Gamarjoba ojakhi da megobrebi!
(Georgian for Hello Family & Friends)
Upon entering the country of Georgia, we passed through the neutral zone between Azerbaijan and Georgia at the Lagodekhi checkpoint. Georgia is a country at the intersection of Europe and Asia, another former Soviet republic that’s home to Caucasus Mountain villages, Black Sea beaches and the ancient wine-growing region of Kakheti. Our currency here is the Lari (1 USD $=3 Laris). At our first point of interest, we were warmly greeted by Marina and Rezo at their home in the Akhmeta region (1 of 9 regions in Georgia). We passed by Rezo’s fire pit where our meal’s centerpiece, Mtsvadi (pork shashlik, a form of shish kebab), would be barbequed over grape vine branches, many cuttings of which we had seen on the drive here, gracing the front yards of rural dwellings. Our mid-afternoon lunch consisted of local bread, dolmas and a cucumber & tomato salad accompanying the wonderful Mtsvadi. We conveyed our profound thanks to this friendly couple for sharing their home and cooking and proceeded into the Kakheti wine region and an overnight stay in Telavi.
Speeding by acres and acres of vineyards, representing 227 varieties of grapes and viewing hillsides lush with trees and grasses, we took in spectacular views of the Greater Caucasus Mountains looming large in the distance and seemingly going on forever (a 750 miles long range). We soon entered the Kvareli Valley, famous for its wineries and wine-making tradition. Here we would also begin to see the vestiges of the “overnight” evacuation of the Russian presence in Georgia after the 1990-91 collapse of the Soviet Union, leaving behind bleak, grey, concrete and to-this-day, unoccupied structures, e.g., factories, mass housing facilities and office buildings.
During the next hour of driving, we learned about Gremi, our stop before Telavi. It was the medieval capital of the 16th and 17th century Kingdom of Kakheti, with some dark history, i.e., the decimation of its population of 100,000 in the beginning of that era, dropping by two-thirds after being razed to the ground by the Persian Shah of Abbas I, his armies killing 60,000+ and taking 30,000 more as prisoners. This was another of the many such stories we heard during our 2 weeks in the Caucasus: Man’s Inhumanity to Man!
We eventually espied Gremi’s Levan Castle and Church of Archangels high on a hilltop. Entering the church, we immediately came upon the local Christian Orthodox priest, standing with his back to us at a lectern, reading from a prayer book. One of our traveling companions who has lived in Greece, likened what he saw to the Greek Orthodoxy he was familiar with. The highlight for us was viewing the frescoes on the underside of the church dome. We learned all Christian churches in Georgia had been padlocked during Soviet rule.
One downside of tour groups is their penchant to cram in as much as they can, leaving us gasping for breath. The biggest problem was either a small amount of time between lunch and dinner or a huge gap. I mention that now, since it was 6 PM, dinner and lodging nowhere in sight, driving on a 2 lane road alongside horse drawn carts, with yet one more stop…a wayside family affair where we were treated to a rustic museum with old typewriters, farming implements and sundry other odds and ends of a rural economy, including a Papakha, a rain repellent sheepherders’ wool hat, which Maggie donned for a pose. This was free, whereas, it would normally be an offering you would pay to a take a photo wearing local attire (at castles, there would be chain mail draped on wooden stands awaiting the touristy desire to dress up as a knight)! The highlight here was watching Lolly demonstrate the making of Shoti bread in a ‘tone’, an open top, 2.5 foot deep, circular clay oven, lined with brick and heated with burning grape vines. After creating her lumps of dough and stretching them into slabs, she slapped them onto the insides of the ‘tone’, covered the top with wooden slats to keep the heat in and circulating. The bread was about 2 feet in length and was removed after only a few minutes of baking, using 2 tools. Lolly invited us to help ourselves to the hot, crispy, curved and delicious Shoti, a real treat at this hour of the day (7:30 PM). On our way to the overnight in Telavi, we passed many road signs reminding us of the importance of this region’s contribution to wine making. We stayed up to midnight, munching on snacks, which served as dinner, yakking with and getting to know several of our fellow travelers before crashing after a very long day.
