Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan 2018
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan 2018
Caucasus 2018
As my bus drove north out of Tbilisi this morning, heading for the mountains that mark Georgia’s northern boundary with Russia, the skies were overcast and there was steady rain. Given the nature of orographic rainfall (it tends to fall most in the mountains), this did not bode well for good weather ahead. Indeed, much the day was marked by fairly foul weather, but I made the most of a couple of very brief bursts of sunshine to get as many good photos as I could.
Our first stop was just half an hour north of Tbilisi – Jvari (or Holy Cross) Church near the town of Mtskheta. Overlooking the confluence of the Aragvi and Mtkvari rivers from the top of a towering hill, Jvari Church is a true architectural masterpiece of the Early Middle Ages and is regarded by many Georgians as the country’s spiritual heart. The church was erected where a sacred wooden cross was erected, either by St Nino before she converted King Mirian, or by King Mirian shortly afterwards.
Unlike many churches in Georgia, this one has not been renovated, but remains an active place of worship. This was evident this morning as a group of about 30 local people came to worship, first lighting candles in each of the four arms of the cross-shaped building, and then seemingly spontaneously bursting into a song/chant that resonated beautifully in the building’s domed, austere, bare stone interior.
We drove north from Mtskheta on a road known as the Georgian Military Highway. This spectacular road follows an ancient route linking Russia with the Caucasus, and passes through deep canyons and mountain passes, the highest of which we crossed today was Jvari Pass at 2,379 metres. Unfortunately, I don’t have any decent photos of this spectacular scenery because it was either raining, hailing or snowing the whole way, and moreover, the windows of our bus was constantly misted up on the inside reducing visibility to negligible levels when combined with the heavy tinting.
Our next stop, which happily coincided with the best sunshine I had all day, was the Ananuri complex, a former residence of the Argveti dukes, who controlled the region from the 13th century. The buildings in the Ananuri complex are churches and towers that date back to the 16th and 17th centuries, and they are set in a superb location, even though it was not as originally envisaged – the buildings overlook the waters of Jinvali (or Zhinvali) reservoir that was built under the Soviet administration in 1986.
The exterior wall of the church features exquisite carvings showing a huge laced cross, angels, lions, and being Georgia, grape vines. Inside, the church featured some lovely frescoes, many of which had been retrieved by painstakingly removing layers of hard white lime plaster that had been applied by Russians during the days of the Tsars to cover the frescoes.
A watchtower in the compound was open for climbing, which of course I did for the view. It was not an easy climb, with decaying uneven steps and no handrail. The view from the top was difficult to see because it involved crouching down awkwardly to peer through a thin sliver of a gap in the defensive rock structure; to be honest, the view was okay but probably not worth the effort of climbing up and down to get it.
We stopped at 1:00pm for lunch in a Bavarian themed restaurant. Taking orders was painstakingly slow, as was the delivery of the food that we ordered (it started to arrive at about 2:30pm). In the end, it was just after 3:00pm before we resumed our journey, by which time the rain was pouring down and the skies were a dark grey. We passed through a thunderstorm and a hail storm, driving past slopes with thin recent snowfalls on them to the town of Stepantsminda (formerly but still commonly known as Kazbegi), just 12 kilometres short of the Russian border.
With the rain still fall steadily (and icily), we transferred into three small Mitsubishi Delica 4x4 vans to drive along a treacherous unsealed road up steep hills to reach Gergeti (Holy Trinity) Church. Located at an altitude of 2,170 metres, the church is sometimes regarded as a symbol of Georgia because of its history and spectacular location at the top of the hill overlooking the green valley below. Unfortunately, everything was grey rather than green this afternoon as blizzard-like winds and thunderstorms greeted our arrival. Rather than seeing the church from afar with a splendid backdrop of green mountains topped with white snow caps glistening in the clear sunlight, as the postcards show it, we saw it through grey fog, backed by grey fog.
The interior of the church is quite austere, somewhat like the priest on duty who was far from diplomatic as he barked orders to men wearing shorts and women without head coverings to go outside and stand in the teeming rain rather than violate the church’s dress code. He was also very strict in prohibiting photography, which is why I managed to get only one interior view of the church – a significant feat, not just because of the priest but because the interior was SO dark; just a few small candles in a high, dark, bare rock interior.
Our final stop was after sunset under dark grey clouds and in teeming rain – the Monument to Russian-Georgian Friendship that was erected by the Soviet government in 1983. Apparently regarded by many Georgians as a cruel joke at best and an insult at worst, the monument featured an almost circular tiled display in socialist realist style showing Georgian traditions on one side and Russian culture on the other, the latter marked by a heroic Red Army (obviously Russian) soldier smashing a swastika with his foot while a yellow and black striped ‘victory’ flag waves behind. I understand that the monument overlooks a spectacular deep gorge of Caucasus mountain range; unfortunately the cold, wet, dark conditions at the time of my visit precluded any opportunity to check out the surrounding scenery.
Our hotel tonight is the Marco Polo Hotel in the ski resort town of Gudauri. Having arrived at 7:30pm, which was well after dark given the foul weather conditions, I can’t comment much on Gudauri, but I do think it is odd that a hotel in a ski resort has neither heating nor air conditioning. I fear that my wet clothes will still be wet in the morning as the room is dry but cold. It must be freezing in the hotel rooms when there is a thick layer of snow on the ground during the ski season!
Day 8
Northern Georgia
Monday
10 September 2018
