Georgia. Tbilisi

So after first 4 exhausting days in Georgia (see Day 1, Day 2 - parts I & II, Day 3 and Day 4) we decided to take a little break and spend a leisurely day in Tbilisi.

It was possible to go to the city center by subway, but our host Inga explained the taxi was not expensive - 4 lari (approximately 2 euro) to metro station Rustaveli on Rose Revolution Square - so we decided to travel in the comfort of car rather than pushing and squeezing in subway.
Inga advised to start the journey from there and walk along the Rustaveli Avenue towards the Freedom Square and then to the Old City.
Rustaveli is like Broadway in New York, Champs-Elysées in Paris or Nevskiy Prospekt in Saint-Petersburg: a showy street, the main thoroughfare of Tbilisi, full of governmental, public, cultural, and business buildings - churches, theaters, museum - and of course, boutiques. It is named after the medieval Georgian poet, Shota Rustaveli.
Soon we were on Freedom Square (თავისუფლების მოედანი Tavisuplebis moedani) - the spiritual heart of the city. The mere fact that during the Communist rule it was named Lenin Square attests to that: some marginal suburban square did not deserve to bear such name. The square had different names throughout its history. It was first named Freedom Square during the First Georgian Republic in 1918 but as the republic lasted only 3 years the name was soon changed to Beria Square (after the infamous bloody KGB chief originally from Georgia), then Lenin Square. Here mass demonstrations took place - calling for independence from Soviet Union as well as during the famous Rose Revolution.

Fountain on Freedom Square

Of course, as during Communist rule the square bore name of Lenin himself, it accommodated his large statue. It was symbolically torn down in August 1991 when Georgia gained its independence from the Soviet Union.  In 2006 the Liberty Monument depicting patron-saint of Georgia - St George slaying the dragon, was unveiled in the same place.

Liberty Monument

Past the Freedom Square we walked by Dadiani street towards the famous sulphur baths. On the way we peeked at famous Tbilisi inner yards.

Tbilisi inner yards

Old Tbilisi is known for its distinctive balconies of various colors with carved ornaments - blend of European Neo-Gothic with Oriental influence.

Balconies of Old Tbilisi

Soon we were by Kura embankment enjoying the view of Metekhi cliff with residing on it Metekhi Church of Assumption dating back to XIII century. The district was one of the earliest inhabited areas in Tbilisi. The name Metekhi dates back to the XII century and literally means "the area around the palace" as one of the first buildings here were a church (that did not survive) and a fort that also served as  king’s residence.

Metekhi Church of Assumption

And here we are - in the Old Tbilisi. Even though it is called Old, the district is not really old by Georgian Standards. Most of the city did not survive to the devastating Persian invasion of 1795 and therefore when Russian army came over their goal was to quickly restore as many residential buildings as possible. Therefore most of the nowadays Old City dates back to XIX century - baby age by Georgian standards compared to Mtskheta or Gelati, for example. When something is done quickly it is usually not done properly, so recently Georgia faced a hard decision: how to restore the buildings that were not built to last? Numerous boards of historians and architects have debated the matter for quite a while and now an extensive renovation is ongoing. The renovation on the brink of rebuilding. It was a hard decision, but looks like it was the only way to keep the city's identity. At the end of the day, many cities that were almost smashed during World War II - such as Warsaw or Gdansk, for example - were rebuilt using ancient technologies and keep attracting tourists, so why not?

Soon we were by the famous Tbilisi Sulphur Baths. We were told by Inga that after a bath you would like a newborn but at the same time incredibly exhausted. So we decided to leave it to the last. Running ahead of my story, we never got to experience the baths as we were too exhausted by walking an entire day in the city heat - that's another thing we had to leave for the next visit. But surely it is one of unforgettable and unique experiences in Tbilisi so if you want to learn more we refer you to Jennifer's blog about Georgia. She is a freelance writer specializing in travel and art who spent a few months exploring Georgia.

