Gallivanting Grandma

Friday October 24, 2014          Sunny & 60s F.
This morning, the group assembled after breakfast to listen to a short lecture about the history of Georgia from prehistoric times to the present. This formed the background for our visit to the Fine Arts Museum to see Georgia’s historical treasures. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed. Check out their website: www.museum.ge  The museum is located across the square from the Marriott Courtyard. A small park faces the building with a statue of Pushkin looking at the museum.

Afterwards, we walked down the street to have lunch in an underground restaurant. There seemed to be many underground tunnels and spaces in Tbilisi which were used for commercial spaces such as restaurants. This particular one was two levels below the street.

We had a free afternoon so I joined Nola and Janet to visit The National Gallery which is further along Rustiveli Street next to the beautiful Kashveti Church pictured below. The main entrance is located in the back of the building. I saw an interesting photography exhibit of American jazz musicians and contemporary Georgian art.

There was an exhibit of Georgia’s best known painter, Niko Pirosmani. We had heard many good things about him and wanted to see his works. Pirosmani’s simple paintings were appealing because they depicted rural Georgian life.

On the way back to the hotel, we also stopped at the Museum of Georgia to see their exhibits. There were several floors of historical artifacts.

 There was a special exhibit of paintings by various members of George Balenchine’s talented family in celebration of the choreographer’s 110th anniversary of his birth.

Today was our last day in beautiful Tbilisi. I was so happy to finally visit this historic and lovely city.

Thursday, October 23, 2014   Sunny & 14 degrees Celsius

The buffet breakfast at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel was the most sumptuous so far on this trip. A positive comment for American business hotels. We had a later than usual start at nine o’clock and met in the lobby for an informational lecture about Georgian cloisonné given by an expert whose name was Manana Vardzelashuli. Our knowledgeable guide, Inga Belova, is in the photo below:

The weather was perfect for touring the Old Town section of Tbilisi. Our bus dropped us off and we walked the narrow picturesque streets for several hours.

We walked onto the Peace Bridge which is a pedestrian-crossing over the Mtkvari River. The view of lovely Tbilisi reminded me of Paris.

We walked to Tbilisi’s eighth century sulphur baths which were built during Arab rule of the country. They are still used today.

Further up the hill was a botanical garden which we didn’t visit. We were tired of walking by that time. We had lunch in a nearby restaurant instead. Then went to the studio of a cooperative of artists who make batik crafts. We saw a demonstration of batik making and viewed their beautiful products. Of course, there were lovely things to buy.

Dinner tonight was at a restaurant named for one of the medieval gates in the old wall: Baratashvili. We had mushrooms stuffed with cheese, veal stew, cold eggplant, tomato & cucumber salad, cabbage salad, cheese pie, and fruit for dessert. The entertainment was provided by four singers from the Tbilisi Ensemble.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014  – Sunny & bright: 3 degrees Celsius

I spent a comfortable night at the Marco Polo Hotel in Gudauri, Georgia. This was a ski resort town located in the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and at 6,572 feet, is the highest village on the Georgian Military Highway. Snow had fallen overnight and settled on the high peaks behind the hotel.

Below are exterior and interior photos of the Marco Polo Hotel. The modern black and white two-story lobby was a surprise. The dining room was light and airy with a tasty buffet breakfast. My clean contemporary room was warm and comfortable.

After breakfast, the bus took us back down the mountain trail and into the fertile valley toward Tbilisi. Gudauri was above the tree-line, but as we descended, yellow and orange fall leaves colored the landscape.

Our destination was the city of Gori and the Joseph Stalin Museum.

Our museum guide led us through the exhibits and explained the entire history of Stalin from his childhood in Gori through his rise to Soviet leadership. He was leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from Lenin’s death in 1922 until his own death in 1952. The museum was a bit weird but interesting. No one bought souvenirs from the gift shop.

Stalin was born in a small hut in Gori in 1878 which was preserved on the museum grounds. He and his parents lived in two rooms and his father’s shoe shop was in the basement.

Next to Stalin’s hut was his personal armour-plated railway car which he used until 1941.

After exploring the museum and the other exhibits, we boarded our coach and drove to an interesting restaurant that raised trout in a stream behind the building. The fish was tasty and well cooked. We also had Georgian cheese pie, a delicious chicken soup, a variety of salads and, of course, delicious fresh baked bread.

After lunch, we were driven to the cave town called Uplistsikhe, which means ‘Lord’s Castle’. Below are photos which I took along the way. We were never far from livestock or the beautiful scenery of Georgia.

Uplistsikhe was an important town along the trade route linking Byzantium with India and China. Thousands of people may have lived in these caves as early as 1000 BC until the late Middle Ages. Different styles of architecture were represented which combined pagan and Christian elements. The first photo is a map of what archeologists thought the spaces might have been.

In order to exit the site, we had to climb down a steep narrow metal staircase through a dark tunnel. It was fun and good exercise to scramble among the huge boulders and explore the caves of Uplistsikhe. Afterwards, we drove several miles and through many centuries to the lovely modern city of Tbilisi. We checked into the Marriott Courtyard Hotel on Republic Square in the center of the capital.

The group and I went to dinner at a Georgian restaurant which was built around a bakery. A beehive stone oven was located just inside the front door.

We had a private room on the second floor and enjoyed a traditional Georgian dinner. Midway through the meal, an invited guest came to talk about modern life in Tbilisi and her work as an artist.

Tuesday October 21, 2014   cool, clear & crisp: 7 degrees Celsius
We checked out of the hotel and drove out of Telavi after a buffet breakfast. Snow glistened on the distant peaks of the Caucasus Mountains. Many people walked along the road on their way to local schools and bus stops to go to work.

Our first stop of the day, was a lovely red-roof town named Sighnaghi. We stopped at an overlook to see the hill-top village from a distance and take photos. Later, the bus drove into Sighnaghi and parked so we had time to explore on our own and do a little shopping.

Our next stop was the Monastery of St. Nino at Bodbe which was originally built in the 9th century. It had extensive renovations in the 17th century. Today the monastery functions as a nunnery because the relics of St. Nino, a 4th century female evangelist, were kept there.

For lunch we drove an hour and a half into Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia, and ate at an upscale restaurant overlooking the river.

After a sumptuous lunch, we continued to Jvari Monastery on the outskirts of Tbilisi which was built in the 6th Century. Jvari translates to ‘Cross’ and it is believed that St. Nino erected a wooden cross on this site which had been a pagan temple. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Jvari Monastery was built on a steep hill north of Tbilisi overlooking the city of Mtskheta. In a region of ancient cities, Mtskheta is considered to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Christianity was proclaimed the state religion of Kartli in 337 in Mtskheta and remains the headquarters of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

The 11th century Svetitskhoveli Church is one of the Historical Monuments of Mtskheta. The name of the church means “Life Giving Column” which comes from an ancient Georgian legend.

Late in the afternoon, the coach drove north on the Military Highway which runs all the way from Armenia to Russia. We continued along for several hours driving into the Greater Caucasus Mountains. We were told that famous Russian authors: Tolstoy, Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, and Chekhov traveled on this road to visit the beautiful country of Georgia.

The dark road twisted around hairpin turns in the black night. I could see snow on the side of the road.  It was pitch dark in the mountains when we reached the Marco Polo Hotel in Gudauri. I was curious to see where I was and what it looked like in daylight.