A Weekend Away

For Christmas this year, Josh got me a night away.  I have never been away from Mara since her birth so it was a much needed getaway before we do this whole newborn thing again.   Hopefully with this one we'll do it sooner rather than wait over two years :)

Josh got us a room at the Hotel Batoni in the Signahi region.  We left late Friday afternoon and made the 2.5 hour drive quickly.  The hotel was a beautiful old castle that had been renovated.  All meals were included so shortly after arriving we went downstairs to eat.

A feast is what we had!  The menu was so expansive and it felt like they kept bringing dish after dish despite us telling them we didn't need it all.  With full stomachs we retired upstairs after being upgraded to a larger room.

We did what every parent does on a night away...SLEEP!  I think we rolled out of bed around 9 with little to no wake ups during the night (My pregnant self had to get up twice to pee).  Since we are entering the winter season here we managed to still catch sunrise and watched as the sun peaked over the mist.  It was just beautiful!

After a quick breakfast we headed out to explore two monasteries in the area.  The first, Nekresi, was the smaller of the two.  It was located on a large hill above the cloud line.  Thankfully we talked the gate guard into letting us drive our own car up the hill rather than making the massive hike.  At the top we walked around the area and listened to some polyphonic singing coming from the church.

Our second stop was a cathedral called Gremi. Here we were able to actually go in and tour the church as well as the grounds.  There wasn't a ton to see again but it had a great view of the city below and the riverbed.

From there it was back to the hotel for a late lunch and then on to Tbilisi.  Overall it was a quick but much needed trip.  We were so thankful for Josh's parents taking Mara for the night.  Our time together is so precious and it was a great reminder that our marriage comes first.