Waking up to a hazy morning, precluding any decent view of the mountains, we settled for gazing down upon the estate vineyards below our chateau’s balcony, where the local women were bent over, pruning the vines, chatting it up across the rows from each other. Back on the bus, Guram, our driver, was winking at me, quietly muttering Chacha, which is a Georgian Pomace Brandy (home brewed 65% alcohol, made from the grape residue after making wine…a kind of Grappa!). He had winked at me before, which creeped me out a bit. Making the connection between winks and Chacha was a relief! Being a polite traveler, I obeyed and took a chug from the small bottle of Chacha he kept in his cooler up front. Choking, I passed the bottle on to our Liverpool buddy who did not wish to be left out of this unique excursion experience. Just to be clear, Guram was not partaking of his own brew during our drives (as far as we know)! We spun through the local Farmer’s Market with its hustle and bustle, espying porcine parts proudly on display and strings of the traditional Georgian Churchkhela, a candle-shaped candy made of grapes, nuts, flour, almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts, threaded into a string dipped in thickened grape juice or fruit juices and dried into the shape seen in the attached photo. This was a very friendly market, so much so that one of the vendors swatted Maggie gently with her broom to get Maggie’s attention to view her wares. Whilst at the market, our guide, Mariam, taught us 3 key Georgian words this day: Gaumarjos (Cheers), Gamarjoba (Hello) and Gmadlobt (pronounced phonetically, ‘Madloba’, for Thank You).
In contrast to the down-to-earth locals’ market, we next encountered the grand estate of a 19th century poet, Alexander Chavchavadze, in the village of Tsinandali, with classical music wafting softly across the massive grounds from some unknown source. We toured the ‘House Museum’, built in 1818 and consisted of several ostentatiously-appointed rooms, tasting wines at the end, the oldest wine in stock from 1841. We purchased a souvenir bottle of Chacha for 15 Lari ($5 USD). Moving on and into the afternoon, we encountered crumbling stone houses throughout the countryside, finally reaching the Numisi Wine Cellars, which provided us an education from this 4th generation family making Qvevri wine (UNESCO acknowledged process due to uniqueness of the process and its history dating back to the 6th millennium BCE). The final product is dispensed from hand-made terracotta coil pots which have been fired and painted inside with beeswax. Prior to this, grapes would be pressed and the juice, grape skins, stalks and pips would move from a 4.5 foot diameter-wide bowl, which weighs 600 kilos when wet, requiring 7-8 people to move it outside into the yard, and be poured the terracotta pots. At Numisi, each pot holds 2000 liters and, after being sealed, it is buried in the ground and allowed to ferment for 5-6 months before being siphoned out for drinking. We had firsthand experience with our host siphoning some for us and passing samples around.
Moving along, we drove on to the Gombori Mountain Pass at 5,400 feet) viewing ramshackle wood housing, mostly abandoned, Soviet style concrete housing with paint peeling, 3 story vacated manufacturing facilities, children idling on the properties. These haunting scenes only increased the closer we got to the Russian border. As always, there were many cows on the roadways. We did learn that if the cows are under a light or by signs that signal ‘cows afoot’ and a motorist hits them, the driver pays a price; otherwise, the owner pays! Lots of truck traffic at this point, going to and from Georgia and Russia, an hour or so away. We skirted Tbilisi around 4 PM, where we would end up 4 days hence, this being the capital of Georgia since 5 A.D., moving along now on the Military Road toward Mtskheta, on the way to the Jvari Pass at 7,800 feet, with road signs in both Cyrillic (Russian) and Georgian. We were on our way now toward Gudauri, a prime ski destination, where we would house ourselves for 2 nights. The sharp, snowy ridges and lush hillsides at this 4,600 foot level provided a contrast to the leftover Russian housing relics, leaving us with more precious vignettes of northern Georgia. We passed the Zhinvali Dam reservoir on the Aragvi River, the building of which was at the expense of relocating 8 villages (the ‘hated’ Russians responsible for this), but the purpose was to provide this vast area with potable water. Our last views of the day were from our newest quarters as we sat back, mesmerized by the snow-capped Greater Caucasus Mountains, their pristineness highlighted by a near full moon, along with the starry skies directly in front of us.
