Can't do without churches

When I came up with the subtitle for the blog, I had so many images of Asian temples and Maya pyramids in my head that I completely forgot that we have almost exclusively churches on the program here in Georgia. A gentle start to the world trip for us, so that the culture shock is not too great;-)

Right now, I'm sitting on the terrace of our little hotel in Mtskheta, with the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral right in front of me. It looks very nice as it peeks over the wall that protects it.

The churches here are usually surrounded by a defensive wall, so they look like fortresses from the outside. They have a central dome with narrow windows and a pointed roof. Inside, there are frescoes in Byzantine style, and on the outside, there are stone carvings (e.g. a large cross on the facade). Today, we visited Samtavissi (from the 11th century) and Ananuri (from the 17th century), which is also located wonderfully in the landscape. It's hard to believe that so much time has passed between the construction of the two churches, their style is so similar.

Yesterday, we saw the best frescoes so far in Alaverdi and my little favorite: a beautiful little church from the 10th century that actually belonged to a castle and has a roof covered with turquoise glazed tiles. Kvetera is definitely worth the long drive on a rather adventurous gravel road.