Days: 543 (20 December 2015)
Total distance travelled: 137,331.6 kilometres (85,299.14 miles)
With any luck (and if you’re as old as me… or older), this shameless reference to a 1980’s travel classic in my title (National Lampoon’s Vacation), has you singing along as you picture Chevy Chase running through the desert.
Thankfully our tale has nothing to do with desert breakdowns or even deserts, but there are indeed a pair of rivers and some woods, so there is a shred of relevance!
This is the story of a day trip from Tbilisi, a short twenty minute ride away from the capital in fact, to visit the UNESCO listed town of Mtskheta, and its famous Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and the Jvari Monastery.
We knew the cathedral would be easy to find, located as it was in the town itself.
The monastery on the other hand, it sat in a slightly less accessible location, perched high atop a promontory that overlooked the cathedral and village below.
Google maps told us it was fifteen kilometre walk from town, Wikitravel/Wikivoyage suggested there was a slightly shorter way, but we were pinning our hopes on an old guidebook entry (I think it was a Bradt guide to Georgia) we’d found in our hostel that said there was an unmarked path that could get us there in about an hour.
As our marshrutka trundled along the highway, and we could actually see the distant monastery, it certainly didn’t appear as though it would be all that difficult.
Once we were deposited in town, finding Svetitskhoveli Cathedral certainly wasn’t. Its steeple/tower clearly stood out above the low roofs of this small sized community… although make sure you identify the right cathedral as the town does actually host another!
There was a surprisingly large military presence around the cathedral, but whether this was standard as it is one of the country’s most revered sites, or simply the fact that this was a Sunday and possibly a day of worship was a mystery.
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and its military entourage
Although it was a typically glorious winters day (typical of our recent weather, not typical of a normal Georgian winter), it was still pretty chilled out, so we didn’t linger too long before making our way inside.
Given the conservative nature of the Orthodox Church, we’d recently bought a long skirt for Sarah, primarily for our upcoming adventure into Iran, but also handy for occasions like this, and as such today it was making its debut.
As we strolled into the dark confines of this 11th century cathedral, a quick glance to our left caused us to do a double take, an illuminated, robed figure (who was soon joined by a priest) initially mistaken for a statue, revealing himself as an actual person.
Deeper within this cavernous, pillared space, there was actually a large congregation present, and it soon became apparent that the posse of soldiers we’d spied earlier was part of a larger force, seemingly present for some sort of blessing (it wasn’t exclusively soldiers, but they were the dominant force present), as a queue soon formed around the priest.
Divine light? (left) & The flock gathers as we roam (right)
As they munched on their wafers, we admired the faded wall art, and to our surprise, some cantors fired up their lungs.
It was a nice backdrop to our brief explorations of this historic Georgian site.
True or not (well if you are non-religious, it’s all fantasy isn’t it), legend has it that the robes worn by Christ at his crucifixion lie buried beneath the original 4th century church (which lies buried somewhere beneath this present edifice, constructed seven hundred years later).
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral is also the burial site of many Georgian kings, their tombstones dotting the well-worn floors on which we walked.
We left the faithful to their worship, and began our efforts in getting ourselves up to Jvari Monastery, a location we could see from almost anywhere in the town.
A wide, and I’m sure freezing cold river stood between us, however the information we had suggested that there was a footbridge not too distant, by which we’d be able to traverse this obstacle.
Google maps had confirmed this, but as we followed what they’d highlighted as a road, we began to wonder what truly qualified as such these days, the rutted and muddied dirt track we were following, hardly what we’d consider such.
Over the river and through the woods, to Jvari Monastery…
The bridge however did exist, and the rivers waters seemingly teeming with fish, at least that was our assumption from the volume of fishermen (yes, they were all men) who stood on both riverbanks.
A wide highway was our next challenge, although the greatest degree of difficulty in that came in climbing the rather high concrete barriers of the median strip that separated the different lanes like its very own Berlin Wall… okay, so it wasn’t that dramatic!
Our eyes were peeled for what was supposed to be a track that would lead us through the wooded hillside, and across a wide open expanse, we were pretty sure we spotted some wheel ruts that could be our target, so we made a beeline for them.
The field which we’d initially taken to be flat, was in fact an awkward expanse of dry, semi rutted grass that was in all likelihood partly frozen, but if I thought it was rough going, spare a thought for Sarah who quickly found her long skirt catching on every dry branch that could be found.
Fortunately, it was an easy fix (wearing jeans underneath, she simply hitched and tied it up) and we were again on our way.
Turns out we were indeed on the right track, although as far as four wheel drive trails go, this one soon shrank considerably, and the mountains of dead and crisply frozen leaves, skeletal tree limbs and sunken path, soon began to resemble something out of Sleepy Hollow!
Still, we were pretty quickly at the top and could now see our destination.
Our very own Sleepy Hollow, but thankfully no headless horseman (left) & A church with a view, Jvari Monastery (right)
The views of the valley below were quite decent as well, and on top of it all, we’d saved our legs the other longer walk, or the cash we’d have needed to fork out for a taxi there and back!
We scuttled our way over the final hundred metres or so, dodged a few souvenir sellers and the obligatory beggars that seem to huddle outside all religious institutions in Georgia, and wandered in through the gate.
Above us stood Jvari Monastery, for much of the local population, the most holy place in all of Georgia.
Jvari Monastery, the site upon which Georgian Christianity erected its first billboard
It is said that it was here that King Mirian erected a cross after his 4th century conversion to the Christian faith, and in the 6th century the church was erected atop of said cross.
Rich in history though it may be, there was little of actual note within (although we quite liked its bare stone walls and the sunbeams that shone through the dusty interior), other than an aged priest who chatted away on his battered cell phone.
The monastery did however possess balconies that presented possibly the best views of the merging rivers below, quite distinctive due to their different coloured waters.
Below, the rivers Mtkvari and Aragvi converge
We didn’t need to linger too long, as the low winter sun meant that fifty percent of the skyline was just a haze.
The descent of course felt much easier than our ascent, probably aided by the fact we were also more certain of our path.
Two deer that flitted through the surrounding scrub were a lovely surprise, but they were gone so quickly that there was little hope of me catching them on camera.
Unsure of where exactly we needed to wait for a marshrutka that could get us back to Tbilisi, we kept walking until we’d actually made it all the way back to the main highway, where literally seconds before we crossed to the right side of the road, a ride arrived and less than a half hour later, we were back in the Georgian capital.
Notes:
* The marshrutka from Tbilisi’s Didume bus station to (and from) Mtskheta cost us ₾1.00 Lari per person.
* Entrance into the two religious sites was FREE!
theworldwithchrisandsarah 