Georgian Soul, part II
Trip Start
Mar 21, 2005
1
276
354
Trip End
Ongoing
Tbilisi,
Georgia
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Visiting the Tsminda Sameba Cathedral, the largest in Georgia and visible throughout downtown Tbilisi, I marveled at the paintings and lit a few candles, though the massive cathedral interior was largely unadorned, as if soon artists would begin their masterwork, hanging on scaffolding dozens of meters above the floor. A man gave me a candle as a gift. The Georgians enjoyed to give small gifts to people, it seemed.
As another example, the Georgian truck driver had just dropped me in Tbilisi and I asked directions for the correct marshrutka at a gas station
Fishing at the Mtkvari River
. The station attendant stopped working, took me to the minivan, and paid the driver for my fare while I wasn't looking! Thank you!At the cathedral, I found and bought an English Bible, beginning another chapter in this journey, with the idea of heading to Jerusalem, reading the entire Bible along the way and visiting historical and pilgrimage sites in the Middle East. Lots, of course, depends on whether some countries want me to visit, so we'll see.
From here, I looked high on a ridge and saw a little church in the snow, so walked there for a couple of hours, with the sun appearing as it did periodically so we knew it still existed. It was the Mama Daviti Church. Walking along the Mtkvari River, I admired some reflections and watched a few fishermen then headed up towards Mtatsmindis Park and the tall television tower, which performed light shows at night. The church was snugly within a steep evergreen forest with views over the entire city, as light snow fell.
Inside was the familiar Georgian polyphonic music, which a few people sang as a clergyman with a long white beard swung an incense-filled thurible with bells on the chain, invoking the Holy Spirit
Fruit Stall with Tsminda Sameba Cathedral
. The incense and song filled the room, a peaceful and simple place with paintings of apostles, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary.Back in town, I walked around the small alleyways of the old town and sampled some more Georgian food, most known, perhaps for its khinkali and khatchapuri. The khinkali is a dumpling dish of sorts, large and filled with spicy meat and rich broth. You hold it by the stem, but don't eat the doughy stem and try not to let the broth spill--a challenge sometimes. The khatchapuri is a bread and cheese dish, baked, using salty cheese, sometimes with butter and a couple of eggs thrown on top while in the oven--health food, of course.
After five total days in Tbilisi before and after Armenia, I had seen many of the churches, sampled the various foods, met many people, and learned a little about what it means to be Georgian, with more to come, as I traveled to Kutaisi a few hours west.