But we did what we are good at: took pictures, and plenty of them.

I guess, here will be a good moment to tell the legend how Tbilisi was founded.
Legend says that in the middle of the V century the territory of present Tbilisi was covered with forests and King Vakhtang I Gorgasali (buried in Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta where the capital was located at the time) was once hunting here. His falcon caught a pheasant and both of them fell. When the King approached he discovered that the birds fell in the nearby spring which was so hot that the birds boiled alive. These springs impressed King Vakhtang so much that he ordered to built a city on this location. The new city was named Tbilisi coming from the Old Georgian word "Tpili" (თბილი), meaning "warm" because of numerous sulphuric hot springs that came out of the ground.
Vakhtang himself died before the capital was moved to the new location. But his eldest son Dachi of Iberia (given a territorial epithet Ujarmeli - from Ujarma - the fortress we will see the next day) completed his father's wish.

Of course, the healing powers of the spring have long been used and sulphur baths were erected on the location. The baths from the eye level looked good but we were looking for a higher point. We walked up the hill by Grishashvili street (it also happened to lead to the bath recommended by Jennifer so you can have two pleasures in one). Of course, carpets may not be drying anymore but look for the signs depicted on the right (they will be one your left hand though). Once you see them, turn right and you will find yourself in a courtyard. Look around for stairs leading up: they are not easy to spot so here are some pictures to make it easy for you to find. 

The stairs will take you to the roof top. Walking around the cupolas of the baths you can find some unusual views, such as below. Or use your own imagination. 

By then we were already quite exhausted and were looking for nothing more than a carafe of cold white in a dark cellar. Well, any shade would do.
We looked at some French Brasserie - it looked neat and air-conditioned, but we were not here to taste French cuisine. In search of a more authentic experience we walked into a cellar that promised Georgian treats. We sat down and even placed our orders when we found out that the restaurant did not have any wine. A couple of nights before we had visited a simple 24/7 restaurant and they served nice house white, how could they not have it in the tourist city center? How could this happen in Georgia at all? Still a mystery to us.
We kept looking for a shady place on Shardeni street (sometimes also called Chardin, in a French manner). First we though that the Georgians are simply trying to show off and named the street in a French manner to give it more gloss. In fact, it is named after Jean-Baptiste Chardin - a XVII century French traveler. Due to his protestant origins he had little chance in his native France so he traveled the territories of contemporary Turkey, Crimea, Georgia, Iran (then Persia) and even India. He left a 10-volume book The Travels of Sir John Chardin that describes among others life in Georgia, and is considered on of the brightest minds of Enlightenment Age. No wonder the street was named after him.
Shardeni houses multiple cafés, boutiques, galleries and cute city sculptures.

In the plethora of cafés some were too noisy, some allowed hookah smoking so eventually we landed in a Bio-Café that seduced by its quietness, shady terrace, view over Metekhi Church with the equestrian statue of Vakhtang I Gorgasali and Georgian cuisine (more about it later).

Metekhi Church with the equestrian statue of Vakhtang I Gorgasali

A pleasant surprise was the presence of cute ducklings grazing next to the restaurant. We still did not understand whether they were a part of interior design, future fois or just got there by accident.

Cold white wine worked its magic and soon we were cooled down enough to continue our journey. The next stop was Narikala fortress. Perched on the hill overlooking the city, it is visible from everywhere but we knew from other bloggers that it is not that easy to find the way up. As suggested by Inga we opted for the cable car. Mind it, cable car station is on the opposite side of Kura river so you can cross it either by Metekhi Bridge or by newly opened bow-shaped Bridge of Peace (მშვიდობის ხიდი, mshvidobis khidi).
Rumor has it that at first Tbilisians were resistant to the appearance of such a modern bridge and pejoratively called it "female sanitary napkin". Nowadays, more than a year after the bridge was opened, people seem to get used and even enjoy it.

