Noravank's Hotel

While it’s a lovely setting, a pleasant place to dine al fresco and the staff is warm and friendly despite the lack of the English, the hotel is OK at best. It’s clean with a bare basic small private bathroom with a shower. The room is furnished with a wardrobe and a desk but the bed is terrible - a hard springy mattress with rough muslin sheets. It was the worst sleeping experience of the trip. In addition there is no air conditioning. There is a fan and you can open the balcony door to cool the room off at night. When we asked about a water boiler for coffee in the morning (we had our own instant coffee) after a bit of negotiating to get across what we wanted we were given a tray with a water boiler, a plate of cakes, sweet preserved peaches, and cups and saucers. They leave at night and don’t return until 9 in the morning to prepare breakfast. Before they left they also offered us a wireless router for internet, not speedy but gave us a connection. Parking is available on the property. The restaurant has tables in the shade of large trees and overlooking the valley and opposing red rock face. The views are, however, somewhat obstructed by the low hanging branches. Still, on a warm afternoon it’s a great place to dine and wait for the intense sun to lower. They don’t speak much English (Russian works better), but enough that you can get something to eat or drink. We negotiated a tomato and cucumber salad, a lamb kebab with potatoes, bread and a carafe of wine. The meal was well prepared and tasty. Breakfast, eaten at the same tables under the tree where we had dinner, was a nice spread considering we were the only guests eating there – butter, a sweet sour cream, a filled cake, bowls of super sweet preserved grapes and apple sauce, a plate of fresh cherries, lavash – a type of flat bread, cold apple tea, salty cheese, and a puffy egg omelet served piping hot in a skillet. The omelet instantly deflates when you lift the lid. Coffee is Turkish style served with sweetened condensed milk.