Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan 2018

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan 2018

Caucasus 2018

 

Yesterday’s weather forecast was for fine weather, but we experienced rain, hail, snow, strong winds and overcast skies.  Today’s weather forecast was for rain, but although there were some heavy showers around us, we managed to dodge the rain fairly successfully.  It seems the weather here is both changeable and somewhat random.

It was great to wake this morning to clear conditions so we could see the mountains around Gudauri with their ski slopes and lodge-type accommodation.  Leaving the hotel after a somewhat chaotic and rushed breakfast at 9:00am, we drove south along the Georgian Military Highway, the same road as we had used to travel northwards yesterday.  The difference this morning was that we could actually see the scenery, and what scenery it was – high mountains with deeply dissected green slopes, with some small pockets of farming seeming to cling precariously to the steep slopes.

Apart from a ten-minute toilet stop at Ananuri, we drove non-stop for three hours, first heading south to Mtskheta and then west to the town of Gori (population 75,000).  At midday, we reached our first destination, the Uplistsikhe cave city.  When I first heard we were about to visit caves, my heart sank as I imagined walking through damp, dark caves dodging stalactites and stalagmites.  Uplistsikhe was nothing like that!

Uplistsikhe was originally a city made during the late Bronze Age (1000BC) by carving caves out of the soft sandstone cliffs lining the Mtkvari River.  Most of the structures we saw today date from 600BC to 100AD when it was a significant political and religious centre with temples dedicated principally to the sun goddess.

We followed the original track from the river up to the city, which was a narrow trench worn into the sandstone from the foot traffic.  It was an interesting exercise to work out what some of the structures were used for, but we saw a theatre, a prison, a wine cellar, a pharmacy, and the remains of what was once a rock-hewn temple not unlike the ones that still stand in Lalibela, Ethiopia.

At the very top of the hill on which Uplistsikhe is built stands a small Christian church, the Uplistsulis Eklesia (Prince’s Church) that was built in the 10th century over a pagan temple, presumably the most important one.  After an hour and a half it was time to leave, not only because we had arranged to have in Gori at 2:00pm, but because the dark clouds, thunder and lightning announced a fast approaching thunderstorm.  We descended the hill using a different route, a so-called secret tunnel (not so secret – it marked by a clear ‘exit’ sign) that was originally used both as an emergency escape route and a way to bring water up from the river.  We drove into Gori, the 20 minute drive coinciding with steady rainfall.

In an effort to avoid a repeat of the excessively time consuming lunch break we had on yesterday’s drive, most of the group agreed to participate in a shared lunch with pre-ordered food.  This was a great success, and we enjoyed a lunch comprising cheese bread, barbecued pork, chicken dumplings, mushroom dumplings, tomato cheese and walnut salads, roasted eggplant, bread baskets, a few more things that I can’t remember, plus drinks, all for just 10 lari ($Aust.5.40) per person.  Great food and amazing value.

For our next visit, we simply had to cross the street from the restaurant to the Stalin Museum.  Gori was Stalin’s birthplace, and the museum was opened in 1957 on the site where he was born (and indeed, the tiny house of his birthplace is preserved under a protective cover as part of the museum complex, just neat his bullet-proof railway carriage).

The museum is housed in a very impressive Stalinist (of course) building, and it includes a fascinating array of photographs and memorabilia from the life and career of Gori’s (and Georgia’s) most famous political leader, starting with his childhood, progressing through his rise to political power, his leadership of the USSR and the defeat of Nazi Germany, right through to his death (and indeed one of the exhibits s his death mask).  A wide hallway shows examples of gifts presented to Stalin by various world leaders and Soviet organisations, most of which seem to feature portraits of Stalin himself.

The museum’s exhibits have obviously been refined since the breakup of the Soviet Union, and there seemed to be a genuine attempt to present a balanced picture of Stalin that spoke about his achievements while also acknowledging many of his shortcomings.  It was a fascinating museum, surely unique in the world today.

After a quick stop to take pictures of the nearby Gori Fortress, which overlooks the town from a high hill just west of the Stalin Museum, we headed east back to Mtskheta, Georgia’s former capital that we had seen yesterday looking down from Jvari Church.  Although Mtskheta has a population of just 8,000 people today, the town has huge importance in Georgian identity as Christianity was established here in 327.  The town thus contains some of Georgia’s most significant churches, and it remains the spiritual heart of Christianity in Georgia.

Our destination was Mtskheta’s most significant church, the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, built almost 1,000 years ago at the beginning of the 11th century.  Tradition claims that Christ’s robe is buried beneath one of the towers within the church.  It is said that a Jew from Mtskheta named Elioz was in Jerusalem at the time of Christ’s crucifixion, and she bought the robe from the Roman soldiers.  Having converted to Christianity, he brought it home to Mtskheta where his sister, Sidonia, took it from him and immediately died in a passion of faith.  No-one could prise the robe from Sidonia’s grasp, so it was buried with her.  The square column in the cathedral that marks the spot where Sidonia is buried is still believed to enable miracles to happen, and it is the site of veneration by believers.

The present cathedral was built around an earlier church that dates from the 5th century (which itself replaced earlier wooden structures dating from King Mirian’s conversion to Christianity in 327).  Interestingly, the 5th century cathedral is still visible and identifiable within the interior of the newer 11th century structure.  The cathedral also had some fascinating and unusual frescoes, such as a representation of Jesus surrounded by angels and the 12 signs of the zodiac, and some interesting interpretations of beasts that are found in hell.  The cathedral was a flurry of activity while we were there, as it apparently is at any time, with candles being lit, prayers being said and services being conducted.

Although the drive from Mtskheta to our hotel (the Mercure) in Tbilisi’s old town was just 18 kilometres, it took almost an hour because of the heavy traffic on the roads – a normal everyday situation we were told.  As tomorrow is a free day in terms of the itinerary, we spent some time with Anna (who re-joined us after her surgeon’s appointment) to discuss options and possibilities.  Consequently, it was 8:30pm before I finally got to my room, a surprisingly small area compared with the generous rooms we have enjoyed everywhere else through the Caucasus.  The tour company feels a bit guilty about the small size of the rooms and has generously offered to provide a free dinner for each of us at the hotel in compensation, a lovely gesture that I plan to use tomorrow night.


Day 9

Central Georgia

Tuesday

11 September 2018