Bridge of Peace - mshvidobis khidi

We easily found cable car station but were puzzled by the sign below: we could not figure out whether we were supposed to pay 1, 2 or 3 lari. Eventually, we just gave money to the cashier and received 2 plastic cards (of course we never returned them as recommended by the sign). If you were able to figure it out - please let us know.

As the cable car goes up we see Narikala walls along with recently restored St. Nicholas Church.  

The fortress was originally called Shuris-tsikhe ("Invidious Fort"), but later the Mongols renamed it Narin Qala ("Little Fortress"). Most of extant fortifications date from the 16th and 17th centuries.

In 1827, parts of the fortress were damaged by an earthquake

Another attraction visible from most of the old city is Kartlis Deda (ქართლის დედა - Mother of Kartli), erected on top of Sololaki hill in 1958 when the city celebrate its 1,500 years.
It is a twenty-meter aluminum figure of a woman in Georgian national dress. She symbolizes the Georgian national character: in her left hand she holds a bowl of wine to greet those who come as friends, and in her right hand is a sword for those who come as enemies.
Oh, these Georgians, they just cannot do without a bowl of wine!

Kartlis Deda - Mother of Kartli

It is hot, and street vendors are in full spread offering cool drinks from such unusual "fridges" made of cardboard boxes wrapped with packaging tape stuck on top of baby-carriage carcasses. From its look, I don't even want to think what they could have used as insulation. Why not to invest in a proper cooler for your everyday business? Another mystery.

Narikala gives another opportunity to look inside Old Tbilisi inner yards...

...admire the view over Kura (Mtkvari) with  Metekhi cliff and eponymous bridge and church...

...the newly-built Holy Trinity Cathedral (commonly known as Sameba (Georgian for Trinity) built to commemorate 1,500 years of autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church...

...and simply enjoy the view.

You can also enjoy the views of Thabori monastery built on the next hill.

It is not interesting to return same way we came so we decided to walk down: the sun was already lower and most of the walkway was in the shade of the hill. On top of us tireless cable car cabins were gliding across Kura.

Another view - this time with 3 churches: Metekhi, Ejmiatsin Armenian Church and Sameba.

Walking down we find ourselves in front of Cathedral of Saint George - Armenian church and the seat of Armenian archbishop in Georgia.

In the yard we found carved marble slabs with bas-reliefs and inscriptions in Armenian characters. For an unexperienced eye Georgian and Armenian letters might look same but they are different and languages belong to separate language groups: while Armenian language is classified as an independent branch of the Indo-European language family, Georgian language along with the entire Kartvelian group is not known to be related to any other language group, making it one of the world's primary language families.

Marble slabs in the yard of Armenian Cathedral of Saint George

Interior of Saint Georga Cathedral 

We go down towards Sioni cathedral dating mostly to  XIII century version with some changes from the XII to XIX centuries. It is Saturday evening and the mass is on. There are so many people (or is it just too hot?) that a lot are standing outside and the speakers spread the unbearably beautiful polyphony over the empty streets: everyone seems to be at the mass.

Even though Sioni also boats beautiful frescoes, we do not feel like going in -  who are we, two tourists with clicking cameras if there are people who are there to pray?
We only photograph reliefs on the cathedral walls...

...and the cross behind it. Another thing to do next time.

On the way back we stop by "Tamada" - it is a sculpture modeled after an ancient Colchian statuette found at Vani in Imereti region. Archaeologists claim that the first settlements in Vani date back to XVII-XVII cnetury BC while the small statue of a man holding a wine glass (again Georgians and their wine!) dates back to V century BC. Georgians took it as a testimony of the importance of viticulture in their lives since antiquity and erected a sculpture in the middle of Tbilisi. They named it Tamada - the person who conducts the Georgian feast (but more about Georgian food later). No wonder, the Georgian annual national award in wine-making is also called Tamada and the trophy looks like... of course, another copy of this ancient figurine.

It is getting darker as we walk past the doll museum and admire the nearby sculpture.

