We arrived here last night and were immediately charmed by the beauty of the place. The hotel has walls draped in lovely carpets with chickens and roosters as their motif. There are two pianos, one in the entrance vestibule and one in the bar. The situation of the hotel/resort is on the side of the valley looking across to the Cave city. Between us a river flows fast with rapids and a delightful but relentless power sound. Cows wander freely. Behind us further up the hill sits a tiny chapel and Karaoke bar!
The next morning we are off to see the ancient cave city and monastery of Vardzia excavated from the Erusheti mountain above the Kura river in the 12th century. They stretch for half a kilometre and have about 19 tiers. There are still five monks living here. The church of the Assumption was built in the golden age of Queen Tamar and Rustaveli, the Georgian poet, and dates from the 1180s.
The site was mostly abandoned after the Ottoman takeover in the 16th Century and used by shepherds. Their fires actually preserved many of the frescos in the church.
It would have been great to spend more time here but several of the party couldn’t manage the steps so we were mindful of not keeping them waiting. Our next stop was a reconstructed castle in the nearby town.
Because the road is a narrow, winding major thorough fare for trucks from Türkiye it was a slow trip to the castle. Also not helped by the livestock wandering across the roads.
The castle was representative of all the invaders! Turks, Iranians, Russians etc. getting our head around the geopolitical history of these countries is really hard. They are proudly, almost defiantly Christian despite the invaders which is admirable but so far we feel the Russians have had a more lasting presence or influence over Georgia. It doesn’t seem as settled or happy as Armenia.
We were desperate for lunch by the time we arrived but our restaurant didn’t seem to understand the urgency( we were supposed to have a guided tour) it took nearly an hour to get our soup. What we thought would be quickest. All the soups turned out to be the same base too. They were so disorganised and we felt cross with our guide who didn’t seem to make an effort to facilitate the situation. Poor Beryl was the last to get her soup after we had all mostly finished.
We got back late and we were all happy to eat and go to bed, except John jr., Anne, Nancy and I. We went to the bar and had cognac and cocktails while John and Anne played Chopsticks on the piano!
fleetfootkath 