This is what we visited right after our Armenian Wedding Crashing. Echmiadzin is an extremely important place in Armenia for cultural, and historical identity. This is where Echmiadzin Cathedral, the oldest church in the world, is located (above). It was originally built by Saint Gregory the Illuminater as a vaulted basilica in 301-303, when Armenia was the only country in the world the state religion of which was Christianity. Inside the Cathedral is a massive amount of frescos, and some date all the way back to building of the church where as most of them date back to the 18th Century. Most of the frescos depict the life of Jesus, many of the stories surrounding Jesus in the Bible (nothing from Dan Brown here), and different portraits of Jesus' followers and other Saints.
Guess who the person without the halo is, and guess what is in his small little bag. Leaving the church, there is a tradition in Armenia (and in Georgia) where you walk backwards and illustrate a cross on your torso with your fingers (very similar to what Catholics do). Ross and I did it out of respect before we left. Outside the Cathedral is the very lovely and green courtyard that is filled with stone artworks symbolizing and depicting the Christian religion along with Armenian heritage. Ross and I had a fun time testing the water in the fountains here. Lonely planet said don't drink the water, but it was hot and I hate buying bottled water. If I die from it, then by the grace of Darwin may I be selected out of the gene pool to make way for better specimens who can handle different forms of water. Thankfully though I am still alive so I live to spread my seed another day! (evolution joke)
However, the local tourists thought we were a great tourist attraction and demanded to have a picture taken with us. They were nice about it and I was in a good mood so I let them. 
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