Last look at Tbilisi - Sameba lights up, slow and lazy river Mtkvari surrounded by parks with kissing couples reflects the lights and the darkness hides the kisses.

Tomorrow another early wake-up: our last day in Georgia will be spend in wine-making region of Kakheti...

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Georgia. David Gareji - Sighnaghi

This is one country we wanted to visit for a long time. All we knew was that Georgia has a rich cultural heritage, beautiful nature, good food and a lot of wine. When we found out that they just recently opened direct flights between Tallinn and Tbilisi we figured it was the time to go.

We looked at the map: the entire country was some 600km long so we figured 6 days would be enough to see it all (which later on proved so wrong!), bought tickets on a whim, merely a couple of days before the flight and started researching where to stay and what to see. First of all, it is not that easy to find info about Georgia online as all requests for "Georgian Tourism board", "weather in Georgia","hotels in Georgia" bring you to the pages related to US State of Georgia. Even the Georgian travel site that was aggressively promoted on Estonian TV and billboards around the country contained no useful info and redirected to tour agencies sites. We contacted one of them and they quoted us the price of 800 euro per person for a 3 days wine tour. Of course, "wine in abundance" was included in the price, but still it seemed unreasonably high.

The search in Russian proved much more useful. First of all, there is no confusion of names with US state: unlike in Western languages the Russian for Georgia is Gruziya (Грузия). Apparently medieval Russian merchants heard this word - gurğ - from their Persian colleagues. And already 14th century travelers mentioned gurzi in their travel notes. From Russian this term entered other Slavic languages, the languages of the countries forming Russian Empire and then Soviet Union (such as Estonian, for example where they call it Gruusia) and even such languages as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew and Yiddish.

By the way, Georgians themselves do not use either of these versions for self-designation: they call their country Sakartvelo (საქართველო - I know you cannot read it but it is just so beautiful!) -  the land of Kartvelians.

Linguistic problems aside, while for most Westerners Georgia still remains a sort of terra incognita, Russian (and Russian speaking) people continue to love and visit Georgia despite political games. While in English you are more likely to find official sites of overpriced hotels and tour companies, Russian blogs and travel sites provide more hands-on information from independent travelers, backpackers, hitch-hikers...

But the more sites we browsed the more the name of some Vadim came up: it was a guy who offered rooms for rent in his house in Tbilisi and also conducted guided tours around Georgia in small groups. All the feedback was so overwhelmingly positive - "we would not have seen so much without Vadim!", "the trip would not have been so great without Vadim!" - that we first thought this Vadim was writing all these "testimonies" himself. When it is too good it is also suspicious! Plus Erkki being Estonian with their cult of privacy was repulsed by the idea of sharing living space with a bunch of strangers. So we continued looking. But as the flight approached we did not advance much: the hotel sites contained no prices and no possibility of booking online. Plus, our flight arrived and 4am and we imagined at that hour the airport could be empty with no taxi drivers. Where would we go? How would we find a hotel?

So - not without hesitation - we decided to email this legendary Vadim (if he existed). We received a response within minutes and were guaranteed accommodation (15euro per person per night including breakfast) as well as pick-up from the airport, also included in the price. We decided to go with it at least for the first night and look around on the spot.

And here we are.

Tbilisi airport at 4am happened to be a bustling place: there were many flights departing and landing. Apparently, since Tbilisi is not one of priority destinations they receive flight corridors at the least comfortable time. After we reunited with our suitcase and stepped out into arrival area we saw a dense crowd meeting the flights. How can we recognize this Vadim? The only hope is that he would recognize us as we had sent him our pictures. But since on the picture Erkki was holding a fish and I had feather on the head, we imagined we would spend at least another half hour walking around peeking at other people suspecting every one of them to be Vadim. But before we even finished this thought we were approached by a young man with a code-phrase "Are you Vadim's guests?". Well, young man definitely knew how to recognize people! He introduced himself as Vadim's son Levan and we hurried out of the airport into the thick Southern night. Another young man joined us and we were told to wait for the car on the curbside away from the airport building. Anywhere else in the world this situation would have been spooky if not dangerous: two young men take us away from the main building with witnesses and security cameras, a car with the third accomplice arrives, they take all our belonging and disappear in the dark.

