Amberd

Amberd stands on a promontory where two river gorges meet, at 2,300 metres on the southern slopes of Mount Aragats. The name means fortress in the clouds, and for much of the year it earns it — the site sits at or above the level at which cloud gathers on the mountain.

The fortress dates from the seventh century and was expanded by the Pahlavuni family in the eleventh, when the church of Vahramashen was added beside it. Ruins of a bathhouse with a terracotta water system survive on the slope below.

The road continues up the mountain to Kari Lake at 3,200 metres, the usual starting point for climbers heading to the summits of Aragats, the highest peak inside Armenia.