Week 6 - Monastries, Mountains and mist

A fleet of taxis took us to the Azerbeicani consulate where we sat outside on the steps looking forlorn watched by the Embassy staff. After a short while we all piled back into taxis and headed back to the hotel. No real result but Jim was told that he could return in the afternoon and that they may take our passports. So we had a bonus day in Tblisi which involved eating more icecream – wonderful blackcurrant again for me and shopping for cook day. We decided to make dumplings for our group – well not exactly make them but buy them frozen which would have been fine except that we ended up not cooking that night and by the following night they were looking rather ordinary or as Denis said “there has been a mutant dumpling explosion”. Lunch was a rather tasty hot dog eaten in the park rather ruined for me as a little girl was begging and I just wished I had given it to her. Eventually Jim returned having left the passports and we set off for our bush camp which was a field somewhere out of Tblisi. As we had eaten in town, it was a quick set up and bed.

Picnic in park in Tblisi

Outside church near hotel


  The following morning’s drive took us to Davit Gareja area which has many monastries in it but our destination was Lavra Monastry. The drive there was stunning with the most beautiful hills, pastures, lakes and vipers! The monastry had been founded in the 6th century and carved out of the rock. Over the years it had been ransacked on various occasions and wasn’t used during the soviet occupation but has been renovated and monks are living there again. It is a wonderful complex and so beautiful that even the non-monastry/church enthusiasts were interested. In the complex was a little church with fine paintings. Apparently Zazah, our guide through Georgia, was married and his children christened there. Personally, I love the paintings and never tire of seeing different and new ones. The colours are so vibrant and fresh and create a wonderful atmosphere. The complex was set over three levels and the stairs were carved through the rocks. The monks lived above in little caves, often with balconies, carved into the rocks. The drive back down took rather longer as CJ was doing a Steven Spielberg filming our progress which involved a lot of stopping and starting.

What the well dressed pilgrim wears!



Lavra Monastry



Inside the Church at Lavra Monastry



Lavra Monastry

 

Sighnaghi was reached at 2.30 and as the group was hungry, we all headed off in different directions and found restaurants to satisfy the hunger. The town was highly renovated but had been done well and the restaurant we found was lovely with a little courtyard. The eggplant stuffed with walnut and garlic was absolutely delicious and I will definitely be recreating that back in Australia. After we went to the Pheasant’s Tears which is a winery run by John, an American, who has been living in Georgia for 15 years or so. The wine was produced in the old Georgian tradition and in my opinion was pretty awful. There were a couple of reds towards the end of the tasting that were ok but very expensive. Give me a bottle of Wirra Wirra Church Block any day. I did, however, rather fall in love with the Cha Cha which is a fortified brandy like wine which was delicious and the small bottle I bought will come all the way back to Australia with me. Denis and I serenaded the truck by singing Alice’s Restaurant following by Skippy and Down Among the Gum Trees. Not sure that the singing was greatly appreciated by the majority. We arrived late at camp and cooking in the rain and dark with mutant dumplings was all a bit of an effort. After the clean up it started to rain, thunder, lightening so went to bed and worried about trees falling on tent all night.

Eggplant stuffed with walnuts and garlic - delicious

Enjoying lunch in the courtyard

Wine tasting

Antiques in the winery

Morning came, we had survived the night, the sun was shining and even better I was no longer on cook duty! A very short walk took me to the Dzvelishuamta Monastry which was no longer in use. It was in a lovely location and had a couple of horses grazing in the fields surrounding it. After lunch the thunder and lightning started again so a few of us went down the hill to see the Akhali Shuamta nunnery before the weather set in again. Again there were some lovely pictures but the building itself was nothing exceptional or maybe I am becoming blaze. The walk was good though. It was a good day spent relaxing in the sunshine, reading and writing diary but best of all at 6.00 p.m. Jim arrived back with a clutch of passports in his hand which all bore the Azerbaijani visa. What a relief! The alternative was not a prospect that we had relished as it would have meant flying over Azerbaijani and missing the Kervansarayi at Seki which would have especially disappointed me.

In Monastry

Grazing outside Monastry

Nunnery

Awoke to hear heavy rain which made pack up a bit of a pain. The tents were really wet and everything was muddy but once in the truck it was a short drive to our homestay in Telavi where we were greeted with beautifully clean dry rooms and a bathroom reminiscent of the Taj Mahal! The town did not have a lot to see but Melissa and I had a good pizza and met two Germans who were doing a similar trip to us but in private cars. They were as interested in our trip as we were in theirs and they headed off to find Calypso while we went and explored the fortress which was nothing but some walls, the museum being closed because of Independence Day. The younger members of our party had been expecting parties in the street but there were no visible means of celebration that we could see. However, a party did ensue back at the Homestay and after dinner which was very good Georgian food – soup, interesting mezes and salad a fair amount of wine was consumed and the revels went on till the early hours. For me the lure of the comfy warm bed was too much and a good night’s sleep was had despite the noise.

