Things to do in Vayots Dzor

Learn how to make gata with a local baker

Under the Walnut Tree is a family-owned guesthouse, food experience, and restaurant in the city of Yeghegnadzor, Vayots Dzor. Here you can learn more about Armenian traditions, including this cooking class on gata, an Armenian cake with sweet filling.

Lilit and Abraham, the founders of Under the Walnut Tree, will introduce you to the history of the guesthouse and restaurant. Their family has been hosting visitors for more than twenty years, beginning when their grandfather, who worked in the construction industry, began receiving business partners from abroad. They introduced their guests to Armenian culture by baking lavash and gata and involving them in daily tasks, such as feeding their livestock and tending to the garden.

Now you can experience this tradition of hospitality by learning how to bake gata from Lilit and Abraham. Gata is a cake traditionally prepared for holidays, weddings, rituals, and other special occasions. To make the dish, you wrap a sweet filling in cake, then shape it, and decorate. See the many creative ways that Armenian bakers at the Gata Festival in Vayots Dzor have designed their gata.

After the gata is decorated, your hosts will show you their tonir, a clay oven built into the ground for baking lavash and gata. While waiting for the gata to cook, try tasting some of Abraham’s vodka—homemade from grapes, plums, apples, berries, and/or other fruits.

Finally, enjoy your delicious dishes for lunch, along with herbal tea and other refreshments, on the guesthouse’s large patio. Under the Walnut Tree can accommodate up to eighty people with indoor and outdoor seating. Exploring the property or just taking in the view is a great way to conclude your time with Lilit and Abraham.

Email: underthewalnut.14@gmail.com

Vodka distillation and tasting master class

Under the Walnut Tree is a family-owned guesthouse, food experience, and restaurant in the city of Yeghegnadzor, Vayots Dzor. Here you can learn more about Armenian traditions, including a demonstration of distilling homemade vodka and then tasting some flavorful samples.

Lilit and Abraham, the founders of Under the Walnut Tree, will introduce you to the history of the guesthouse and restaurant. Their family has been hosting visitors for more than twenty years, beginning when their grandfather, who worked in the construction industry, began receiving business partners from abroad. They introduced their guests to Armenian culture by baking lavash and gata and involving them in daily tasks, such as feeding their livestock and tending to the garden.

Under the Walnut Tree’s vodka comes from grapes, plums, apples, apricots, pears, and/or berries. Abraham will explain the entire distilling process, from harvesting the fruit to the first drops of distilled vodka. Vodka distillation is still a widespread practice in many Armenian households. Nearly every home has a zavod (distilling equipment), or at least can borrow the equipment from their relatives or neighbors. Because the distillation process takes several days, you are not able to distill your own vodka from start to finish; however, you can get a taste of the steps and of some finished products with experienced vodka-makers.

Visitors may also explore the guesthouse property, sit down for a lunch, or take a gata (sweet cake) cooking class with Lilit and Abraham.

Email: underthewalnut.14@gmail.com

Willow weaving master class at Yegheg

Historically, willow basket weaving was an important craft in Vayots Dzor, where willow trees line the Arpa River. Today, master basket weaver Artur Petrosyan still softens and bends willow branches and then weaves them into beautiful objects. In this workshop, Artur teaches visitors the techniques of basket weaving. After explaining the history of willow basket weaving in Armenia, Artur guides visitors through the process of making a willow wine bottle holder, basket, or dish.

Visitors are provided with a half-finished piece of work and taught how to finish it at home. This fun and interactive workshop is offered at the Muse restaurant in Yeghegnadzor and can also be organized anywhere in the region (including local hotels, wineries, or another location of your choice).

Email:apet-p@mail.ru

Create a collage with a local artist

Harmony through contrast is Artyom Yerkat’s creative hallmark. Originally an architect from Yeghegnadzor, Artyom found his passion while walking in Jermuk, a mountain spa town in Vayots Dzor, in southern Armenia. A casual glance at the rubbish scattered in the street inspired Artyom to make use of what others deemed trash. The results are one-of-a-kind collages and sophisticated iron structures that explore complex artistic themes

Artyom uses all sorts of materials in these endeavors: wood, clay, stone, iron, linoleum, cardboard, and feathers. His art not only reduces the effects of the ubiquitous use-and-destroy culture by transforming garbage into beauty and value; it also provides tangible expressions to his visions and dreams.

