At the bottom of the Cascade in Yerevan, Armenia, all 572 steps of it, there is a generous square — oblong, rather — crowded with funky sculptures and lined with cafes. At one of the tables, five glasses: two of red wine, two of beer, one of Coke. Emptying them were Ruben, Manuk and Eva from the Armenian NGO the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FWPC), John from the British-based World Land Trust, and me. We were all off our heads. Not from the drink, but the beauty.

Yesterday, in the mountains, we had a gloriously overwhelming encounter with the richness of life, and its vulnerability. This was beauty expressed as place: a chunk of land, a sacred combe, an Eden.