Matosavank Forest Hike

Matosavank is the kind of place guidebooks call "hidden" and for once mean it. A small monastery of the 1240s — a church, a gavit and a book depository built of dark stone — stands in dense forest on the slope above Dilijan, with no road, no signs to speak of and moss creeping over every surface. Trees grow from the roofline. On a misty morning it looks like a set.

You reach it on foot. A path climbs from the road west of town, passes close to Jukhtak Vank and continues up through the woods; the walk is short but steep and the trail is faint in places, so go with a good offline map or a local who knows the way. Allow a couple of hours for the round trip and treat the ruin gently — it has survived eight centuries without railings.