcvadi from farmers. 

Raft in th River of Mtkvari

There is a tradition to ride a raft during Tbilisi City Festival. 

Colorful balloons at kid zone

This year the kids zone were set at Rike park.

Tbilisoba was first held on October 28, 1979, and has since become an established tradition. The festival features open-air concerts of traditional music and dancing and various cultural events, centered on Old Tbilisi, the historical part of the city. Beyond celebrating the city's past and present, people from all over Georgia represent their region at the fair of the harvest and Rtveli. Awarding honorary citizenship of Tbilisi by the city government also occurs in the framework of Tbilisoba.

Aerial view of Rike park in Tbilisi

The festival was created at the initiative of Eduard Shevardnadze, then-the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, to honor the capital and counter attendance at religious events as part of his program to overcome "manifestations of nationalism" through introducing new "socialist traditions". The event became a celebration of the city’s 1,500-year history and had the unintended effect of engaging Georgians more intensely in their national history.The festival remained dormant during the civil unrest of the early 1990s. It was resumed in 1995 and has since been held annually, usually in the latter half of October.

Painted pumpkins

It's still few days before the Halloween night approaches, but you can grab your pumpkin here, and then  learn How To Carve a Pumpkin and Make Stunning Halloween Photos

Mcvadi being prepared

Tap Wine

Streets of Tbilisi during Tbilisoba

mcvadi at Tbilisoba's farmers market

The Bottom Line

One of the best ways to discover Tbilisi and Georgia in short amount of time, best from the farmers in the heart of Tbilisi. Don't miss you chance!

Green (Mtsvane) Monastery

14 October, 2016 | Churches and Monasteries | 34 seen

Green Monastery (The Chitakhevi St. George's Monastery) is located in a picturesque place in the Borjomi valley. People called it lovingly “The Green Monastery”, because all the trees in the valley are of a special green color. The stones, with which the church is built, are also green, but some are dark and some are light.

I have visited Green monastery few times, and always have messed up with good photography - last time I visited it (October, 2016) - I was too lazy to switch lenses and ended up with telephoto photography. 

Alley leading to the Green Monastery

Make sure you switch your lenses before approaching closer - as to make an ideal photography - you should composite both the tower and church building into one frame - due to my laziness I ended up with two separate images.

Church building

Scientists believe that the church was built by Christopher and Theodore, the disciples of the famous Georgian figure, St. Gregory Khandzteli.

In the 16th century, during the invasions of Shah Thamaz, this monastery was raided. During this time dozens of monks were killed or tortured. The blood which remained on the stones thrown into the river Chitakhevi, belong to the monks killed in the 16thcentury. Bloody stones are spread along almost the entire length of the river running through the territory of the monastery.

Bell tower

Later, a few meters away from the church, there was built a bell tower. The bell tower is two-storey. The first floor is a chapel, and the second floor is a richly carved pavilion. On the west surface area, below ​​the arch, there is placed the relief of St. George fighting a whale. You can see scary skulls and bones if you will enter the tower building.

Over the centuries, the divine service was no longer performed at the church. In the early 80s of the past century the church was rehabilitated. In 2002, after many centuries, the monastery was restored.

Used resources: Chitakhevi St. George's Monastery, the same Green Monastery

Restaurant 'Porto' Near Plunge, Lithuania

13 October, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 7 seen

Restaurant 'Porto' near town of Plunge in Lithuania is place were we stopped for about an hour to book a nearby hotel, using restaurants Wi-Fi and of course tried local cuisine. 

It turned out that "Porto" is not only a restaurant but hotel as well. Thus, the hotel / restaurant is located next to the highway - it didn't seemed an option for this night, we decided to use online booking to check some other hotels and we ended booking hotel in Telsiai.

Hotel / Restaurant Porto near Plunge, Lithuania

There is a bowling hall located inside - Porto seems very popular place among locals.

Speaking of local cuisine - we ended with Pizza and some mushroom soup.

Pizza with horseradish

At first I was really surprised of horseradish topping, but later I even enjoyed it. Pretty Awesome, not a typical Italian pizza.

Cardinal points indicator 

Lovely interior at Porto restaurant.

