Excursion to Tatev monastery - ropeway «Wings of Tatev» - Karahunj (Zorats Karer)

The Tatev Monastery is a 9th-century Armenian Apostolic monastery located on a large basalt plateau near the Tatev village in Syunik Province in southeastern Armenia. The monastic ensemble stands on the edge of a deep gorge of the Vorotan River.

According to tradition, Tatev Monastery is named after Eustateus, a disciple of St. Thaddeus the Apostle, who preached and was martyred in this region.

Popular etymology includes a legend telling of an event that is tied to the construction of the main church, where an apprentice secretly climbs to the top of its steeple intending to place a cross of his own design. However, the apprentice is spotted by his master during his descent. Shocked by his discovery, the apprentice loses his foothold and falls into the abyss as he calls upon God to grant him wings, which, in Armenian is: "Ta Tev".

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the monastery hosted one of the most important Armenian medieval universities, the University of Tatev.

Wings of Tatev, a cableway from Tatev to Halidzor village was opened in October 2010. It was included in the Guinness World Records as world's "longest non-stop double track cable car."

Karahunj, also called Zorats Karer is a prehistoric archaeological site in the Syunik Province of Armenia. It is also often referred to in international tourist lore as the Armenian Stonehenge.

The site is rich with stone settings, burial cists and standing stones - Menhirs. In total registered 222 stones.

The heights of the stones range from 0.5 to 3 m (above ground) and weight up to 10 tons. They are basalt stones, eroded by time and covered with moss and lichen of many colours. The inside surface of holes preserved much better.

84 of the stones feature a circular hole, although only 37 of the stones, with 47 holes, are still standing. They have been of interest to Russian and Armenian archaeoastronomers who have suggested that the standing stones could have been used for astronomical observation. Seventeen of the stones were associated with observations of sunrise or sunset at the solstices and equinoxes, and 14 with the lunar extremes.

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