What lucky timing. My cousin from Budapest came to Tbilisi to attend a medical students association conference, and came early to visit me for a few days. Orsi is so delightful, and she and her family have hosted our family in Budapest so often it was nice to reciprocate. Mike and Marcia, as usual, had planned a great exploratory weekend and invited us. It is so nice to be on one of Mike's "adventures."
We drove southwest from Koda to Tsalka and its beautiful Tsalka lake, and then up and over the Paravani Pass which is now open for the spring.
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| Tsalka |
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| Chapel at the convent. |
We drove past Paravani Lake and stopped at the southern tip to visit a well known Orthodox convent where they sell "french" type cheese, candy, honey and other homemade delicacies. Poka has nothing in the village but the convent and few houses ( thus the sign, in English).
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| This is the national Georgian dog. Yes, you can ride some of them. |
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| Orsi with view from the pass |
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Khertvisi fortress on the way to Vardzia
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Next we traveled northwest on our way to Vardzia. We drove past the stunning Khertvisi fortress, which is one of the oldest fortresses in Georgia and was functional throughout the Georgian feudal period. It sits on a rocky hill at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Paravani Rivers. And more than that, in researching it, I think it gives a great example of the history in Georgia. For example, the fortress was first build in the 2nd century BC. The church was built in 985, and the present walls build in 1354. During the 12th century it became a town. In the 13th century Mongols destroyed it and until the 15th century it lost its power. In the 15th century it was owned by a family and some repairs began. In the 16th century the southern region of Georgia was invaded by Turks. During next 300 years Khertvisi was under Turkish control. Then at the end of the 19th century Georgian and Russian army returned the lost territories and Khertvisi became the military base for Russian and Georgian troops. Today it is on the list of tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage.
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| Vardzia is an amazing cave site, once inhabited by 50,000 people! |
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Hi Kaitlin and Jenny - bumped into fellow PCVs
getting the last of touring in before closing our service...soon. |
We finally made it to Vardzia, a cave monastery site,
excavated from the slopes of the Erusheti Mountain on the bank of the Kura
River. Soviet-era excavations have shown that the area of Vardzia was inhabited during the Bronze Age.
The main period of construction was the
second half of the twelfth century. The caves stretch along the cliff for some
five hundred metres and in up to nineteen tiers. The Church of the Dormition,
dating to the 1180s during the golden age of Tamar and Rustaveli, has an
important series of wall paintings. The site was largely abandoned after the
Ottoman takeover in the sixteenth century. I was surprised that we saw an incredible amount of work that had been done to capture rain water, in almost every room in the left side of the structure. I don't remember that from our Mesa Verdi in the US.
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| Orsi and Pam tunneling through Vardzia |
We drove southwest from Koda to Tsalka and its beautiful Tsalka lake, and then up and over the Paravani Pass which is now open for the spring. 