Žemaitė Memorial Museum, Bukantė Manor Homestead

12 October, 2016 | Museums | 16 seen

If you love rural tourism, you will love this place, which name is really hard to even spell - but here is the name: Žemaitė Memorial Museum, Bukantė Manor Homestead

Located in the Zemaitojos national park, district of Plunge, Lithuania. As usually we discovered this place by accident, making our trip to Vilnius, after making stops at Mosedis Catholic church and Idol Hill near Salantai we followed some God knows what road signs and found ourselves at this lovely Lithuanian farmstead/ museum 

Wood sculpture 

Bukantė village is known in Lithuania as the place of birth of the writer Žemaitė. Presently homestead was reopened (2012) and reconstructed with new expositions which offer:

• New exposition of writer`s belongings;
• Exposition of wooden art of S. Riauba;
• Cross-works. Folk art exposition of region Plungė. 

Lithuanian farmstead

If you are fond of wooden architecture - you will enjoy it. 

Zemaite Memorial Museum

Žemaitė (literally female Samogitian) – a pen name of Julija Beniuševičiūtė-Žymantienė; 4 June [O.S. 23 May] 1845 in Bukantė near Plungė – 7 December 1921 in Marijampolė) was a Lithuanian/Samogitian writer. Born to impoverished gentry, she became one of the major participants in the Lithuanian National Revival. She wrote about peasant life in the style best described as realism.

Birthplace of Lithuanian writer Zemaite

Žemaitė wrote about peasants in a vernacular that closely resembled the language spoken by them – lively and rich in vocabulary. Her works are usually dark as she depicts poverty, materialism, and arguments within a family. The author paints natural images of everyday life with petty conflicts, lively conversations, impoverished surroundings, and beautiful nature. She does not offer any explanations, theories, or suggestions. Even though born to a gentry family, she did not describe gentry life as it was foreign and unfriendly to her. She wrote the best works in 1896–1898.

Learn more: Žemaitė Memorial Museum, Bukantė Manor Homestead

Best of Armenia in Two days (Yerevan and Beyond)

11 October, 2016 | Travel guides | 9 seen

Armenia has been on my travel map since 2014 when I first visited it on a day when Visa-Free travel was enabled for European Union pass holders.

I arrived from Georgia (the country I have been living since 2011). Since then I have visited Armenia several more times, and all of them have turned out to be just another great trip experience. 

See how I started a blog series on celebrating a birthday each year in another country: Celebrating Birthday in Yerevan, Armenia - Roundup or One Day Trip To Armenia (Lori Province)

Today I will tell a story (list places) I visited during my latest two day trip to Armenia in mid-March 2016. Here are top three places that impressed me most: Khor Virap monastery, the Temple of Garni and Geghard monastery complex.

Alternatively, take a look at my Yerevan Restaurant reviews or see a complete map of tourism objects I have discovered in Armenia.

Dear travelers, Armenian friends or expats living in Armenia, leave me a comment - which sites should I visit during my next trip to Armenia - as I will return very soon!

Three Year Blog Anniversary

10 October, 2016 | Blogging | 2 seen

On October 10th, we are celebrating already third blog anniversary of ReinisFischer.com. What have started as a simple experiment have turned out to be a successful business venture.

It's just amazing how fast time can fly, it feels just yesterday I wrote an article on second blog anniversary and day before yesterday I wrote summary for the first blogging anniversary, and just last week I launched this blog. Three years, three freaking years. Amazing and scary.

If I launched my blog from my Cozy Tbilisi apartment, reviews for the first and second year reviews I wrote from the same apartments (just different rooms), then now I'm finishing an article at Riga international airport, waiting for my flight back home to Tbilisi. That's actually strange, because most of my articles I produce either back in Tbilisi or at our lovely country house - see home remodeling. I don't like to write or even think about blogging when on travels - and I have developed a nice cheat - scheduled posts. Unfortunately I'm missing a post on October 10th, and double bad is - that's a blog's birthday. So here you go:

I started this blog thing with a simple goal - To blog 365 consecutive days and when I launched I was looking to reach about 6,000 monthly users by the end of my first blogging year. The fact is, after 365 days of consecutive blogging I reached just 3,364 monthly users (September 2014), what was about just above of half of my goal. Now, three years later I can proudly report - I have reached pretty serious 60,000 unique users per month.

