Jvari, Gori and Beyond

This past weekend was the first we were able to really get out of the city and explore a little bit of Georgia.  We may have been slightly ambitious for our first outing but it turned out great.  We spent all of Saturday touring Jvari Church, Gori and Uplistsikhe.

Our first stop of the day was Jvari Church.  After a slight detor (we got lost thanks to Goggle maps) we made it up to the hill the church sits up top just opposite of Mtskheta, the old capital. With the religious holiday that previous Friday we expected the church to be packed so we had originally planned to just take in the view.  To our surprise there weren't a lot of people there and the church itself was smaller than we had imagined.  This was great because we were able to fully tour the grounds and sanctuary in under an hour!

Jvari

This is what family pictures look like with a toddler

Jvari Monastery was built on the site where St. Nino had a cross erected when he brought Christianity to eastern Georgia in the fourth century.  Over the years the church has suffered some damage but is generally well preserved.  There are a few mosaics on the external walls but the inside of the church is lacking decoration.  On top of the church itself, the cliff that the monastery sits on provides the most stunning view of Mtskheta and the rivers Aragvi and Kura below.

inside Jvari

From Jvari we headed west to Gori for lunch.  Gori is much smaller than Tbilisi so the options were limited to mainly Georgian fare but we didn't mind.  We stopped at a small restaurant/pub called Sport's Cafe.  The menu was extensive including some Georgian specialties I'd like to avoid (aka brains and bowls).  We ended up with a large spread of fries, fried cheese grits (not sure the exact name), cheese khinkali (dumplings) and barbecued chicken.

After lunch we headed to the Gori fortress which stands on a hill in the heart of the city.  The structure dates from the Middle ages and has great (but windy) views from the top.  Just at the foot of the fortress there were a circle of mutilated statues of soldiers that serves as a memorial to those lost in the 2008 war.

On top of the fortress

The statues at the foot of the fortress

Then it was on to Uplistsikhe! Uplistsikhe sits about 20 minutes outside of Gori on the way back to Tbilisi.  It's essentially a cave town which at one point served as the most important centers of Kartli and a critical trade stop between the Caucuses and India/China.  The city rises up from the river and is comprised of churches, residents, storerooms, etc.  The entirety of the site was excavated only in the 1960's which gave you an eerie sense as you walked the same path others must have done thousands of years ago.

the church on top of the Uplistsikhe caves

Mara gets a ride

I loved the little details that the original stone carvers must have given much thought to: the candle holders, the ceilings that looked like real wood, the ladders on the hill sides.  For the most part we kept Mara in the ergo for the entirety of this visit as it was pretty steep with large drop offs but we did let her run around for a bit at a flat portion near the recently constructed church.

Going down the tunnels to the river

It took about 1.5 hours to fully explore the caves and the tour ended in a fun trip down the old water tunnels that led to the river.  I can't imagine having to haul water up those hills!

Uplistsikhe

Overall it was a really fun day.  We were exhausted afterwards but felt like we really got out and took in a piece of Georgia.  It was so nice that we have these historical places so close to our home and can easily hop in the car for a day and explore.