Stepantsminda - Uplistsikhe - Akhaltsikhe

An example of abandoned dilapidated Russian buildings.

A little shop that opened up beside our coach as we made a WC stop... check what it's selling.

An abandoned church too.

Too young kilted Scottish bicyclists.

Joseph Stalin and his parents.

The Stalin Museum.

Uplistsikhe, ('the Lord's Citadel'), a cave town hewn into rock

The church built centuries after the cave city...

and it's interior.

A fortress that we passed on the journey.

The Akhaltsikhe fortress which housed our hotel.

Sunday, May 18th.

We woke up to a cloudy morning today, we had the best yesterday. Today we continued down the Georgian Military Highway and turned east to Gori, the birthplace of Joseph Stalin (and our guide Koba). When we got there we had a lunch break and John and I ate pizza and salad witha beer in a little cafe where we met two young men in kilts. We asked what that was about and they told us they are cycling, in kilts, from Turkey through Georgia and then south through Iran and Iraq. Really nice guys and very funny, not to mention adventurous. The airline lost one of their tents and they are both sleeping rough in a single tent. We both regret not taking a contact for them to check their progress. It began to rain heavily when we visited the Stalin Museum which was dedicated to his life and really only showed the good times with people smiling everywhere. It was a museum of Soviet propaganda and whitewashing of the history of a man who robbed a bank early in life and was responsible for killing millions of people during his reign as supreme Soviet leader. The most interesting thing I saw there was a quote by Stalin himself that said: “... A human cannot live forever, so I will die as well. What will the verdict be? There were lots of mistakes but we had some success as well. The mistakes will be ascribed to me, my grave will be hurled by rubbish but the day will come when the wind of history will throw away the rubbish…” (Joseph Stalin 1939). Then we continued travelling the 8 km to Uplistsikhe, ('the Lord's Citadel'), a cave town hewn into rock. The citadel dates back to the 7th century BC, and had served as a strategic point on the ancient Silk Road from ancient times until the 15th century AD. As part of our visit, we saw the large central hall where pagan rituals were held, living rooms, and a 9th century church. We continued to Akhaltsikhe, a small city of about 50,000 and the capital of Samtskhe-Javakheti. The city has been around for at least 800 years, and was a regional administrative center for the Ottomans from the sixteenth century up to the Russo-Turkish War. Until the twentieth century Akhaltsikhe was majority Armenian, but today, unlike most of the province, it is majority Georgian. We checked into the Hotel Gino built into the Akhaltsikhe fortress built in the 13th century to protect the town of the same name. We had remarkable views of the walls, towers, and buildings inside. I managed to get photos before it got dark and we had a thunderstorm. We are leaving early tomorrow and I’m disappointed I won’t get to explore the fortress before we leave, as there is a fee to pay to get to the upper portion and it only opens at 9. Anyway we had a good multicourse meal with too much food. We had a beer and talked for a bit. Then John called Lindsay and I updated a few posts to try to catch up. Bed by 11.

Great Hike in the Stepantsminda Area

Our goal, top of the left mountain.

The view from the top looking back from whence we came. 

Gergeti Trinity Church at the summit.

Who is shining in?

A couple of small churches in the quaint town of Sno.

St. Michael The Archangel Church at the Georgian/Russian border.

Gergeti Trinity Church lit up at night...

seen from our hotel.
 

Saturday, May 17th.

Today we delved deeper into the heart of the Caucasus Mountains, venturing to the stunning Kazbegi region. The landscape was breathtaking, dominated by the majestic Mount Kazbek, and offered a unique blend of natural beauty and cultural heritage. It was a cool morning but the sun was shining and the skies were blue. Eight of us took the opportunity to hike to the Gergeti Trinity Church, a picturesque religious site perched high on a hilltop. The hike was challenging, rising 400 metres over a 5kms. The rest of the group were driven up in 4x4’s. We did not hike up the road but on trails, paths and some wooden stairs that protected the slope from being too muddy, through town and up through the woods. From there we could admire the panoramic views of the snow-capped Mount Kazbek and the surrounding valleys. We stayed up there for an hour exploring the monastery and admiring the views. Then we were shuttled back to the hotel to change our gear. We boarded the bus and headed into town to buy a few supplies for lunch on the run. Then we drove to the small picturesque town of Sno where we found a couple of little old churches and an old watch tower. Then we drove again on the Georgian Military Highway through the Darian Gorge, to the Georgia/Russia border where Georgia has built a brand new large new church, St. Michael the Archangel Church, on a cliff overlooking the Georgia border crossing to Russia in the Darial Gorge. This church is a patch of peace in a sea of political turmoil. The nuns live in a cloister on the hillside opposite the church. The monks enjoy nice digs in the monastery. Actually the church is at the border and Russia is four kilometres away on the other side of the neutral zone. Then we drove back the same route to our hotel for a bit of free time and dinner and an early night.

