Georgia on our mind - the Caucasus' version


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Asia » Georgia
May 9th 2019
Published: May 9th 2019
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Tuesday 7 May - a day to look forward to or not? Because today is when we head back over the border, in the reverse direction this time - Armenia into Georgia. Would the trip be better? Worse? than when we came over before, albeit in the far west of the country?

We set off early. No intention of arriving in the dark like the journey after our last border crossing. Stopped in Gyumri on the way for a coffee. Maybe not the best choice of 'coffee shop'. Given the dress and makeup style of the waitress, dark decor, the appearance that there may be 'back rooms', and the Victoria's Secrets video on the TV, we - Paul ? - felt we may have been just one small Georgian/English language misunderstanding away from a "would you like extras with that?" mistake! But the coffee was alright!

Although we didn't tarry in the town we know that Gyumri was practically levelled in the 1988 earthquake, killing 50,000 and driving many of the survivors away.

In 1837 the town was visited by Tsar Nicholas I who renamed it Alexandropol after his wife. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, changed to Leninagan, then back to Gyumri after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union. In 1920 the Turkish-Armenian war ended here with the signing of the Treaty of Alexandropol.

As we reached the outer edge of town there was, in the centre of a roundabout and beneath a huge brick archway, a large statue of Charles Aznavour, unveiled in 2001. Again, though, can find out nothing as to why in this town.

From Gyumri we pressed on to the border, with the road getting ever more potholey and rough, like we had faced on the Armenian side on our way in. On the way we came across a road repair gang but, unlike a few days ago, this part of Armenia seemed to have got it together and had Team A and Team B working in tandem. We first passed a team filling, and road-rollering the holes - though we think they need a heavier roller, as the fillings weren't exactly flat - and barely 100 yards up the road a team using a tractor mounted, hole clearer - like an oversized, rotating, wire brush - to square up and clean out the potholes.

The border crossing - out of Armenia and into Georgia - went much more smoothly. The only 'point' was the Georgian customs official's reaction to our answer of "None" when asked whether we had any Armenian brandy with us. We think 'none' is not the common answer!

And then through the gate/boundary to find.....

Have any of you been to Salisbury Plain and seen the sort of dirt-based, cratered tracks that the army practices its tank manoeuvres on?

That's what we had..... for around 30 kms ? - and the road beyond that was as crap as they come. Trust us. The photo does not do justice to what it was like on that first stretch.

Anyway, we finally arrived at our hotel for the night - the Fish Hotel, but we don't know why - in very good time. In hindsight, as we found the next day, we could have easily pressed on an extra hour or less and had a guesthouse in the wonderful valley that led up to our first stop the following day.

Having checked in, we went into 'town' and had a quick look at its ruined fortress. On the way back we passed a money exchange place which we thought would do for us to offload our Armenian Dram into Georgia Lari. However, when Paul went in they were unable to help. But a lady - customer? - was giving off helpful signs. She made a phone call and the next thing we know she is leading Paul out of the money exchange and up the street. About 50 yards up she turned into an alley. Paul was still tightly clutching our ~£130 of Armenian money. There was activity in the alley, some small market type stalls.

A man approached Paul - short, balding, white bomber jacket, a bit like a tubby Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses. Paul showed him the money, which was counted, the bloke pulled out a large, old, phone and used its calculator to show 81,000 (our Armenian Dram) × 5 (presumably the conversion rate) to give 405,000. Which was an impossibly incorrect amount as it's approx 600 Dram, and 3.5 Lari to the pound. But Paul realised that the '000 needed taking away to leave 405 Dram, which was acceptable enough. Del Boy pulled out a thick wad of cash from his pocket, counted out 8 × 50, and 1 × 5 Lari notes and the exchange was done, sealed with a firm handshake. .

Although the overnight was in a bit of a dead-end place the room was OK for the night (though for some reason is the 2nd place we've stayed in where the mattress appears to be just springs covered by a single thickness of cloth, with no padding in between). Another Caucasus' breakfast ie bread, cheese, and away we went.

The road, an actual road, gradually got better and less potholed, and the drive to our first Wednesday stop - Vardzia cave village - was lovely. Passing a 'train carriage as bridge' , following the river downhill, meandering through a wide gorge until a turn up through a feeder river valley. So beautiful. And a lovely, hot - for a change - coffee next to the in-spate river.

Vardzia dates from the 2nd half of the 12th C, stretches along the cliff face for some 500 metres and has up to 19 tiers. There were once 3000 habited caves, and thousands of people living in them. A huge earthquake in 1456 destroyed many and only 550 caves have since been uncovered.

The Church of the Dormition (not a mistype), in a cave, dating to the 1180s, has an important series of wall paintings. Soviet era excavations have shown habitation in the Bronze Age, and further cave settlements up-river dating from 5th C BC.

There are dwellings, meeting rooms, wine cellers, bakery, refectory. .... built into the complex. A veritable Conference Centre indeed, though originally without all the metal walkways and staircases that are now there for the tourists. It even faces south, to catch the most of the sun.

On the way out and back we had to drive over a 'dip' in the road where it had dropped several inches. Alongside it the crash barrier was all crumpled, but in towards the road. The only thing that we think can have caused this is for there have been a significant earth movement, not necessarily a quake as such but at least a fault drop.

