It was going to be a packed day with nearly 350 km to be covered. After a rather heavy breakfast of muesli, milk and fruits we vacated the room. It had been extremely noisy throughout the night with people talking on the pavement outside, dogs barking their guts out and vehicles revving their engines. The room was fronted by a busy road and that was the problem. Else, the room was well appointed with a mini kitchen, adequate cutlery and crockery.
The first part of the day's mission was the Green Monastery. It is less than 10 km from the Borjomi city centre. The 9th century monastery is located in the middle of the deciduous forest in the village of Chitakhevi. The monastery is nearly two kilometers of rough drive through the thickly forested gravel path and is surrounded by a wall. At the entrance is a marble cross with inscriptions. The monastery complex is a very simple structure built from roughly hewn stone and is totally devoid of decorations. The bell tower has two floors.
The church was dark and damp at the time of the visit. The rather modest exterior belies the rich icons inside the church. The Father's Monastery was raided in the 16th century and monks were tortured and killed. It is said that even today it is possible to see the miraculous relics of monks and traces of blood shed by them in those difficult times. The small stream that flows beside the monastery has red stones in them and it is said that the color is contributed by the blood of the 16th century martyrs who gave up their lives to uphold their beliefs.
On the way to our next destination, the Rabati Castle, I drove into a fuel station to avoid any last-minute panic, as had happened in Tbilisi. Fuel prices vary a great deal in the country. In Tbilisi I had paid 3.17 GEL per liter for regular fuel, while in Borjomi it is 2.79 GEL per liter. The old jalopy was consuming quite a bit due to her age; she has done nearly 250,000 kms. The road from Green Monastery to Rabati Castle is not in good condition, with many potholes, gravel paths and uneven surface.
There is ample parking for cars and tourist buses out the castle complex. There is also a separate parking enclosure for the Rabati Hotel guests, that functions from within the complex. Entrance to the Castle is priced at 18 GEL per head. The large complex ideally requires a map to go around. The map and the brochure are priced at 2 GEL each.
The Rabati Castle, better known as the Akhaltsikhe Castle, was established in the 9th century in the city then known as Lomsia. The change of name to Akhaltsikhe happened in the 12th century, meaning New Fortress. Besides the fortress, it had watch towers, high walls and guarded entrances. It was a fitting capital of the Samtskhe-Saatabago region.
Akhaltsikhe has three parts: the castle, the surrounding citadel and the greater city proper. The castle is surrounded by three ramparts and was connected with adjacent areas by tunnels. Within the citadel, aside from the castle, there was a large courtyard, an arsenal, a mint, a bath and a church.
In 1752, Georgian ruler Haji Ahmed-Pasha Jaqeli built a mosque within the castle in the style of the Byzantine Orthodox Church Hagia Sophia of Constantinople with a madrasah and a minaret. The mosque functioned for 76 years until 1828. In 1850 under the Russian Empire, it was consecrated as a church until 1920.
Large scale reconstruction of the Rabati fortress which began in 2011 was completed the next year and opened to tourists and visitors in 2012. It has been a great hit since then, netting good revenue from the entrance fee as well as the hotel and wellness spa. The complex is exceptionally well maintained. However, there is no directions or sequence of visit mentioned anywhere. Another major shortfall is the absence of any description of the various components of the Castle complex.
The Khertvisi fortress is about 50 km from the Rabati Castle. It is situated on the high rocky hill in the narrow canyon at the confluence of the rivers Mtkvari and Paravani. I drove up the narrow path leading to the fortress hoping for parking near the fortress and to avoid the steep climb to the foot of the fortress. When I reached there, I saw no place to even reverse the car! I turned into what looked like a private farm and residence and got down to explore it.
The fortress is one of the oldest in Georgia and functioned throughout the feudal period in Georgian history. Local legend has it that Alexander the Great had marched through the area and destroyed the fortress. Despite that, the fortress was reconstructed and invaded on numerous occasions over time. While I gleaned all this from posts outside the fortress, the owner of the farm honked his car horn as I had blocked his entrance passage. I swiftly went back to the car, apologized for the intrusion and inconvenience and removed the car to let him pass.