Blog traffic October 2013 - October 2016 (Data source: Google Analytics)

In past three years blog have attracted about 840,000 users and generated more than 1,2 million page views.

In past three years I have written in total 1,429 articles, now looking trough the archives - I feel a little bit embarrassed about the oldest - as I feel my writing and formatting skill have developed tremendously over the years. On the other hand I found myself being pretty lazy and not polishing my articles to perfect diamonds yet. This is the thing I'm planning to work more in future - to write more in depths articles.

For the past three years I have been writing every single day - that's more than 1000 days not missing an article (Ok, I missed two days back in 2014 actually)  - consecutive writing have been my corner strategy. This has some good sides and negative sides. Positive - I have kept writing and developed a pretty busy blog. Negative - I don't pay enough attention for every single piece I put on paper, producing a lot, but sometimes missing a quality. I don't plan to abandon my consecutive blogging every day strategy for the next year, but I'm thinking to go for less, thus more detailed articles in future. I could limit my self to five articles per week in future.

During past three years I have been blogging on many,completely different topics, as a blogger I understand I should focus on fewer topics and develop a niche blog. I will review my topic selection and will start working on this soon. Basically it means following, there are topics with higher demand and there are topics with less to no demand. Obliviously I will go for higher ones in future. 

I would say - after three years of blogging I have entered into the consolidation mode - working on what works, and getting rid of what doesn't. 

That said - thank you for being with me, commenting, sharing and liking my articles. You, are the best reader I could even imagine. It's time to catch that plain and see that wall I missed all the Summer along.

Idol Hill (Alkakalnis) near Salantai, Lithuania

9 October, 2016 | Tourism objects | 9 seen

God's path are untraceable, without a strong reason we made our first stop in Lithuania at Mosedis catholic church, then left Mosedis and continued our road just straight (without any directions yet in our minds), when we noticed a road sign "Alka Kalnis 2km" and decided to take that turn and visit ancient Lithuanian pagan ritual place. Well what else could Alka Kalnis stand for? From my short Lithuanian knowledge Alka could mean Idol and kalnis goes for hill. Turns out an Idol Hill. 

This place is located close to Salantai, and actually from the top of the hill pretty spectacular scene can be seen towards Salantai.

Alkakalnis

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A small altar

Parking lot near Alkakalnis

You can get more info about this object on Lithuanian Wikipedia using Google Translate, see: Alko alkakalnis

Q3 2016 Blog Traffic & Income Report - 171,985 Users / $5,296.40

8 October, 2016 | Blogging | 13 seen

Welcome to the third quarterly traffic and income report update covering third (Q3) quarter of 2016 (July, August, September), in which I will reveal some secrets on how I made more that $5,000 and got traffic more than 170,000 unique users. Here is the link to the archive for previous online income reports.

If you are new to my blog, here is a brief explanation on sharing data on traffic and income:

I have been collecting and sharing data for my online success or failures since January 2014, back then my blog was 3 month old and I decided to start an online experiment - can someone actually make money through blogging? Now, I know it for sure - yes, you can, but it takes a time and determination. Back at January 2014, I made enormous eight dollars. Online income reports helps me to track my success or failures, and hopefully can inspire you as well.

Most of the time in third quarter of 2016 I spent on home remodeling works doing brick and mortar stuff (more on that in close future). My 31st birthday was on August and I took few days off to celebrate it abroad (again, more on that soon). As usual I managed not to miss a single day without a blog post - that has been one of mine corner success strategies since day 1 when I started this blog. In just a few days it will be already three years. 

Blog Traffic Q3 2016

Blog traffic for the past quarter has been pretty steady. By now each month my blog gets about 55,000 monthly users, compared with previous quarter blog have experienced a nice 28% traffic gain. Awesome.

Blog Traffic Q3 2016

By now, I'm pretty satisfied with getting more than 170,000 users to blog in the past three months, thus I might not reach my overall goal for 2016.  

In my 2015 year review I did set a goal to attract in total 650,000 users to my blog. Which would be about 162,000 users quarterly. Last quarter was the first I actually managed to crack that milestone, unfortunately Q1 and Q2 didn't perform such good in terms of traffic. In order to reach my yearly goal - 650,000 users, I should get about 212K users in the last quarter of year. That's about 70,000 a month. I wouldn't say that it is not possible, it's doable, hard but doable. On the other hand if I will get close to that number it will be fine, not a tragedy after all missing few thousands, right?

