The route we take today to get up to Kazbegi, about 10 miles south of the border with Russia, is called the Georgian Military Highway. For centuries this has been the traditional route for travel between Russia and Georgia and for invaders usually coming in the opposite direction.

There is no particular significance to the name: but Russia having closed the few other routes across the Caucasus between the two countries it is now immensely busy mainly with trucks carrying trade between the two countries. As you will discover later, we saw hundreds and hundreds of trucks queuing to get across the border….

As you might expect the scenery was truly spectacular as we drove north: here are a couple of pics to give you an idea:

In the first pic you can see one of the peaks of the High Caucasus Mountains in Russia….

Our first stop was only 15 miles north of Tbilisi at Mtskheta the ancient capital of Georgia and location of two important Georgian religious centres: the 11th century Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta itself and the 6th century Jvari Monastery set on a peak high above the city.

The first was the Jvari Monastery: a rare case of an Early Medieval Georgian church that has survived to the present day almost unchanged. It was built between 586 and 605 AD.

Once inside the church we found ourselves witnessing some kind of service: with the priest behind a closed screen and five male singers on our side. Even thinking about that now i get goose-pimples: the whole experience was eerie and unearthly – what it must mean to the faithful i find pretty much unimaginable! It didn’t seem appropriate to make a vid, but here are a couple of pics of the interior of the church.

In the second pic you can see two of the five singers – they were all dressed in casual civvies and themselves seemed deeply affected by what they were doing.

Here are the church bells, as usual separate from the church itself:

Next stop was the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral down in the city of Mtskheta. Known as the burial site of the claimed Christ’s Mantle, Svetitskhoveli has long been one of the principal Georgian Orthodox churches and is among the most venerated places of worship in the region. The cathedral served as the burial place for kings for hundreds of years. Although the site itself dates back to the early fourth century. The present structure was completed between 1010 and 1029 by the medieval Georgian architect Konstantine Arsukisdze.

The Svetitskhoveli Cathedral is surrounded by a defensive wall, built of stone and brick during the reign of King Erekele the Second in 1787.

Here are the pics:

In the first pic you can see the main entrance gate to the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral complex, including the Bell Tower. I especially liked the two story ancilliary building with verandahs that you can see, but i cannot for the life of me find out what is the purpose of that building. You’ve also got a pic of the mountains around the Cathedral and i could not resist including a shot of the rather lovely Weeping Willow in the grounds.

I am afraid the Russians destroyed many of the Cathedral’s medieval frescoes in the 1830s to ‘tidy up’ the cathedral in anticipation of a visit by Emperor Nicholas 1, which never eventually took place!

The Georgians have managed to restore some of the frescoes as you will see from these pics of the interior of the Cathedral:

One of the specialities of the region sold to the many thousands of tourists and pilgrims who visit this place is wine flavoured ice cream: clearly not to be missed, so i didn’t!!!

Yum!

We continued our drive north along the Georgian Military Highway and arrived at the gigantic Zhinvali Reservoir with the Ananuri Castle complex on its south bank. We spent a couple of hours at the Castle on our way to Gori the next day, so pics and description to follow in the next Post.

Here are some pics of the Zhinvali Reservoir:

We continued our grind up the Georgian Military Highway, well over 5,000 feet by now. Really stunning mountain scenery:

About a quarter of the way up, i took this vid of the view back down to the hotel and town:

Here are some pics of the walk:

The Gergeti Trinity Church, more properly known as the Holy Trinity Church stands at 7,120 feet just below Mount Kazbek. It and its separate bell tower were built in the 14th century. We are told that its isolated location meant that in dangerous times, relics and other precious items from Svetitskhoveli Cathedral would be stored up here in Gergeti Trinity Church.

The 90 minute hike up to the Gergeti Trinity Church did not tax us too much and so we made our way back down again, looking forward to dinner! Here is another set of pics of the walk and Mount Kazbek as dusk began to settle….

So, although it was not a long hike, it was my first proper mountain leg-stretch for a couple of months: i really enjoyed it after all the time on buses over the last week, wolfed down my dinner and slept like a log!!!

Tomorrow, we head back south along the Georgian Military Road towards Tbilisi, but turn west towards Gori before we reach the capital. Gori is the birth place of one Josef Stalin and the home of a Soviet ear museum dedicated to his life….

More of that tomorrow!