Goris

Goris was laid out in the 1870s on a strict grid by a German-trained planner, which makes it unlike almost any other Armenian town: straight streets of two-storey stone houses with tiled roofs and walled gardens, set in a bowl of mountains.

The slopes above are covered with tall cones and pyramids of soft volcanic rock, many of them hollowed out into dwellings and stores. The old town of Goris, on the eastern slope, was inhabited in these caves until the new town drew everyone down the hill.

Goris is the practical base for southern Armenia. Khndzoresk and its swinging bridge lie eight kilometres east, the Wings of Tatev cable car about half an hour west, and the road south continues to the Iranian border.