In the market





Telavi Streetscape

Grevi Church - interesting
scaffolding especially for
William!

After a rather stodgy breakfast of cheese rolls, cheese bread and excellent yoghurt, went into town to see the market. Lots of interesting food but with no money there was no temptation. Our bush camp was reached via a quick trip to Grevi Church.

Camp set up was quick and for the first time on this trip it was really hot so had to sit under the cook awning to get out of the sun. As the day progressed the mosquitoes made their first appearance on the trip and most of us got some interesting bites in interesting places.  Such are the joys of bush toilets!  The bush toilets at this camp was in a particularly nasty spot along a boggy track (no pun intended).  I was just wandering down that way when a man appeared carrying a large axe.  Needless to say I scuttled back to camp quick time and hid behind a large man.  Never one to be a hero.  The man turned out not to be an axe murderer but a wood collector but still you can never be too careful.  Shortly after his appearance two other men with ponies and carts came charging through and so once more brave I asked if I could take a photo.  They were rather bemused to find us camping on their usual track and even more bemused that I would want to photograph them.

Gathering wood

It was a very wet night and as we had to be away early lots of soggy tent packing up had to take place. It was a short drive to the border and just as we were approaching it there was a sign saying "Azerbaycan border - Good luck! We hoped luck would not prove necessary and in fact the crossing was relatively straight forward. CJ exercised, once more, people power and we all stood at the border with our resigned camp dog faces and pretty soon someone with lots of stars and stripes on his shoulders came and took our passports away and shortly after that we paraded one by one through a very seedy looking office although the official was very friendly and wanted to talk football with anyone who was interested. For me it was particularly interesting as I could read all the signs. The Turkish spoken here is not exactly the same as in Turkey but close enough to be recognisable. Getting Calypso through took a little longer but before too long we were on the road to Seki and the Kervansarayi which was our destination for the night.

The Kervansarayi was a wonderful old building but the rooms could have done with a little renovation but the water was hot and the beds comfy so you couldn't ask for more. There was even a TV in the room so my room-mate, an avid football fan, was able to watch Manchester United getting beaten.  I was asleep, of course, football not being my drug of choice!  After dumping our bags, a small group of us went off to visit the Palace which sounds very grand but is in fact a very small Palace but beautifully painted with every possible surface covered by art work.  Unfortunately you were not allowed to take photos inside so you will just have to imagine.  We were escorted round by a guide who spoke sort of English and had only one tooth in his mouth which was a little disconcerting.  The Palace was the summer house of the official of the region and though very small, exquisite.

The Palace at Seki

The Armenian Church at Seki

With Sandra in the Tea House

Money changing was necessary so I walked down into town only to be told I had to go to the Bazaar which was out of town.  Eventually after asking several people, an old man grabbed me by the arm and hailed a dolmus which proceeded to take me the money changer even though I had no money to pay my fare.  Hospitality and helpfulness seems a trait of the Middle East as it is in Turkey.

The following morning I went with the rest of my cook group back to Bazaar to buy for the next three meals.  It seems to me that cook group comes round far more often than once every five days!  The bazaar was wonderful with excellent fruit and vegetables but I didn't feel quite so enthusiastic about the meat department, especially the sheeps heads that were sitting on the ground.  Fortunately, Paul had asked me to change some money for him so I was able to escape the meat purchase.  So once more on board Calypso we were off to the mud volcanoes for the night.  It was a wonderfully atmospheric place high on a hill.  Being in cook group we had to get things going before we were able to visit the volcanoes but that was probably just as well as Jim had managed to fall in and get covered in mud as did Sandra.  Keith, Sandra's husband, took photos while she struggled to get out of the mud!  Fortunately she is a very calm person and did not push him face first into it which I would have been tempted to do.  Colin very kindly took me up there and as he had also had a slight mud accident, knew where not to step.

Large mud volcano

Mud bubbles

More mud bubbles

The strangest thing about the whole place was, like quicksand, that is felt perfectly stable but as the bubbles blew up the whole earth moved. 

So week 6 ended and the thrill of crossing the Caspian sea is ahead of us but that will be for the next episode!