Fear not. Georgia is one of the safest countries we have visited: people stroll along the streets and seat in the cafés together with kids way past midnight, one might see the cars left on the parking lots with windows open and during a short stop even with keys in the ignition. The feeling that there is no need to look across your shoulder and check in which (or whose) neighborhood you accidentally end up is liberating. At first we always made sure to carry our cameras and computers with us at all times, but soon started to feel no worries leaving things in the van during our stops.

But let us not run ahead of our story. Soon we were in Saburtalo - green residential district of Tbilisi with mostly private houses. We were shown to our room and immediately fell asleep. In the morning the house started to wake up: from various outbuildings forming a sort of labyrinth emerged international guests (at that time there was a family from Kazakhstan, young mother from Smolensk in Russia, later a group from Vilnius came). All flocked to an open air terrace where they were treated to warm Georgian flatbread, fresh salad, fruits and sausages or eggs sunny side up. The breakfast finishes with tea or Turkish coffee boiled in cezve and keeps you going till abundant dinner.

There, at the terrace we met the legendary Vadim and his wife Inga. He existed!

One definite advantage of staying at Vadim's is that you are not on your own: whether you need to find a public bus station, currency exchange, the best churchkhela in town (national treat made of walnuts wrapped in dried wine juice) or legend on how Tbilisi was founded, they will patiently explain, draw schemes or equip you with a map for an independent exploration.

Vadim asked about our interests, priorities and expectations. One of the ideas - visiting mountainous region of Svaneti - was proved impossible to accomplish during our short stay: what seemed mere 300km drive was in fact a long trip first overnight by train, then by car, so it was postponed till our next visit to Georgia (we are positive to be back). As to two other places we wanted to visit - wineries of Kakheti region and David Gareji monastery - it was all possible. In fact, Vadim was planning a tour to Kakheti within the next few days. 

As to David Gareji, we were offered to go by taxi with one of the recommended drivers. Inga also suggested to combine it with a visit to Sighnaghi. The price was 150 lari (75 euro). For what happened to be a 13 hours trip, sometimes by very bad roads, we think it is a fair price. 

Some may find it steep and use public transport. This is true: it is possible to get to Sagarejo (see map) by public vans and then negotiate with one of the local taxi drivers to take you to the monastery (we read that some negotiated for 35 lari round trip with a two-hour wait on the place). It is also possible to reach Sighnaghi by public transport. But the timetables of public transport are not posted or if they are, they are in Georgian, plus the driver can easily deviate from the schedule. Standing on the roadside waiting for the van that is not necessarily coming is not something we wanted to do. We paid a bit more, but were picked up and droped off at Vadim's, the driver made photo stops as often as we pleased. Sometimes he would stop to show us how some of the fruits grow, drink fresh water from the springs he knew about or to explain how the watermelons are cultivated.

Nodar giving us agricultural lessons

We turned from the main road in Sagarejo and the road got bad. We did not know that after the last village before the monastery - Udabno (pictured below) - the road will turn from bad into very bad. Apparently this stretch used to be covered with asphalt, but now it was spatter of holes of different size and depth. So do not rely on maps - even Google who knows everything shows this last stretch as asphalt road. The map we had with us was also showing roads that did not correspond to reality. Overall, especially if you are used to Northern style of driving, we do not recommend renting a car in Georgia, unless you have some dzhigit blood running in your veins .

The landscapes however were worth the inconvenience.

As Nodar explained, it was the area of winter pastures: the lambs were staying up in the mountains during the hot summers and returned here for the winter.

Soon the landscape got drier: David Gareji is located in the desert. This small country is so versatile that they have glaciers up in the mountains, subtropical climate by the seaside and even a small desert.