Other sources of inspiration for Artyom are the old house, built in the early twentieth century, where he works; and recollections of his childhood years spent both in the rugged, wild mountains of southern Armenia; and in the waters of the Crimean Peninsula. Artyom is able to harmonize these different influences to create powerful artistic statements.

In Artyom’s master classes on collage, visitors may explore a variety of unpredictable materials in order to select their artistic themes and styles, and to interpret the diversity of life as they so choose. By finding artistic value in the materials that others deem worthless, visitors not only manifest their creativity and individuality, but also join Artyom in the environmental benefits of reuse and recycling.

Email:armanmetalic@gmail.com

Learn to cook with wild herbs in Old Martiros

Just one visit to the Old Martiros guesthouse will yield half a dozen new experiences. You will learn how to cook several distinctive dishes found only in Vayots Dzor, such as buried cheese and a special soup. And you will learn about wild herbs foraged directly from the surrounding hills, which the locals use not only for cooking, but also for medicinal purposes.

You’ll find the guesthouse in its namesake village—so called because the threat of landslides in the 1980s forced the relocation of some residents to “new” Martiros, two kilometers away. However, Gohar and Hamlet Yeghiazaryan have remained in the center of the old village, with their guesthouse—built in 1960, right next to Hamlet’s ancestral home.

Gohar and Hamlet are extremely knowledgeable about local culinary traditions, which they always love to share with their guests. For instance, they will reveal the special ways that villagers use wild herbs from the hills nearby. Gohar is especially passionate about preserving this traditional knowledge and will let you smell and taste your way through her collection of dried herbs and plants, as she describes their properties and uses.

The star of the experience and key ingredient for the soup you’ll prepare is the exceptional karshm, made from a dried wild herb that grows only in Vayots Dzor. During karshm harvest in May and June, you may even help braid the stems. Whatever the season, the herbs blend beautifully with the soup’s other ingredients of lentils, bulgur wheat, ground walnuts, minced garlic, and dried lavash. Together with Gohar, you will concoct your own karshm soup by combining a diverse array of herbs into the broth for a delicious and hearty meal.

While the soup is cooking, Gohar and Hamlet will show you how to prepare buried cheese, an unusual treat that is special to Martiros. First, the cheese is crushed and seasoned with various herbs. With Gohar and Hamlet’s help, you’ll fill your clay pot to the top with the cheese mixture. Then you’ll turn the pots upside down and bury them underground where they’ll age for five months. But don’t worry! Your hosts will have plenty of cheese they’ve already made just for you, so please indulge while your soup simmers on the stove.

Eating karshm is a special occasion to which locals invite their relatives and friends. People travel not only from the village and the region, but also all the way from the capital of Yerevan for this famous local delicacy.

Email:hamletyeghiazaryan08@gmail.com

Create your own folk art doll

A girl who was not afraid to pursue her dream is responsible for the complete makeover of a Soviet-era two-story military draft office in Yeghegnadzor, a town in southern Armenia. True to her goal of founding a design studio, Armine Aghajanyan transformed the cluttered office into a beautiful workspace that reflects the vivacity of her style. As both factory and shop, Armine’s Mosh Studio blends fashion and tradition, as well as ancient ornamental art and personal artistic vision.

Armine draws particular inspiration from Momik, a prominent medieval Armenian miniaturist and architect. Central in her designs are floral patterns that symbolize solar deities found on cross-stones. In this way, Armine not only revives Armenian artistic motifs with innovative touches but also provides sartorially elegant bespoke clothing for women in her native town.

Armine’s social enterprise has also empowered local women by helping them boost their tailoring skills. She has organized them into a small dedicated team, which embodies a spirit of collaboration.

In Armine’s master classes, visitors have the opportunity to make what Armine calls “wish-fulfilling dolls.” Using fabric scraps and patches that Armine has saved, visitors may create one-of-a-kind dolls that express not only their own individual personalities, but also aspects of Armenian cultural identity. Ancient Armenians sought an abundance of food, safety, fertility, and cure for diseases with the magical powers of mythological characters in the form of human-like dolls. Thus, Armine’s master classes will draw participants closer to doll-related folk beliefs and traditions, which have been passed down to generations.

Email:moshstudioM@gmail.com