Azokh

From Janapar

In this village I found two nice houses. Other houses don’t have suitable bathrooms, some are even without shower, and moreover they have outdoor toilets. The first home stay is Aro’s family. They are very nice and friendly and interested in having foreign guests in their home. They have one more house other then the one they live in, which has 8-9 beds and separate bedrooms. They have a reasonable bathroom with shower and an outdoor toilet. Aro works at the petrol station of the village and comes back home every two days. Vera, Aro’s wife, is a very good cook and makes delicious food and cakes.

The other home stay is Aro’s father Mr. Armo’s family. His family consists of his wife Mrs. Tamara and himself. They have three separate bedrooms and six extra beds for guests. Mrs. Tamara is very polite, very kind and hardworking. Mr. Armo’s brother is well informed of the history of Artsakh, Azokh and even the history of the world. If you want to know more about the cave, about the nature and about all the churches located in the mountains surrounding Azokh, just ask him to have a cup of tea with you and he will answer all your questions and some more. Before I entered the cave of Azokh, I asked him about Azokh and about the structure of the cave. He drew the map of the cave and explained it.

Azokh’s cave is the most amazing part of our trail in the village of Azokh. For the first time, after being well informed on the cave, I entered it with two locals. You shouldn’t enter with fire; because you may hurt the bats dwelling in the 3-rd salon. Generally the cave has 5 salons one opening into the other. You enter from one entrance and come out the other. It has 4 stories, and according to locals, at the top floor there is a 20 m deep opening that leads to the first salon. The bats dwelling in the cave have migrated from Australia. After exploring the cave, I asked them to take me to Nareka vank, a monastery above the cave, about which Mr. Gregorian (Mr. Armo’s brother) had told me beforehand. It is just a ruined vank which appears suddenly when you walk 45 minutes up to the forest. From up there you can see all the mountains, villages and lands around.

In Azokh, the foot signs are all in good condition (except one). Out of Azokh, just at the beginning of the trail where the forest begins, our foot sign has been used as a target. Some of the signs are damaged because of the wet and rainy climate. At Shekher (after St. Perbab) you cannot find any signage, and you are likely to confuse your route even though you know the direction of the trail. On top of Shekher, when you pass the forest and are about to enter the village, there is a misplaced foot sign because of which I was lost in another forest 3 km away from my destination (only later was I informed that this foot sign was a remnant of the old trail that Armen, when changing the route top go thru Shekher, had forgotten to remove). All sign are in good condition in Shekher, but again from Shekher to Karmir Shouka, there are no signs until you pass all farms and reach the first petrol station of Karmir Shouka and can recognize one of them on the wall of station.

Azokh has a small church, which seems to be owned by one of the villagers! The latter’s house is adjacent to the church, which means you would need his permission to visit it.

-Aro and Vera Ohanian-(097)-297329

Homestays

Aro

Aro (♂) has a highly recommended homestay. Tel: 297-329

Aro's family is great. His wife, Vera, is really sweet and makes amazing food. They have three young children, two boys and a girl. The kids like to play Sonic The Hedgehog on Sega Genesis. No one in the house speaks English. They speak Armenian, Russian and Turkish. We highly recommend them.

Himnakan Janapar (Backbone Trail)
Nor Manashid > Dadivank > Vaghuhas > Vank > Kolatak > Ptretsik > Aygestan > Stepanakert > Mkhitarishen > Avetaranots > Karmir Shuka > Azokh > Togh > Hadrut