Income Q3 2016

I believe most of the readers are more interested in actual income rather traffic stats, but let me remind you, in online business (If we can call it so) any income is dependent on traffic. It might differ niche from niche - there are niches where a way more money are made from traffic I have.

Combined income from affiliate sales and display ads in Q3 made me a nice revenue of $5,485.84

Combined RPM from different revenue channels stands at $22.77 for Q3 2016, what is up from $17.03 at Q2 2016. RPM - stands for earnings for 1000 page views/impression - Reach per Mile.

RPM Q3 2016

RPM rates have been up since the start of the year: $13.00 at Q1, $17.00 at Q2 and finally I have got to the sweet twenties rate. I believe a RPM rate close to $20 per 1000 page views is pretty satisfactory. Of course raising this number more would increase overall income, but as long it is close to twenty - I'm a happy hippo.

Expenses Q3 2013

To earn some money, you should spend some money on some basic or advanced things. In last quarter I spent in following positions:

• Linode VPS: $147.5
• Facebook Advertising: $41.94

Other Stats

• Twitter: 6,501 followers (-141)
• Facebook: 2,520 likes (+733)
• Email subscriptions: 61 subscriber (+10)
• Alexa global rank: 179,799 position(+18649)
• Web push subscribers: 457

Thoughts on Q4 2016

Now, speaking about goals for the fourth quarter (October, November and December) of 2016 - Traffic combined should be at least 170,000. Speaking of Income - I will stick with a humble $4,000 goal. The thing is - from my previous experience I have noticed that October is really slow in terms of income - affiliate sales drops by half and more (I will keep this in mind for this October as well). November should start to give a nice boost at the end of the month, and following holiday season (December) could give a really lucrative income, on the other hand, last year's December, thus performed well, didn't break the bank after all. Taking all that in consideration - I would say  $4,000 seems pretty hard to handle actually. But I will keep experimenting to try to get there.

St. Michael Archangel Church in Mosėdis

7 October, 2016 | Churches and Monasteries | 7 seen

This church is located in the town of Mosėdis, Lithuania. St. Michael Archangel Church represents late Baroque style.

I visited this church in frames of my three days birthday trip across Lithuania (For the third year in a row I have a tradition to greet my birthday abroad in some country's capital, this year it was turn for Vilnius. Although Lithuania is already featured to my blog already with few interesting tourism objects - at the end of this trip I hope to supplement my collections list with many more cool sights). Mosedis was our first stop, after we crossed Latvian/ Lithuanian border through town of Ezere (Latvia). 

The church of the late Baroque style is cross-planned, with two towers. There are 4 altars. The churchyard is fenced with high stone masonry.

St. Michael Archangel Church in Mosėdis

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Monument of Lithuania's Architecture

Oliva Italian Restaurant in Yerevan

6 October, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 8 seen

If you are looking for an authentic Italian cuisine, here is the simple advice - visit Italy, but if in case in place of Italy you have found yourself in Yerevan, Armenia - here is a good Italian Restaurant Oliva, which is worth to visit and enjoy really good Italian cuisine in pretty authentic atmosphere - live music in evenings or tasty tiramisu cake are just a few to name.

I first discovered Oliva restaurant back in 2014, when found they are serving breakfast brunch - more from my first impressions from Yereven restaurants see this article: Fine Dining Places In Yerevan

Located on Yeznik Koghbatsi street, Oliva turned out to be just a few meters from our Park Hotel Yerevan (we stayed here for couple of nights)

Oliva restaurant in Yerevan

Here you can taste common Italian dishes made of high - quality products. The tastes typical of Italy will take you to this wonderful country.

Tiramisu cake and cup of morning coffee

Simple, elegant and affordable Italian restaurant in the heart of Yerevan, visit oliva.am to learn more.

Artashi Mot Restaurant on Moskovyan Street in Yerevan

5 October, 2016 | Restaurant reviews | 24 seen

Artashi Mot restaurant was a recommendation from our friend and taxi driver Tom, shortly we returned from the trip to the temple of Garni and Geghard monastery back to Yerevan, we asked Tom for a good local restaurant he would suggest us, and he shortly took us to Moskovyan street and the tasty Armenian cuisine experience started. 

