Waterfall · Syunik
Shaki Waterfall
Շաքիի ջրվեժ
An 18-metre waterfall near Sisian in Syunik, where water spills over a ledge formed by solidified basalt lava on the side of the Vorotan gorge, reached by a narrow path from a parking area.
Where it is
39.5522, 45.9939
Why go
Reaching the fall is straightforward: from Sisian, follow the signposted turning for Shaki Waterfall, park, and take the narrow path to the water. Local tradition explains the name with the story of 93 women seized by invaders, who asked to bathe here and disappeared beneath the water, the last of them a woman named Shakeh. It fits easily into a day around Sisian with Zorats Karer, or into a longer Syunik route that includes Tatev.
Near Shaki Waterfall
Archaeological site
Zorats Karer
Standing basalt stones on a plateau 3 km north of Sisian, more than 220 in all and more than 80 of them pierced near the top, set in a central ring and rows around ancient stone tombs.
3 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Tatev Monastery
Tatev's churches and defensive walls stand on a basalt promontory above the Vorotan gorge in Syunik, reached by road or by the Wings of Tatev cable car from Halidzor, and in the 14th century housed a noted university.
29 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Great Hermitage of Tatev
A walled hermitage where the Tatev stream joins the Vorotan river, begun in 1660 to replace an earlier hermitage lost to an earthquake, and screened from view by walnut and fig trees.
29 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Historic site
Old Goris (Kyores) Cave Dwellings
The abandoned cave quarter of Kyores beside modern Goris, on the left bank of the Vararakn river, where the original town grew in and around a natural cave system.
32 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