Lake Sevan

Sevan is the largest lake in the Caucasus and one of the biggest high-altitude bodies of water in the world: it lies at about one thousand nine hundred metres and covers roughly one thousand two hundred square kilometres. Water reaches it from more than two dozen rivers, while only one, the Hrazdan, flows out. In the twentieth century the level of the lake was deliberately lowered by almost twenty metres: the water was drawn off for irrigation and for a cascade of hydroelectric stations, the exposed lakebed became overgrown, and the former island with Sevanavank Monastery turned into a peninsula joined to the shore by an isthmus. The ecological consequences proved severe, and since the late 1960s water has been diverted into the lake through a tunnel from the basin of the Arpa river, so the level is gradually rising. The lake is home to the Sevan trout, ishkhan, which has become rare. The colour of the water shifts from turquoise to deep blue depending on the depth and the weather, and treeless ridges stand all around. The classic view opens from the Sevanavank peninsula, where a stairway leads up to two old churches above the water; there are cafes and beaches there too. The water is cool even in summer. The lake is about an hour's drive from Yerevan, on the road to Dilijan, and is a popular stop. The local fish is worth trying, but it is better not to order the ishkhan, a protected species.

On the map