Tbilisi - Mtskheta - Stepantsminda (Mountains!)

Jvari Monastery built in the 6th century.

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, built in the 11th century.

The interior.

Another view of the cathedral.

The beautiful Ananuri Fortress.

The view from the tower.

The ceiling...

and the interior of the church at the fortress.

Ananuri Fortress from the bridge.

The snow capped Caucaus Mountains were stunning.

The Russian-Georgian Friendship Monument.

With Koba our excellent local guide.

Close up of the centre of the Friendship Monument.

A very picturesque place for a photo.

One of our neighbours...

and another.

Friday, May 16th.

This morning we left the capital and departed for Mtskheta, an ancient town of extraordinary importance to the Georgian nation, located about 20km out of Tbilisi. It was the capital of the eastern Georgian kingdom of Iberia (not to be confused with the European peninsula) from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD. Mtskheta was the site of Georgia's adoption of Christianity in 334 and remains the headquarters of the Georgian Orthodox Church. We visited the Jvari Monastery built in the 6th century and sitting atop a hill. Inside it was being repaired so there were wooden beams supporting it. Then we drove down to the town of Mtskheta to visit the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, built in the 11th century. This is the largest cathedral in Georgia. It was beautiful inside with many Christian icons and paintings. Most of the ceiling was white marble. A very friendly priest wanted to pose with me when he found out I was from Toronto. Again it was mind boggling to think of how they built a building like this back then. Both the monastery and the cathedral are among the finest architectural monuments in Georgia. We continued along the Georgian Military Highway, a historical road and major conduit leading north from Tbilisi into  Armenia and Russia and of course from Russia into Georgia. It was chalk full of transport trucks struggling with the inclines. The Chinese are digging a nine kilometre tunnel through a mountain that will bypass about 40 kilometres of the road and alleviate the truck traffic from the ski town at the summit. The highway passes the spectacular Ananuri Fortress, where we made a stop to visit this ancient medieval fortress and the church within. It was named after a young woman who became a martyr after she was captured and tortured during a siege by a rival faction but refused to give up the secret of where the fortress was getting its water, and was killed. John and I climbed the tower to get spectacular views overlooking the fortress and the water reservoir that provides water for Tbilisi. From there the highway climbs the sides of the dramatic Aragvi River Valley, providing incredible views of snow capped mountains and over the Jvari Pass (2395m /7,857 ft). We stopped at the top at the View Point for a picturesque panoramic view of the Greater Caucasian Mountain Range and to see the Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument built in 1983 to celebrate the bicentennial of the Treaty of Georgievsk and the ongoing friendship between Soviet Georgia and Soviet Russia. However, since the collapse of the USSR that friendship has been strained and now it is nothing much more than a tourist spot. Then we descended the pass to the town of Stepantsminda at 700m / 5577 ft. The town’s Russian name is Kazbegi, after the mountain, but since the tension between the two countries the Georgians prefer their name: Stepantsminda. Surrounded by gigantic mountains, Stepantsminda is a picturesque settlement overlooked by the biggest of them all -- Mount Kazbek (5047m / 16,558 ft) -- one of the six 5000+ metre peaks of the Caucasus. The town and rugged surrounds provide some of the most picturesque scenes in Georgia. We checked into our nice little guesthouse hotel and had some time before dinner at 7. John and I went for a walk about town and met a couple of the inhabitants, mostly cows and dogs before going back for dinner. Everyone headed to bed early as we have an early start and a big hike tomorrow.

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