A great day

Friday was a cross-section of Georgia as we have known it so far.

First up is the amazing (have I mentioned that before?) Cathedral of Mtskheta - more on that later. Then we went to the Jvari Monastery, perched on a hill above the town. Built around 600 AD, weathered by the wind over the centuries, from the outside it is a beautiful Byzantine church. Inside, however, a real ancient space surprises us, like the ones Romans built: very simple, but wonderfully proportioned.

Next stop: another church. Atenis Sioni sits on a slope of a gorge, the road there is adventurous. The beginning of a storm doesn't make driving any easier. From a distance, you can see that the church is not in great condition: there is scaffolding around it. The opening hours are posted at the entrance to the church grounds: until 6 pm. It's 6:03 pm. But the guardian living there doesn't care: He immediately comes and opens the church for us. Inside, you can see the extent of the poor condition. The whole church is dilapidated, and the scaffolding hides the view of the truly spectacular frescoes. Our enthusiastic "Ah" and "Oh" are rewarded. The caretaker climbs the scaffolding with us and shows us the frescoes from up close.

Afterwards, we return to our accommodation at the winemaker Gogi Dvalishvili's place: With hands, feet, a lot of charm, and very little English, we get to taste five wines - the last one from a cow horn - and three schnapps. We particularly liked a red fermented white wine (yes, really, no mistake!), of course made in the Kvevri (more on that another time): Khidistauri.

After that, we were - let's say - cheerful and drove to the nearby town of Gori for dinner, to a restaurant called Joseph, fittingly named after Stalin's birthplace. The food was not good at all, that's what happens when you hang up Stalin pictures. Even the good Georgian cuisine fails in such cases.

And one detail to finish. We simply but very neatly stayed at Gogi Dvalishvili's place and had our own (tiny) bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower. The winemaker and his family could only reach their toilet by crossing their yard: a tiny hut outside and no water closet, as it was flushed with a bucket. Just to make it clear, in what luxury we tourists stay in even the simplest accommodations, compared to Georgians - even those who are well-off, like Gogi.