Colchis, Ancient Land of the Golden Fleece
Trip Start
Mar 21, 2005
1
277
354
Trip End
Ongoing
Kutaisi,
Georgia
Saturday, February 16, 2008
In Kutaisi, I stayed with Giorgi Giorgadze and his family. There I felt welcome, wýth a glass of homemade pink wine and a large Georgian dinner both nights. Arriving in Kutaisi in the afternoon, the sun finally shone for a couple of hours, so I walked to the top of Ukimerioni Hill to the Bagrati Cathedral. The field in front of the Cathedral was full of young people hanging out in the sun, enjoying views over the city.
Inside the cathedral, people were singing and a priest was conducting a service. What was striking about this was the cathedral was roofless. The clouds quickly covered the sun and the wind blew through the cathedral, but still people kept singing.
Giorgi came home from work with Motorola in the evening. They were building 3rd generation cell tower systems in the area, and he had plenty of work for all of 2008 and probably beyond. The whole family and I watched some Georgian television and played with Gýorgi's new fancy Motorola cell phone.
A snowstorm and power outage lasted all night and continued into the day.
At the Cathedral Park
Still, I wanted to visit the Gelati Monastery, high up on a hill outside of town. Giorgi walked to work and showed me the marshrutka for Gelati. After a while, the vehicle was full, but the driver never arrived, so when a bus came by, we all joined the crowd, packed tighter than sardines in a rickety box heading through the blizzard. Dropped below the Gelati hill, I climbed up for one hour in the snow. By the end, the snow was falling so thickly the visibility was about 40 feet, with huge flakes sticking to me, but the experience was invigorating in a child-like way. Inside the 12th century church, founded by King David the Builder, were beautiful and well preserved floor-to-ceiling frescoes and mosaics, featuring Georgian heroes and saints and scenes from the Bible. There, I met the friendly priest and a few locals performing a coming of age ceremony for a young girl.
As king, David drove away the Turks and united the Georgian lands, then was buried here, under a stone in the entrance corridor, the main entrance, where everyone would step. Still, Georgians would have to face the Mongols and Tamerlane, who killed 100,000 Georgian infidels who refused to convert from Christianity in one day. Still, Georgia survived.
Behind me, they closed the doors early because of the snow and I walked back down to the bus stop, walking through the pleasant town and eventually returning to the hospitality of Giorgi's family, greeted in the snowy front yard by their friendly Georgian Shepherd.
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Giorgi's Contact Info
giorgihomestay@maul.ru or giorgihomestay14@yahoo.com