Symphony of stones

My last day in Armenia was so full of wonderful experiences that it's difficult to know what to post. One of the most impressive places we visited was the temple at Garni and the amazing gorge below, which has geological formations that the locals know as 'Symphony of stones'. This shot is looking straight up one of the gorge walls made of basalt columns, the rock formation formed by the rapid cooling of volcanic larva. In places, where the thick layer of basalt has been carved through by the Goght river, it is possible to see the results of later geological movement and folding, so some of the columns are horizontal.

After the walk along the gorge we had the most amazing lunch at tressle tables in an orchard, where we could watch women making the great sheets of thin flatbread, known as lavash, in a sunken oven, whilst dodging the mulberries falling from the trees and watching groups of chattering Rose-coloured Starlings in the canopy. I am SOOOO missing Armemia already!