Armenia

The Matenadaran, the institute of illuminated manuscripts, which is the context for everything we will see afterwards. Kond, the old quarter: alleys, hanging laundry, neighbours. We start photographing people on day one. We climb the Cascade by the outside stairs, and Ararat appears behind if the sky cooperates.

The Mother Cathedral of Etchmiadzin on Saturday, with the Easter preparations under way, which is exactly what matters. Saint Hripsime, seventh century, the cleanest floor plan in the country. The afternoon is left empty on purpose: we return at night for the vigil, and the lighting of candles at the end is the strongest moment of the week.

The Easter Badarak at Etchmiadzin, and we arrive early, which is the difference between seeing the ceremony and seeing backs. Then the Easter meal in an Armenian family's home: the table set, dyed eggs, fish, rice with raisins. First you eat and then you photograph. We close with live duduk in a small venue.

The temple of Garni, Greco-Roman and pagan, the only one in the country, and the descent into the Azat gorge past the Symphony of Stones. Geghard, carved inside the rock, at the hour when the skylights push shafts of light into the upper chamber. In the afternoon, lavash at Irina's house: fire, kneading, stretching and slapping against the oven wall, with the group inside.

Khor Virap at dawn: Ararat is visible in the first hour, before the valley haze rises, and the apricot trees should be in bloom. In Rind, a group of village women bake lavash and sing while they work. Noravank in low sun, with the red-stone canyon alight and Momik's cantilevered stair.

The Areni 1 cave, the oldest known winery, and where the world's oldest leather shoe was also found. The Wings of Tatev cable car over the Vorotan canyon, and the ninth-century monastery on the cliff edge. We close in old Khndzoresk, a cave village with a suspension bridge.

Noratus, the largest surviving khachkar cemetery: hundreds of stone crosses from the ninth century onward, every one different, folk sculpture more than temple. Sevanavank at the end, up the peninsula steps, with the lake empty of tourists and another blue in the water.

The Parajanov museum, collages and dolls by a man who made art while imprisoned. The Ararat brandy factory, with its barrels and its hands. The Soviet modernist route: the Rossiya complex, Barekamutyun station, mosaics and concrete. And Tsitsernakaberd to close, because after a week of carved stone the memorial orders the meaning of everything before it.