Travelling is one of the best ways to relax, have a good time and discover new emotions. A wonderful destination for travelling is the region of Tavush in the north-east of Armenia. Tavush is the most arboreous region, the name of which derives from the historical Tavush province of Greater Armenia (Great Hayq). River network of the region is dense. The longest and most abound river is Aghstev that has many rivulets. One of them, Khachaghbyur leads to the most wonderful corners of Ijevan district to Lastiver: huge caves, small desert, heavy river, waterfalls, forest and wonderful nature. More and more people from abroad and also from the other regions of Armenia overcome the difficulties of the road to see these picturesque sights. The journey to Lastiver is not less interesting and especially attractive for the lovers of extreme tours to organize hiking tours and expeditions. The campaigners start tour from Yenokavan village and walk 3 km along the edge of a canyon covered with forests. Here you can see the most beautiful scenery; 2 wonderful waterfalls falling on Khachaghbyur river. By the way, this river is also called Paghjur which in Armenian means “cold water”. Here you should enjoy each step admiring the mysterious beauty of the landscape. In the forest glade you will find a small house like a cottage placed on a tree. This tree is an amazing place to take photos.
Then walking down a little you appear in the surroundings of medieval cave dwellings, near the two-storey caves. The cave is one of the things that make the place really exciting and mysterious. Passing through narrow paths and rocky rooms you can see stone beds and imagine the lifestyle of the Armenians in those times. On the cave walls you can see the seal of mankind. The figures and pictures carved on the walls will remind you about the adventures of treasure hunters. One of the wall-sculptures presents a wedding scene; it is said that its author was a hermit living in the caves. Since pre-Christian times the cave were called “Anapat” (desert) and was a sacred place of worship, to which testify the numerous cave pictures. But in the middle ages, during Tatar-Mongolian invasions the caves served as shelter for people. As the caves were very steep, villagers had to build a staircase putting logs on each other. It looked like a raft (in Armenian “last”), and that’s why peopled called the caves “Lastiver” (“last” =raft and “ver” = up), so the word “Lastiver” means climbing up the raft.
The numerous carvings made by a human hand delight with their stability and multifaceted semantic scenes. Here you feel as if you were in the world’s most ancient museum situated in the arms of wonderful nature.