One of the farms where the grass is kept for the winter

The road was mostly empty (even though we met three tourist buses) and our only travel companions were locusts.

Next to the monastery the red desert became even more apparent.

Soon we saw a former monastery watchtower now used by Azerbaijan border control. During the Soviet times when it was all one country the border between Georgian Soviet Republic and Azerbaijan Soviet Republic was drawn on top of the mountain ridge so now some parts of the monastery complex are located in Azerbaijan.There it is called Keşiş Dağ. The borders is still subject to dispute with Georgia willing to trade due to its sacral importance while Azerbaijan refuses to trade the territory because of its strategic location. Hard to tell why this piece of mountainous desert almost unaccessible from Azerbaijan side can be attractive for anyone except monks, but...

10 more minutes of amazing landscapes...

...and we were on the parking lot with a few taxi drivers patiently waiting in the shade while their passengers climb up and down the mountains.
A short decent brings you to the church shop. Behind it a trail starts so remember this spot.

From the plateau next to the church shop one can see monastery vegetable garden. 

The shade behind the church shop is also a good spot to change: the churches and monasteries have a dress code . Women have to have their heads covered and must wear skirt. For those wearing pants literally every temple has a perch with scarves and shawls hanging so even those in pants can wrap themselves. Men cannot wear shorts and cannot have bare feet. So even if you are wearing sandals you must put on socks. For men it is a good idea to have loose sport pants that you can put on top of shorts and then take off easily. Ladies, it is a good idea to bring a shawl. If you did not - every subway (metro) station is a mini-market where you can easily find something (I bought the red dress pictured below and put it on before visiting every church).
I personally have not seen anyone escorted out of churches, barely a despleased grimace on a monk's face. But when getting ready for the trip it is a good idea to consider the beliefs of those you visit and respect them.

Entrance to the monastery, already properly dressed

And here they are: the monks' cells carved in the mountain

The cells have carved niches for every need

As throughout centuries more powerful neighbors tried not only to conquer Georgia but also to eradicate Christianity, almost every monastery is surrounded by walls and has watchtowers.

These walls could not always protect the monks. Persian Shah Abbas whose destructive trace can be seen all over Georgia visited David Gareji and killed around 6,000 monks who lived in the complex.

Nowadays the monastery is not a tourist object, it is still active, the monks live here so it is not possible to visit a large part of the monastery and almost impossible to see the monks.

But we were lucky and caught one on camera.

After having visited the temple we went out and as advised by Vadim took the hiking trail behind the church shop.

The trail leads to the mountain ridge from where you can see Azerbaijan. Up there more chapels can be found as well as caves where monks used to live. In some caves (check out the bigger ones) there are remains of ancient frescoes that created the foundation of Garejian school of fresco painting and later influenced frescoes all over Georgia. They say the views are breathtaking and depending on your fitness level it will take you between 1 and 2 hours.

Unfortunately as we were running out of time (our trip started around noon, then we spent some time exchanging money and buying red dress): the driver explained that if we wanted to see Sighnaghi we had to leave David Gareji at 4pm. So again, that's another thing that we left for the next visit. 

Still we went up the trail till the first viewpoint. even from there you can see the monastery with Garejian desert behind.

Unfortunately we had to return from here but if you are up for the hike do not forget a bottle of water: it is a desert!

Last look at the monastery...

...and we started our drive back to Sagarejo: first by very bad road so the bad one did not seem so bad after all.

Driving back, jumping on the bumps and falling in the holes two thoughts were fighting "M-m-make n-n-n-normal r-r-road" competed with "Would there rather be a huge parking lot with buses driving in and out? vendors selling David Gareji fridge magnets? Entrance fee? Security guard checking the skirt length? Hiking trail closed for safety reasons?". When all these appear in a religious site something very important starts to be missing.  We would rather have it the way it is. This is what we love Georgia for: the things are real here, no Disneyland.
Later on we visited another cave monastery in Vardzia and it also became one of our top 3 things in Georgia, along with Gelati monastery.

