Final Day in Georgia (This Trip)

Starting the day with some communist art in the heart of Kutaisi

Today will conclude the Georgia portion of this vacation. I will catch a flight to the final stop on this trip early tomorrow morning.

The sun was shining so, before breakfast and before the drive back to Tbilisi, I decided to do some shutterbugging in Kutaisi.

Where I soon saw a street dog tree a cat.

I heard the dogs bark and a cat scream and run and, then, I saw the cat up in the tree, right at that first branch coming off the trunk.

There was not much car traffic, and no bus traffic, at this morning hour, so I was able to take some unobstructed photos sans automobiles of Colchis Fountain in the heart of Kutaisi.

I also was able to take an unobstructed photo of the gateway entrance into Kutaisi Park:

Some fellow tourists had the same idea that this was a great hour for some tourist photography.

There was something on the map called the "Soviet Sculpture Complex" nearby that I had not yet checked out. Well, as Elvis once said/sang: It's now or never. I chose "now."

I may hate communism, but I am fascinated by Socialist Realism art. The display was small, but it was quite communist in tone.

Socialist man, looking socialist.

The reviews mention that these sculptures are poorly maintained and vandalized. I didn't really notice that, except for one point in the back corner that seemed to be missing a statue. It looked decently well-maintained to me, although it was missing any explanatory notes.

All in all, I thought it was nicely maintained when you consider that there is absolutely no nostalgia for the Soviet era anywhere in Georgia, except maybe for some clueless tourists at the Stalin Museum in Gori.

That is the respected (within Georgia) poet Akaki Tsereteli. He died in 1915, so he was fortunate not to see the Bolshevik takeover of Georgia. The Soviet conquest of what had been an independent republic after the fall of czar resulted in a massive slaughter of artists and poets, as well as politicians, religious figures, and the community elite. Just finishing up the communist detour here.

It was time to get back to the hotel to eat breakfast, shower, and pack for the drive back to Tbilisi. With a few stops along the way.

The first stop was Samtavro. This is a historic (but still in use) convent in Mtskheta. I visited Mksheta on Wednesday, but not the Samtavro convent.

I did visit Jvari Monastery high atop that hill, however, on Wednesday.

There was a nice crowd there.

The buildings of Samtavro originally were built in the fourth century, which would before Christianity came to Georgia. It was reconstructed as church property in the 11th Century.

I was dressed in shorts and a polo, so I could not go inside initially. The polo was acceptable, but not the shorts. But then one of the priests gave me permission to enter as long as I got some fabric to cover my bare knees. I had mentioned the Serbian Orthodox church that has been under construction in Las Vegas for maybe a decade and a half, and was being built in the traditional style. The priest was actually familiar with that church, although he definitely had not traveled to Las Vegas.

So, after getting wrapped in fabric, I was able to enter. The interior was beautiful, but no photography was allowed inside. Not even without a flash. One of the major focal points of the church is the tomb of Saint Gabriel, a monk who died in 1995. His tomb is a major pilgrimage site.

And so it was time to leave Samtrovo to head for Tbilisi.

The final stop of the tour was a site I had visited before going to Kutaisi: the Chronicles of Georgia. I was very happy to return here because this time I had a guide who would be able to explain some of the iconography involving the history of Georgia and the history of Georgian Orthodox church that were lost on me when I walked among the giant pillars with no guide.

For example, I did not need an explanation for this:

It's a Biblical scene. Adam naming the animals. If you know the Georgian language and alphabet, you would know that the word "Adam" appears in the upper corner.

However, my guide was able to tell me that this column is of King David the Builder, who earned his name by building much of Georgia, both in the sense of building buildings and building a Georgian culture.

This, a bit covered in shadows because the sun decided to go into hiding, is the only woman "king" of Georgia.

Tamar. She reigned from 1184 to 1213. She earned her place in the Chronicles of Georgia.

Here I am in front of one of my favorite scenes. Jesus walking on the water and, more importantly, Peter being unable to do so.

Again, I find the imagery comforting. Peter was a weak man whose faith was not continuously strong. Not only did he deny Christ three times on the night preceding the crucifixion, but he also showed a weakness of faith when Christ invited him to walk toward him -- on the water -- and Peter soon realized that he could not do so so he began to sink into the waters.

And how do I honor this?

With a sacrilegious reenactment.

One final pose standing tall in the midst of the Chronicles of Georgia.

And that will end the Georgia part of this vacation. One week in this country and it was not enough. Beautiful scenery. Great architecture. Delicious food. And, most importantly, so many of the warmest, most welcoming people I have met anywhere in all of my travels.

Touring Georgia Outside Tbilisi (Part I of III): Mtskheta

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral with a street dog posing in the front

Today was the day to see Georgia outside Tbilisi. Tbilisi tourists -- and they are legion -- who want to see the areas outside of the city typically head either east, to the Kakheti wine country, or the west, for a three-stop tour of Mtskheta, Gori, and Uplistsikhe. How many wineries in the world do you have to see before you've seen them all? I know wine tours are great fun if you want to drink wine all day with someone non-drinking doing all the driving. But I pointed my tour guide to the west.

The first stop of this multi-stop (and multi-post) tour was the town of Mtskheta, with two churches to see there. The first is in the lowlands, near the Kura River that eventually flows through the middle of Tbilisi.

This is the lowlands destination: Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. Carpets for sale! There always are carpets for sale at all the tourist hot spots in the Caucasus countries.

The cathedral is well-fortified.

Time to enter through the exterior walls:

And into the cathedral itself:

Let's have a look inside:

Like all great Christian church architecture, the design is meant to lift the eyes upwards. That means, practically speaking, the photos are in "portrait" and not "landscape" setting.

This is the walled-off altar area, with an enormous portrait of Christ:

The wall that separates the tourist zone for the sanctuary is, itself a beautiful sight:

 

Very nice. And it is a UNESCO World Heritage site, as it dates back to the fifth or sixth century A.D. and the early years of the Georgian Orthodox church. But only so many photographs looked decent given the dark lighting and the rule against flash photography.

Time to head to the next stop on the day's journey: 

Ascending the hill in Mtskheta to the second stop: the Jvari Monastery.

Like the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, this too is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

And like the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, it too comes with sleeping doggos. 

This is the view down on the town of Mtskheta. Zoom in and you can see the large Svetitskhoveli Cathedral on the right side of the picture.

Going into the Jvari Monastery:

This has a little more natural light than the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral:

So it's not just the candle power lighting these non-flash photos.

This shade of blue is quite common in Orthodox Christian archietecture, for those of us who are not Orthodox.

It signifies heaven. I am guessing the use of this shade of blue in Orthodox Christianity explains its use on the Greek flag, but that could be a coincident. Which I doubt since the Greek flag also features an Orthodox cross.

The monastery, not surprisingly, was much smaller than the cathedral. Much less time to explore.

But impressively old, as was the cathedral.

The interior is nice, but, of course, it is the physical setting on a bluff high above the Kura River looking down on the town of Mtskheta that makes the Jvari worth a visit.

Time to get back to the car for the next stop on the day's journey: the City of Gori.