Don Curry and the Cheetah

Don Curry returns. After Kakheti, the first part of Georgia he explored. From here he wanted to travel to Azerbaijan, and he was supposed to return from the eastern neighboring country. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. But Don Curry is also returning to his original travel plans, but not right away. First, he wanted to visit a few monasteries that are located along the way.

In the morning, he said goodbye to his landlady Nino and Borjomi. 'My House' would have to manage without him now. He only read about his first destination yesterday in a travel guide, surely another hidden treasure that had not yet been discovered by tourism. Don Curry already noticed this by the fact that the roads to Samtsevrisi became narrower and worse. But then suddenly a mighty fortress ruin rose up on a green hill in the distance. That's where he wanted to go. He had to activate Xerra's all-wheel drive function for the last part of the way, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to handle the muddy dirt road uphill. There was no obvious parking lot here, so Don Curry simply parked his vehicle at the edge of the mud. He entered the fortress grounds through a gate, which now housed a women's monastery. An ancient nun was working with another elderly woman on the care of the flowers in the courtyard, right next to the church. Since Don Curry did not expect any linguistic communication to be possible here, he just nodded friendly at the two ladies and then pointed to the church to clarify his wish to visit. 'What do you want in the church?' asked the ancient nun in very good English. 'Are you Orthodox?' 'No,' Don Curry had to confess. 'Then you are not allowed into the church,' said the heavily dressed nun sternly. Don Curry expressed his regret and was just about to continue his visit to the fortress when the nun called after him, 'You can go in!' The other woman opened the church for Don Curry and turned on the lights. What Don Curry saw then overwhelmed him. The medieval church had probably been completely painted only recently, but these beautiful frescoes were applied on a golden background. This church really looked like a piece of heaven on earth, if you imagine the sky to be radiant and magnificent. Don Curry enjoyed his short time completely enveloped in unearthly beauty and thanked the two women warmly for making it possible. Don Curry had the impression that even the strict nun smiled back a little.

Actually, Don Curry wanted to visit another, much older church in the village. But when he saw the only possible access road, he decided to skip it in order to spare Xerra. He could reach his next destination much better. An old guidebook mentioned a necessary 45-minute hike, but in recent years, the hiking trail had apparently been developed into an asphalt road; after all, it is one of the most famous monasteries in Georgia - Kvintvisi Monastery. As he approached, Don Curry spotted the golden domes of a church high up in the mountains. Could that be the Kvintvisi Monastery?

That couldn't be completely true, because in the Middle Ages, the Georgians concealed their monasteries deep in forests, so that one could only see the towers of the monastery church shortly before reaching the monastery. After all, Georgia was repeatedly afflicted by brutal conquerors. Don Curry would soon find out. There were already some vehicles in the parking lot; however, two different paths led from there: a muddy forest path, into which large construction vehicles had dug deep ruts, and a freshly paved path. Both led steeply uphill. Since there were significantly more people on the paved path, it had to be the right one. After about 500 m of steep ascent, Don Curry saw the golden domes a bit higher up. So Kvintisi was an exception to the rule of hidden monasteries? Almost breathless when he finally arrived at the top, Don Curry stood in a very modern monastery complex, where construction work was still ongoing. None of the two already completed churches could be older than one or two years. Nowadays, no monastery needs to hide anymore, it should attract as many people as possible. But that meant for Don Curry: he could have saved himself the sweat-inducing climb; he had to make his way back down without accomplishing anything.

At the parking lot, he took the muddy path, which became less steep after about 100 meters. Some construction vehicles were working here to build a new concrete wall to stabilize the mountain slope. Hence the traces. There were no construction works inside the monastery itself. However, Don Curry was annoyed by the sign on the monastery door with the crossed-out camera. So he decided to take some secret photos again. In the crowded church with constant coming and going, he had the perfect opportunity. Kvintsi Monastery is not only known for its well-preserved frescoes, but it is also art historically famous for a very special shade of color: the Kvintvisi blue. While in his last monastery church, the magnificent gold background highlighted the frescoes, the figures in Kvintvisi were surrounded by a radiant sky-blue; also an indication of the heavenly spheres in which the depicted saints and angels now resided. Don Curry not only admired the medieval frescoes, but he also noticed that several other church visitors were taking discreet photos, including an Orthodox priest. No one could resist this magnificent blue ...