Our next stop Sighnaghi however was totally different if not opposite: according to the President's plan it was to become one of Kakheti tourist centers. No wonder most English-speaking tourists praised this city most: clean, colorful, with cute little cafés and galleries. This is what many tourists expect to see when traveling: picture-perfect town.

Make sure you ask your driver to make a photo-stop approaching the city:

City hills offer good vantage points with fortress and fertile Alazani valley in the background.

The fortress starts in the city and runs around quite a large territory. We were trying to find a way up the tower but could not find any entrance: the steps are covered with dense bushes.

The church is seen from many spots.

All the city was renovated at the State expense so those who were lucky to live in the tourist center received an upgraded houses absolutely free. Later on we saw the same in Mtskheta. Telavi and Kvareli in Kakheti region are to follow: construction has already started.

Now Sighnaghi streets look the way a tourist wants to see them

Clean, bright, colorful - new face of Sighnaghi

Some buildings were restored on the brink of being totally rebuilt:

We did not have a guide but believe this must be city hall

But it is possible to find some local color even here:

All the elements of a tourist city are here: fountains, city sculpture...

...local businesses also start to catch up and offer carriage ride:

Overall, we had a dual impression: on one hand we are used to clean and cute tourist cities where everything is organized, vantage points are marked on the map, arrows point where they are supposed to point - no wonder a lot of foreigners like Sighnaghi. On the other hand, the city seems a bit artificial. Maybe it is due to its young age in the new status of "Tourist face of Georgia" and after locals get used to changes the city will seem more lively... Anyway, if we wanted to see a manicured old town we should not have left Tallinn. We travel to see something different and Sighnaghi seems to have little to do with real Georgian life...

Last stop on the way back is Bodbe, located just 2 kilometeres from Sighnaghi female monastery where Saint Nina of Cappadocia is buried. Saint Nina arrived to Georgia in the early 4th century in search of Jesus' tunic. It was known that one of the guards - a Georgian Jew took it with him. Nina did not find the tunic, it surfaced itself later (we will talk about it with regards to our trip to Svetitskhoveli temple in Mtskheta), but she converted Georgian king Miriam into Christianity. Thus Georgia became one of the first countries in the world where Christianity was State religion (it happened not later than 337).

By the time we arrived the monastery gate was closed but as we walked around we noticed that the service gate was open and followed the lady in black whipping up monastery cows to enter its territory.

The new church is being built and stone carvers were already working on the decor.

Make sure to visit the Holy spring.

In the very back of the monastery, on the hillside were monastery vegetable gardens with a young nun sitting on the balcony. Hard to think of a more serene picture.

When we came back our driver Nodar was talking to a group of men. We had seen them before: they were walking next to the monastery walls with huge plastic canisters full of something. We made a joke that local men were stocking up on their nightly supply of beer. But Nodar told us they were the team of stone carvers who travel around Georgia making stone ornaments for new temples - he knew them because before they had worked in Tbilisi. And in the canisters there was holy water from the springs. We felt embarrassed. Clearly, you cannot apply your usual standards while in Georgia.

On the way back we asked Nodar to stop at a roadside café for dinner and some local wine. Here happened our first encounter with local cuisine. But more about Georgian feasts - later.

We returned to Vadim's long after midnight with a 10 liter canister of home-made white Kakhetian wine we had bought on the roadside. And even though the next day promised to be  full of adventures - Djvari, Mtskheta, Shio-Mgvime, Ananuri, Zhinvali lake - we stayed on the terrace with other guests, Levan was reciting poetry, we were talking about our countries - Russia, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Belarus, Georgia - drinking wine in the thick Southern night.
Sharing living space with other was not that scary after all. In fact, our nightly gathering on the terrace with other guests from different countries turned into something we enjoyed a lot. Discussing daily adventures with people from different backgrounds gave us a new perspective and made look at what we saw from different, often unexpected angles.