Make sure you check out other Yerevan restaurant recommendations as well

Entrance at Artashi Mot on Moscovyan street

Interior at Artashi Mot

grilled meat - gharsy khorovats

A really great alternative to Georgian kababs.

My favorite salads - plain cucumber and tomato salads

About Artashi Mot

This grill house is unique for its famous “Gharsy Khorovats” (roasted meat), which is made by experienced chefs only from fresh, ecologically pure meat on natural coal. You can also taste the same meals that are offered in the grill house “Artashi Mot”. One portion will cost to You 600 AMD, which is a fantastically low price for such a tasty dish. We have also delivery service for 300-500 AMD per order, no matter what the size. Visit “Artashi Mot” and You will never forget the experience. Enjoy!

The Bottom Line

Excellent place in the heart of Yerevan!

Learn more at: artashimot.info.am

Geghard Monastery Complex in Armenia

4 October, 2016 | Churches and Monasteries | 95 seen

Geghard is a medieval monastery in the Kotayk province of Armenia, being partially carved out of the adjacent mountain, surrounded by cliffs. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

I first heard about this monastery in some Travel Channel series on Armenia, I remember I was surprised when journalist told that this church is actually cut into the rock. At start of the March (2016) I visited Armenia again, and this time I decided to visit some of the most interesting tourism objects in Armenia.

My biggest discoveries during this trip to Armenia were following - Khor Virap, the Temple of Garni and Geghrard monastery - the last two are recommended to visit together, as they are located on the same route. 

I really love church photography, and if you have been following my blog for a while - you have noticed I have created a separate churches and monasteries category listing my notes and photography.

Geghard monastery

From Wikipedia - While the main chapel was built in 1215, the monastery complex was founded in the 4th century by Gregory the Illuminator at the site of a sacred spring inside a cave. The monastery had thus been originally named Ayrivank, meaning "the Monastery of the Cave". The name commonly used for the monastery today, Geghard, or more fully Geghardavank, meaning "the Monastery of the Spear", originates from the spear which had wounded Jesus at the Crucifixion, allegedly brought to Armenia by Apostle Jude, called here Thaddeus, and stored amongst many other relics. Now it is displayed in the Echmiadzin treasury.

Columns in the Geghard Monastery

Rock-cut church with spring

The first cave chamber, Avazan (basin), situated north-west of the vestry, was hewn in the 1240s in an ancient cave with a spring (a place of worship in pagan times.

It is entirely dug out of the rock and has an equal-armed cruciform plan. The interior is lined by two crossed arches with a central stalactite dome. An inscription records that it was the work of the architect Galdzak, who also constructed the other rock-cut church and the jhamatuns within a period of some forty years. His name is inscribed at the base of the tent decorated with reliefs showing pomegranates.

Rock cut chained lions

Ok, I must admit at start I thought they are some cats, I was wrong thus.

The Proshyans’ sepulchre and the second cave church of Astvatsatsin situated east of Avazan, were hewn in 1283, presumably by the same Galdzak, too. These are also accessed through the gavit. The zhamatun is a roughly square chamber cut into the rock, with deeply cut reliefs in the walls. Of interest is a rather primitive high relief on the northern wall, above the archways. In the center, there is a ram's head with a chain in its jaws; the chain is wound around the necks of two lions with their heads turned to the onlooker. Instead of the tail tufts there are heads of upward looking dragons — symbolic images gong all the way back to heathen times. Between the lions and below the chain there is an eagle with half-spread wings and a lamb in its claws. This is likely the coat-of-arms of the Proshian Princes.

The reliefs of the eastern wall are no less picturesque. The entrances to a small chapel and to Astvatsatsin church have rectangular platbands connected by two relief crosses. Cut on the portals of the chapel are sirens (fantasy harpy-like birds with women's crowned heads) and on the church walls there appear human figures with their elbows bent, wearing long attires and having nimbuses around their heads. These are probably members of the princely family who had these structures built. In its floor there are burial vaults.

Something similar I first noticed at Masonic temple of Philadelphia (at least I think it was at Masonic temple)

Geghard Monastery complex

The monastery was founded in the 4th century, according to tradition by Gregory the Illuminator. The site is that of a spring arising in a cave which had been sacred in pre-Christian times, hence one of the names by which it was known, Ayrivank (the Monastery of the Cave). The first monastery was destroyed by Arabs in the 9th century.

