Symphony of Stones: The Music Played by Basalt

#hellohalloween

You stand at the foot of the gorge and can't believe your eyes.
The rocks seem to be made of perfectly straight pipes—upright, hexagonal, like an organ. It seems as if someone carved them by hand and then walked away, leaving nature to play this instrument.

The Symphony of Stones is located in the Azat River Gorge, not far from the Garni Temple—just a half-hour drive from Yerevan. Here, lava, cooled millions of years ago, solidified into giant columns up to fifty meters high. The river murmurs below, echoes above, and all together sounds like true music.

📍 How to get there
Minibuses run from Yerevan to Garni (the journey takes about an hour), then it's about a kilometer down the gorge on foot. You can also take a taxi directly to the river—the road is narrow and uneven, but the views are worth every bump.

👣 What to see
— a wall of basalt columns rising upward like notes in a musical score;
— the Azat River, along which it's nice to walk barefoot on the stones;
— a panorama from above—the path to it starts from the road to the Garni Temple.

☕ Tip
It's best to come in the morning, while the sun is soft and the columns cast long shadows. Bring water and comfortable shoes—the gravel descent is steep.

Post by Liseykina | Oct 28, 2025