On our way out from this side valley we stopped at the imposing Khertvisi Fortress, precariously perched atop a cliff face above the river valley below. The fortress is one of the oldest in Georgia, original location dating back to 2nd C BC, when it witnessed the battle of Alexander the Great of Macedon. It was significantly rebuilt in 10th and 14th Cs. The location is strategically important at the confluence of two rivers, and used to control the roads leading to Armenia and Byzantium. A look at a relief map will show little alternative routes.

A continuing lovely drive - so much more of a pleasure when you can admire the gorgeous scenery rather than focusing 20 feet ahead looking for the next pothole - across rolling hills, and following the river valley to Borjomi on the Mitvari river. The river is currently in full flow as evidenced by the number of edging trees that are well submerged in the flow.

The town dates from 1829 when some retreating soldiers discovered the health giving natural spring here. Count Vorontzav then developed Borjomi as a resort, fashionable with the Russian aristocracy, especially after Duke Mikhail Romanov (brother of Tsar Alex II) took a liking to it.

In the 1890s Duke Mikhail built a summer residence, the Likani Palace, 2km from town. Finding out about this, Pip - as a lover of all things Romanov related - got all excited about the possibility of visiting the palace, especially having looked for some pictures of it and seeing how grand it looks. However research showed that it was not open for visiting. In fact it appears to have been sold by the Georgian Government into private hands which has upset many people.

During the Soviet era Borjomi attracted huge numbers of visitors from all over the USSR, and there is an air of faded elegance about the place, especially in the walk towards its Mineral Water Park. Since the collapse the flow of visitors slowed to a trickle but it is on the up apparently. It is currently playing upon it being Georgia's lowest altitude ski resort (around 850 m ) but only 30 kms from Guauri which has ski runs between 2 to 3000+ m.

We had a lovely late afternoon / evening walk through the park, past mineral springs and faded children's fairground rides. On the way back through the park Paul tried some water from the tap and declared that it tasted like ... water. However, near the entrance, at a cupola under which, based on the number of people previously filling their plastic bottles, there was clearly a spring water supply. Paul tried this and declared that it tasted. ... distinctly sulphurous. ?

Delicious local meal that evening, #4 on TripAdvisor for the town, 2 mains, a salad, 2 drinks, about £7.

Thursday, and the thought of badly potholed roads is behind us (for now - who knows what the remaining days of driving will bring). Again, through deep river valleys, high wooded cliffs. There does seem to be a lot of wandering, wild (?) dogs roaming the countryside, many seemingly living near to lay bys in the hope of a bite to eat. Otherwise how do they eat, or are they vegetarians? The odd one or two in the villages even seem to understand how a pedestrian crossing works!

The cows, on the other hand, are just as numerous and seem to have no awareness of the rules of the road.

Compare and contrast - there were equally many cows on the road in India. There, we were led to believe, if you hit and killed one, as they are sacred animals in India all hell would break lose. Here, we imagine they would shrug their shoulders and portion it up for the BBQ!

The 2nd half of the run to Kutaisi spent km after km going downhill, in various degrees of steepness. We found that the emergency stop, gravel filled lanes that we have in the UK, they have here too ... but here, in English, they call them "wrecking cul-de-sac".

We also seem to have also entered an area where the dominant tree is white laburnum (not yellow) in full flower.

Gelati Monastery, sits high on the hillside above Kutaisi (but doesn't sell ice creams). Built by King David the Builder (not he of Goliath fame) in 1106 as a centre for both Christian culture and Neo-Platonist learning. King David invited scholars to teach here and the Gelati Academy became, according to Medieval chroniclers, 'a second Jerusalem '.

Many Georgian rulers were buried here, including Dave the Builder himself, Queen Tamar (for you Cornish followers), and Bagrat III.

The interior of the main Cathedral of The Virgin is amongst the brightest and most colourful in Georgia with beautiful frescoes painted between the 12th to 18th C. In the apse there is a famous 1130s mosaic of Virgin & Child, with Archangels Michael and Gabriel.

Brief drive into Kutaisi for a 2 night stay and up to the Bagrati Cathedral along car shaking cobbled streets. Originally 14th C but allowed to go into bad decay, it had major restoration early this century, finishing in 2012. Rebuilt in stone where needed, plus some very out of keeping metal pillars, metal & glass internal balconies and external extension, and a bright green metal roof. In 2017 UNESCO removed it from its world heritage listing, considering its major reconstruction detrimental to its integrity and authenticity.

The Georgian mafia is regarded as one of the biggest, powerful and influential criminal networks in Europe, which has produced the biggest number of "thieves in law" in all former USSR countries. Kutaisi was (who knows - is?) regarded as its centrepiece.

Tomorrow? Don't know yet. There is a very interesting option, but would prefer it to be dry for that so need to see what weather is like when we get up.

Have eaten really well especially over the last couple of evenings. Tonight we finally got to try khachapuri, which is formed bread with cheese - a local, crumbly, feta style - baked inside it.

By the way - weren't Liverpool and Spurs both tremendous this week!


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