We are staying at a caravanserai tonight. A hotel / restaurant where travellers would spend the night, giving their camels and horses some rest and catch up with other travellers about the way ahead. This Caravanserai is the best preserved one in Armenia and was built in 1332. That’s almost 700 years ago!
We take a zip of our wine and look at the thousand of stars in the big black sky. Almost 700 years ago travellers like Marco Polo would take shelter here, maybe they looked at the same stars as we are. The wind is cold. And probably that hasn’t changed as well. The caravanserai is built without a courtyard so it would keep the people and animals warm during the icy nights. Marco Polo never got to see this marvellous place, he travelled the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295.
It’s impressive that after 700 years this building is still standing! And in comparison to the Anatolian caravanserais this one isn’t converted into a hip restaurant or hotel. It is still like it was 700 years ago, and that’s why history is still alive here.
While we walked through the building we imagine merchants and travellers getting together here like in nowadays hostels. Where camels and horses stood drinking, eating and happy to take a rest. Where men slept in the same area without knowing each other while the fire kept them warm. Stories, cultures and knowledge were exchanged, goods were traded and all were equal.
We see some stars falling through our atmosphere, a chill down the spine because of the cold wind and in the distance we see the lights of the nearby village twinkle. Yes, some things have changed in 700 years. There are now villages in the gorge, as there is internet on the pass and in the day one can find a lovely couple with their mobile market (lada full with goods) selling their goods day in day out.
How awesome is it that 700 years after the building of this incredible place we stay here for the night and in the day a merchant couple comes to sell their goods. We also met a young priest and his friend and exchanged stories. It doesn’t matter where your from, it doesn’t matter in which time you live, humans are humans. This place was built to bring people together and that’s what it still does 700 years later.
Love, Milene & Yuri