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back in georgia
Written by sophie et jeremy   
Tuesday, 22 September 2015

After a border crossing in record time, we are back in Georgia. We first explored the Kakheti winery region, which is also well stocked with churches and monasteries.

gremi church and fortress gremi church and fortress alaverdi cathedral 1 alaverdi cathedral 1

alaverdi cathedral 2 alaverdi cathedral 2 alaverdi catherdral 3 alaverdi catherdral 3

ikalto monastery ikalto monastery

Most of these religious buildings are fortified complex built around the 12th century, and each has its own homemade wine cellar (not crazy monks!). The most remarkable is probably David Gareja, a site setting in the desert along the Azeri border and including 15 caves monasteries, some of them still decorated with beautiful mural frescoes. There is a hudge military presence in the area, we've been passing through chekpoints between two churches and shooting ranges in the middle of the road ...

david gareja 1 david gareja 1 david gareja 2 david gareja 2

david gareja 3 david gareja 3 david gareja 4 david gareja 4

Then we stayed several days in Tbilisi, the capital, because of mechanical problems. It's a nice and pleasant city, bringing together local and European culture, but a bit too touristy for us. We became used to be alone in the world and create the surprise by our uncommon presence, but here we saw everywhere foreigners with backpacks and cameras, it was even difficult to find a room in a hostel! After some rest, we still enjoy the many advantages of the city. We get lost on walks in the pretty old city and its numerous churches, eating ice cream or enjoying the view from the Narikala fortress that overlooks it.

inside a church inside a church tbilisi view tbilisi view

mtskheta cathedral mtskheta cathedral metekhi church and mtkvari river metekhi church and mtkvari river

Narikala fortress Narikala fortress

We experienced the ancestral public baths splashing in a private sulfur water pool quite hot.

baths baths

And above all we tasted everything the Georgian cuisine has to offer! Sophie particularly appreciates the kachapuri, a bread stuffed with local cheese (tasting like barn), very nourishing if completed with an egg on top... Jeremy prefers the national dish: the kinkhali, a lamb dumpling quite difficult to eat properly!

kachapuri kachapuri kinkhali kinkhali

Our mechanic problems half set, we leave again Georgia to venture in Armenia ...