The next morning we were off to the townlet of Stepantsminda (also known as Kazbegi), passing through a tunnel built by WWII German prisoners of War. We crossed over the Tergi River, swollen by the May snow melt, viewing isolated villages at the edges of slopes leading to rocky cliffs above the river, an 80 meter tall brick tower strategically positioned as a look out point, as well as an overnight shelter for travelers. We were on our way to the 14th century Gergeti Trinity Church high atop a knoll at 7,100 feet, with the majestic background of snowy mountains and Mount Kazbek (16, 554 feet). Our itinerary’s script for this day told us that we would enjoy a “leisurely 2 hour walk through beautiful valleys and woodlands” to reach the church. Well, that turned out to be pretty misleading! Half the group chose to either remain behind or be driven to the church. The rest of us started out at an elevation of 5,700 feet, treading on a paved road, then dirt paths through a forested area, with wood riser ‘stairs’ in places and finally scaling an 8 foot high icy wall at the end, to reach our goal (an elevation gain of 1,400 feet over 1.5 hours). The only way we ascended the 8 feet was Mariam at the top, with a hiking pole, lowering it to each of us to hoist us up safely along with the footholds she had gouged into the wall. The thrill of the day was the hiking, a strenuous effort at altitude and the beautiful scenery as we spent very little time inside the church, which was sporting small lit candles embedded in sand on 4 foot high stands, snapping a photo of the Orthodox priest walking along the perimeter of Gergeti. As was said many times during this tour, things (“facts”) of historical significance would begin with our guide saying…”They say that…” So, it is said that this church was built at this height for eagles to stop and eat! Another reason, and more likely, was that it made it hard for enemies to reach this knoll (before there was a paved road), as well as hoarding the wealth of the Mtskheta province, whose city of Mtskheta was declared as the “Holy City” by the Georgian Orthodoxy Church.
Four of us fast- walked back down to our bus, via the paved road, since we figured we had earned the right for our slogging uphill for 1.5 hours, while others took the route via vehicle. It took us only 45 minutes to return to the parking lot. 2 hours later we would be at a home/tourist attraction for lunch, beset upon, after being seated, by an invasion of 18 other ‘tourists’. Here we would have a fun time of learning how to create Khinkali, dumplings filled with meat, onions & various spices, topped off with the proper pinching. We captured Maggie’s crowning efforts with a photo. It was now mid-afternoon and we moved on to a local craft studio to have a demonstration of the art of Georgian Teka/Mokhevian Felting, one of the oldest and most ecologically clean ways of processing wool. It is totally manual, our craftsperson taking tufts of dyed wool, combining colors, using a rolling pin to create a flat felt piece. We chose the various colors and our collective resultant product is attached in the photo stream.
Our final stop before returning to the chateau in Gudauri, would be the Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument alongside the Georgian Military Highway at Jvari Pass at 7,805 feet, overlooking the Devil’s Valley and the Caucasus mountains. It was built by the Russians in 1983 to celebrate the bicentennial of the Treaty of Georgievsky and designed by a famed Georgian architect, Giorgi. This was a “promise” to help Georgia with Persia/Iran problems (think back to the horror of Gremi referenced earlier), which can be questioned when one learns of the strife between Russia and Georgia since then. The animosity is evidenced by the photo of a newspaper held by one of our UK compatriots: “Welcome to Georgia. Putin’s Most Hated Country”.
Part 2 of the week spent in Georgia will be up next.
Cheers, Stan & Maggie