A third monastery was also worth a visit, the Gold Dome Monastery doesn't count. Relatively close to the city of Gori, which Don Curry would only visit in a few weeks, lies the Sioni Monastery at the end of a picturesque mountain valley. This monastery is not hidden high up in enchanted mountain forests, but in a winding gorge, so it can only be recognized when one is almost there. Don Curry was grateful that he didn't have to climb anywhere here, but only had to walk along a paved plank path along a rock face to reach the monastery. Frescoes were the highlight of this monastery as well as the artistic sculpture decoration on the outside of the church. Don Curry found the relief with the two deer and the ball in their center, directly above the church entrance, particularly impressive.

An expressway leads from Tbilisi to Gori in a completed state. During his drive to Borjomi, Don Curry had seen a rest area with several fast-food offers. Now he drove there. At the American chain "Dunkin 'Donuts", there are not only sweet but also savory dishes, and since there were several order displays set up, Don Curry could place his order without any language problems. 5 minutes later, a chicken burger with oven-roasted potatoes and Mexican sauce was ready, and he helped himself to the Coke Zero. Definitely not a culinary masterpiece, but a welcome calorie intake for the remaining long drive to his hotel today. Because Don Curry had to return to Telavi. There he wanted to use the time to finally visit the New Shuamta Monastery, which he had rejected twice before due to rain. But today, heavy rain set in shortly before Telavi, and since the monastery would have meant a detour anyway, he once again struck it from his plans. But definitely tomorrow! His hotel for tonight carries the official name "Hotel and Wine Cellar ARGE"; like many other accommodations around Telavi, it also has its own vineyard and markets its products during wine tastings or tours of the winery. It had also gained a good reputation in culinary terms, so Don Curry intended to make up for the chicken burgers here. The receptionist was kind to him when assigning the room and granted him an upgrade to a balcony room with views of the Caucasus. Don Curry gratefully accepted.

When he entered the hotel restaurant, it was completely empty. The waitress, certainly a sister of the receptionist, said he could also eat outside. Skeptical due to the ongoing rain, Don Curry took a look into the courtyard and discovered two covered verandas. He was happy to sit there, like several other guests before him; however, the waitress had to walk through the rain repeatedly. First, she brought Don Curry an extensive menu, along with a wine and a dessert menu. Don Curry thoroughly studied the variety of offerings and once again decided on a Georgian classic: "Chicken Tabaka" - a little chicken split in the middle, flattened, heavily seasoned, and grilled. Don Curry also ordered his favorite salad and potatoes prepared in the family style, fried with onions in oil. As a drink, he chose the Borjomi water - as a reminiscence of the last few days - as well as a glass of Khikhvi white wine from the qvevri jug. Everything tasted excellent, although the chicken had more skin and bones than meat, the breast part didn't belong there. As a special feature, the hotel served a homemade vinaigrette with the salad and plenty of spicy Tkemali sauce with the potatoes. While eating, a gray and white patterned cat came to Don Curry's table, and with the typical mixture of expectation and condescension that cats have, it looked at him. It seemed to say, 'I allow you to share some with me.' Since the servings were as generous as always, Don Curry occasionally threw some meat to his unexpected table companion; he suspected that the cat wouldn't show much interest in cucumbers or tomatoes. After Don Curry had removed as much meat from the chicken parts as he could, his delicious meal came to an end. There were no bones left. The cat immediately began its next hunt and gradually emptied the plate. By the time the cat licked the plate clean, Don Curry had finished his wine tasting. Since he started to feel a bit chilly, he left the table. He wondered if the waitress would be surprised later when clearing the table and see that Don Curry left so few bones behind?

He met her again in the hotel area, and when she asked him for further requests, he wanted to try the two homemade spirits, the chachas: a simple grape marc and a mint grape marc. So Don Curry soon went up to his room with two well-filled schnapps glasses, sat down on the balcony, and looked at the Caucasus, which had been hidden from his view by the nightly darkness for a long time.

He had returned to his planned program. The time for improvisation ended here. But Don Curry knew very well that even a fully planned daily program can still offer some surprises, even if it's just a condescending, hungry cheetah ...