Udabno in Georgia - Trip to the Dawit Garedi Monastery

The journey is the destination! We did not expect so much adventure on the way to the Dawit Garedi Monastery (the oldest monastery in Georgia). The GPS estimated 1.44 hours. After about 3 hours, we finally arrived. We had to deal with crazy drivers (here, it's common to overtake at red lights, switch to oncoming traffic just to run a red light, to name just one example). The roads were marked by gravel paths, potholes, and cows by the roadside. At times, we feared we would lose our exhaust. 

Then our journey was interrupted for half an hour because we were caught in a military shooting exercise in the border area with Azerbaijan and had to wait for it to finish. I admit, I was a little afraid that a shot could go astray. 

Nevertheless, the visit to the monastery, located on Mount Udabno, and the view of the inhospitable landscape of the Kakheti region made up for the hardships! However, the higher part of the monastery was only accessible via a narrow path, past the border guards. Unfortunately, this part could not be fully visited, as the state border runs right at this point, and part of the monastery cells already lie in Azerbaijan and thus could not be visited, as the country claims it as its own.