Armenian Apostolic Church, part II

We went back to Gherard for a service the next day. It was fabulous. The clergy were on a raised platform, chanting. The music was the best church music I'd heard in a long time, haunting and melodic.

Occasionally they would suddenly bang a drum and shake a golden...tambourine?...on a wooden pole. It sent shivers down my spine. At one point the old ladies went to the front and knelt down to pray in front of the priest, who came down and stood in front of them.

The servers didn't really know what they were doing, and had to be corrected quite a few times.

And most of the room was filled with tourists. Even our taxi driver came in for a few minutes, crossed himself fervently, and went back out for a cigarette.