Nothing has remained of the structures of Ayrivank. According to Armenian historians of the 4th, 8th and 10th centuries the monastery comprised, apart from religious buildings, well-appointed residential and service installations. Ayrivank suffered greatly in 923 from Nasr, a vice-regent of an Arabian caliph in Armenia, who plundered its valuable property, including unique manuscripts, and burned down the magnificent structures of the monastery. Earthquakes also did it no small damage.

Geghard monastery

Temple of Garni, Armenia

2 October, 2016 | Churches and Monasteries | 29 seen

The Temple of Garni  is a classical Hellenistic temple in Garni, Armenia. It is perhaps the best-known structure and symbol of pre-Christian Armenia. It was probably built by king Tiridates I in the first century AD as a temple to the sun god Mihr.

We visited the Temple of Garni the next morning after our beautiful visit to Khor Virap monastery complex near border of Turkey. I called to my good old friend Tom (a taxi driver) and he picked us at our Park Hotel Yerevan, and off we were for the Temple of Garni and the nearby medieval monastery of Geghard. It was just later I learnt that both the Temple of Garni and monastery of Geghard are one of the main tourism objects in Armenia. Amazing. If I had a chance to add a must have attractions while in Armenia, I would suggest to visit Khor Virap monastery also. 

The Temple of Garni

I was equipped with a tripod and some lens, no surprise I made a panoramic photography here. 

After Armenia's conversion to Christianity in the early fourth century, it was converted into a royal summer house of Khosrovidukht, the sister of Tiridates III. According to some scholars it was not a temple but a tomb and thus survived the universal destruction of pagan structures. It collapsed in a 1679 earthquake. Renewed interest in the 19th century led to excavations at the site in mid-20th century and its eventual reconstruction between 1969 and 1975. It is the only known Greco-Roman colonnaded building in Armenia and the only standing such building in the former Soviet Union. It is one of the main tourist attractions in Armenia and the central shrine of Armenian neopaganism.

The Temple of Garni in HDR

Yes, HDR photography as well

The temple is at the edge of a triangular cliff and is part of the fortress of Garni . One of the oldest fortresses in Armenia, it is mentioned as Gorneas in the first-century Annals of Tacitus. The site is near the village of Garni, in Armenia's Kotayk Province and is officially known as the Garni Historical and Cultural Museum Reserve, which includes the temple, a bath complex, a royal summer palace, the seventh century church of St. Sion and other minor items (e.g., medieval khachkars). In total, the list of intangible historical and cultural monuments approved by the government of Armenia includes 11 items. It occupies 3.5 hectares (8.6 acres) and is supervised by the Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum Reservations, an agency attached to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia.

The temple of Garni

The precise construction date of the temple is unknown and is subject to debate. The dominant view is that it was built in 77 AD, during the eleventh year of the reign of king Tiridates I. In 1945 the painter Martiros Saryan discovered a Greek inscription, which named Tiridates the Sun (Helios) as the founder of the temple. The inscription, which probably came from the fortress wall of Garni and not the actual temple, is damaged and various readings are possible. One reading and translation is:

The Sun God Tiridates, uncontested king of Great Armenia built the temple and the impregnable fortress in the eleventh year of his reign when Mennieay was hazarapet [thousander, chiliarch] and Amateay was sparapet [general, commander].

The temple follows the style of classical Ancient Greek architecture which began developing in the seventh century BC. Scholars have variously described the structure as Greek, Roman or Greco-Roman and have usually linked it to Hellenistic art, often pointing out its distinct features and local Armenian influence.  Some scholars have emphasized the Armenian influence on its architecture, calling it "Armenian-Hellenic" (Sahinian), while others have completely dismissed this view, calling it a "foreign structure on Armenian soil". Toros Toramanian, for instance, stressed the singularity of the temple as a Roman-style building on the Armenian Highlands and "remarked that the Garni construction essentially had no influence on contemporary or subsequent Armenian architecture." Sahinian, on the other hand, called it a "product of the architectural-constructional art of the Hellenistic period" that entirely resembles the 9th century BC Urartian Musasir temple.