It was then time to move on to the last part of the day's program, the Vardzia cavetown viewpoint, a further 15 km away. Vardzia is a famous cave complex in southern Georgia, close to the border with Turkey. The cavetown of Vardzia was built in the Cappadocian style in the 13th century. The style may be similar, but the cave complex is quite different from that in Cappadocia, which, I thought, was more aesthetic and functional.
From the viewpoint, the high cliffs with man-made caves along the river Mtkvari make an impressive sight. The landscape is dry and bushy at elevations of over 1500 m. The caves stretch along the cliff for some five hundred meters and in up to nineteen tiers. The monastery was an important cultural center, a place of significant literary and artistic work. With the arrival of the Ottomans in the area in the 16th century, the site was abandoned and the monks departed from the area. However, five monks still live in the cave mountain. They ring the bell at 7 am every morning.
From the viewpoint of the Vardzia cave complex we headed to the town we intended to stay for two nights, Kutaisi. For that we had to drive back all the way to Borjomi, 120 km, and then take the route to Batumi. On the way we decided to have lunch and drove into a restaurant, a few km short of Akhaltsikhe. After we waited there for about 15 minutes to order food and a couple of waitresses passing by, without even as much as a glance or recognition, we walked out of the restaurant.
People who had come after us were being serviced and we were totally ignored. Racism or sheer poor service? I contend that it was the former, because I did experience this a lot in Georgia, the first time I have felt so in my nearly 15 years of travel around the world. For one, they abhor people who speak English. To top that, the brown skin is an added irritant in their preference for the white skin.
After Borjomi, on the Tbilisi Batumi highway, massive infrastructure and road building works are underway. Colossal, elevated highways, tunnels and wayside resting area are under construction. The concrete roads have speed limit of 110 km and tunnels seemed to stretch almost seamlessly, cutting through the Caucuses Mountain range. In one stretch we counted 15 tunnels one after the other, some as long as two kilometers.
The Hotel Old Town in Kutaisi, I had reserved, was bang in the city centre. Fortunately, I managed to find parking within a stone's throw of the White Bridge. It was indeed a welcome change that the owner of the hotel spoke flawless English. On request he gave me a room on the first floor, instead of the one on the second floor he had intended for me. The hotel didn't have a lift, as is the case with most of the older buildings in Georgia. When I wanted to retrieve a couple of things from the car, I found that I had misplaced the car key! Frantic search, the owner of the hotel included, went on for about 15 minutes. Finally, it was discovered in my travel pouch!
The matter of the room and car key settled, we went on a short walk to discover what's close by to the hotel. We walked to the historic White Bridge, which is one of the oldest bridges in Georgia. The original bridge was built in 1851 as a three-tiered arched structure over two pillars of stone. In 1872 metal replaced wood on the bridge, which was painted white. Since then, it has been known as the White Bridge. It was fully rehabilitated in 2018.
Georgian ornaments and sayings about Kutaisi were placed on the metal sheets over which pedestrians walk. Thus, the White Bridge tells the story of the town itself. On a banister of the bridge is a statue of a boy with wide open arms and a hat in each arm, ready to jump into the River Rioni. The character is from a famous 1968 Georgian film, An Unusual Exhibition. The character was named "Picasso's Boy" in the film. One can see the piers and structure of the bridge as well as admire the gushing waters of the River Rioni below through the glass bottom of the bridge too.
The Colchis fountain is a monument in the central square of Kutaisi. It celebrates the ancient kingdom of Colchis. The fountain is adorned with 30 large scale copies of famous gold jewelry and artefacts discovered from archeological sites in Georgia, including the nearby Vani village. It is focal point for tourists who come here to admire the details of the fountain and, of course, photos.
The Central Park, the oldest in the country, which was established in the early part of the 19th century, is closed for renovation. The Central Park opens onto the square that houses the Colchis fountain.
We walked around the narrow lane leading from the Square and ended up in the Cafe Museum for dinner. Over a pint of Kazbegi draft beer we shared portions of fried brinjal with walnut paste, cream of mushroom soup with croutons and the all-time favorite national dish, kachapuri. The last named is much like a cheese filled stuffed paratta and is like the other national delicacy, the lobiani. The fillings different, that's it. The Kachapuri can also be described as Georgian pizza.
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