| The Caucasus - My Journal |
Travelling to the Cold, Desolate Russian Border
Tbilisi, 6th September
Early on Wednesday morning, 5 Germans and I climbed sleepily onto the waiting mini-van with its greying but surprisingly energetic Georgian driver. We greeted the driver half-heartedly who was Georgian and unable to speak English, even though the van had been rented from Avis. Luckily, one of the Germans, who was actually 1/2 (or some other fraction) Polish, was able to speak fluent Russian, so he acted as our interpreter for the day.
We needed to make an early start because we wanted to get to Georgian Military Highway. It's a fairly important Georgian town, however, the main sight is a nearby monastery located, alone, in the middle of the mountains and not far from the particularly imposing Mtskheta and Jvari Monastery. Like Armenia, Georgia is a very devout country, Christianity is very much a part of everyday and most of the key sights bear are related to Georgia's religious past. Mtskheta was the former capital of Georgia and holds a number of important religious sites, such as Svetitskhoveli Cathedral.
We stopped to have a look at Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and Jvari Monastery, among others and they were all quite different and very interesting in their own right. Without a guide, it was difficult to fully appreciate the importance of the sites and to understand the reliefs and decor. However, the Germans did quite a good job by translating the key points from their very detailed guidebook.
These sights were just a brief diversion though, from our real destination. After a few hours on a pretty good one-lane highway, the road got narrower, windier and rougher. The small track that we followed for the last hour or so was still the impressive sounds "Georgian Military Highway", even though it appeared to be no more than a back road!
However, as the road got rougher, the scenery got more impressive, and before we knew it, we were winding through impressive mountain scenery, huge peaks climbing gradually and little life around us. It seemed to be just us making our way slowly through the rolling, sparsely vegetated landscape. On the way, we passed a very strange piece of Russian artwork (I guess) a huge stone wall, shaped like an amphitheatre, with massive murals painted all over it. (I'll post the photos later). I really liked the art and it felt like the wall added to the beautiful landscape stretching away from us in every direction.
Before continuing on our way, we made a quick toilet stop. Of course, there are no public conveniences in this part of the world, so you need to use the "old-fashioned" ones (bushes, shrubs etc). As I darted off and began to answer the call of nature, I noticed that something wasn't quite right...yep...I, Mr Simon Hooks MSci ARCS, First class honours, was peeing into the wind. Probably the first rule any male learns and, in this really strong gale, I hadn't connected my brain. Luckily, I made the necessary adjustments to my direction just in time to stop any major problems. (Need to remember to wash these trousers though... :os ).
After another hour or so, we reached a tiny collection of concrete buildings where life seemed to be going on at a slow pace. What a strange place for a town!, I thought. I quickly realised that this barely existent town was Kazbegi, the "important" northern town and our destination!
Well, Kazbegi wasn't quite our destination...we still needed to get to the top of one of the nearby peaks to see the monastery. Although it would've been a relatively easy 1 hour hike up, the Germans insisted on making the most of their van and we slowly began to make our ascent in the hired minivan.
However, the driver didn't know the way, so we stopped a few times to ask the locals. I was less concerned about the directions that the conditions of the road. I knew that the road (path) to the top was very rough and was best attempted with a 4 wheel drive car...then, the locals that we asked turned out to be divided about 50-50 on whether the van would be able to make it to the top. Right...
So after lots of backtracking, bumping over very rough paths and having the distinct feeling, on many occasions, that we were about to topple off the road and down the mountain, we made it safely to the top. Phew!
The hair-raising journey was definitely worth it...on my travels I've seen lots of monasteries and churches, with a fair few of them being in isolated and beautiful surroundings, but this one was definitely near the top of the list. We really were isolated here, at the top of a green mountain peak with mountains gathered around us on every side. The monastery sat on top of a steep ridge, standing proudly against the strong gales and it really felt like we were in another world, a world like the Lord of the Rings!
After examining the monastery and taking plenty of photos, we rushed back into the waiting mini-van. The biting winds made the outside conditions bitterly cold, so there was no reason to hang around and we quickly began to make our slow descent.
By the time we got back to Tbilisi, it was already dark and pretty late, so the rest of the evening passed quietly. The Germans were off on another tour the next day, this time to underground cave complex. But as it was some 5 hours away, I decided to give it a miss and to spend my last day in Georgia taking it easy in Tbilisi.
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