Author: cockneykiwi15

As long as I can remember I have wanted to travel. I am happiest talking about travels, planning travels and of course travelling. I have already travel to all seven continents and 75+ countries and I truely believe that travel bug only gets worse the more places you see! A Kiwi born and bred, I have spent almost as long living abroad as I have back in Aoteoroa but am now back living in Christchurch and making the most of the amazing scenery we have here. I am lucky to be able to call this place home. I have always writen journals on my trips in the days before blogs, moving to an online format in 2007 when I left the UK on what turned out to be a 6 year journey back to New Zealand. One day I may get around to uploading those old blogs, but for now I am focusing on an upcoming 4 month trip to South America. I hope you enjoy my updates.

Georgian capitals old and new

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Georgia, April 2025

Today was Easter Sunday and I finally made it out for a morning walk through the now silent streets.   Our hotel is in a fairly residential area, with narrow potholed streets, lined by small ramshackled houses – in fact, many of the streets I walked were like this.

What I didn’t notice until I looked back at my photos that I could fulfil all my gun needs just down the road from my hotel lol.

Being so pleased with the photos I had taken from my hotel room the night before, my destination was the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, the head church for the Georgian Orthodox religion.  Given it was Easter Sunday, I was conscious of having a look around and being on by way before the Easter rush began.  I did not even attempt to enter the church, as although it was open, I was definitely not dressed for it!

Despite the early hour, there were already vendors out selling candles and icons and of course, the standard stray dog guarding the doorstep lol. 

The cathedral, finished in 2004, is the tallest church in the country (at 101m high) and its golden dome dominates the Tbilisi skyline on this side of the Kura River.  Although it was finished in 2004, construction actually started in 1995 and the first service was in 2004 and it was somewhat controversial as this was during the “12 years of suffering”, when most of the population was struggling to survive.  

It is definitely an imposing structure and I managed to perfectly align the sun, rising behind the cathedral to take what is perhaps one of my favourite photos.  This was actually only the second time I had taken my actual camera out with me and I was regretting not having got it out earlier!  Although I am normally happy with the quality of my phone photos, the quality of those taken on the camera is another level. Why did I wait? 

As I wandered back down through the streets I was shocked by the contrast from one street to the next.  One street is full of run down and ramshackled buildings (with the cathedral towering over the neglected houses) and then the next is full new builds.  The old buildings have real character so I do hope they chose to refurbish some, rather than just demolish them to make way for modern tower blocks. 

It seems that not much opens before 9am here, even hotel coffee shops did not appear to be open, but I did finally manage to stumble across a cute little café which was open.  Even better, the aesthetics were almost as good as the coffee ❤️.

Tazo picked us up at 11am and we joined the traffic again heading out of town – apparently today many would be visiting cemeteries in the villages. 

Our first stop of the morning was the Jvari Monastery, a 6th century monastery sitting on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Iberia, Mtskheta.   The name translates to “the cross” and legend says that the cross of Saint Nino, who we met a few days earlier, was placed here (over a Zoroastrianism sanctuary) as she converted the people in the capital city below to Christianity. 

Subsequently a church was built on that site.  Although some of what we see today dates back to that original church, it has also been through a lot restoration work over the years – this has been a challenge given the state of the original building and the loss of the building records in a fire!

That said, it is still considered a site of great importance and one of the most sacred sites in the region. 

We then went down into Mtskheta, once a grand capital city, today more of a tourist capital and quite possibly one of the most touristy places we have been with many stalls selling souvenirs lining the narrow, cobble stone streets of the old town. 

Mtskheta is not only one of the oldest cities in Georgia, but also one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world (along with Kutaisi) and it is believed that the original settlement was founded by the ancient Meschian tribes in the 5th century BC.  As I mentioned above, from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD, it was the capital of the Kingdom of Iberia.  It is also considered the birthplace of Christianity in Georgia.

The Svetitskhoveli Cathedral is the second largest church in Georgia, after the Holy Trinity Cathedral I had visited earlier in the morning, and what we see today was built around 1010 on the site of one built in the 4th century.  Unfortunately a lot of its frescoes were lost due to whitewashing by the Soviet imperial armies over the years.  

The town has been referred to as the second Jerusalem due to its status as a Holy city and is the burial place of Georgian Kings. Legend has it, it is the resting place of Jesus’s tunic, brought to the city by a Georgian Jew who had witnessed the crucifixion.  

Given its holy significance, it was no surprise that this church had a higher dress code than others we had visited and we were provided with scarves to cover our heads.

There is apparently a tunnel that connects Svetitskhoveli Cathedral to Jvari Monastery on the hill above, along with a spring and space for 1,000 people to hid in case of attack (which came frequently over the years). 

We walked back through the gauntlet of tourist shops and stopped to purchase some churchkhela – a sausage shaped sweet we had seen all over the place.  It is traditionally made of walnuts, surrounded by concentrated grape juice, but other varieties have different nuts and different fruit juices.   Apparently, Georgian soldiers used to carry them with them as they contained enough calories for one man of day!  That was not great as I had to eat what I bought before I left as I could not take them home with me.  

Apparently many that are sold these days are mass produced, but one seller here still makes them in the traditional way so we made sure to purchase from him.  I really liked them but they were very sweet.

As we drove back in to Tbilisi, we passed some small protests happening around parliament.  Apparently, there is some discontent with the last election held in October 2024 which re-elected the Georgian Dream party who have been in power since 2012.  A number of international organisations have noted problems with the election and so opposition parties and many of the Georgian people have refused to recognise the results and have taken to the streets daily in protest.

These intensified when the current Prime Minister announced he was suspending talks on Georgia’s bid to join the EU.  Currently Georgian’s have visa free access to EU countries and this could be impacted by this move.

We continued on past a golden St George (on a very high plinth) before finding a parking space near the Metekhi church on the left side of the river.  It is one of the oldest churches in the city and a great viewpoint across the river to the old city. 

From here we walked down to the cable car station in Rike Park to travel 5 minutes over the river and old town and up to Narikala Fortress, perched on top of the hill, with great views of the city on the way.  The cable car is a very popular way to get around for locals and tourists alike.

There is a beautiful panoramic view from the top, including a close-up view of Kartlis Deda or Mother of Georgia.  Unfortunately the way she is situated you actually only get a close-up view of her behind!  The “Mother of” is actually a soviet concept and many ex-USSR countries have one.  The 20m Georgian monument was erected in 1958 and made of aluminium.  It depicts a Georgian woman in national dress, holding a bowl of wine in her left hand to greet people who come as friends, and a sword in her right had for those who come as enemies.  I am glad we got the wine lol

Instead of visiting the fortress (we have seen a fair few) we walked down through the National Botanical Gardens which lie in a gorge on the other side of the hill to the city.  They cover around 160 hectares and it was a beautiful day for a stroll passed the waterfalls and trees with their spring blossom and even more great views – this time back across to the Narikala Fortress.

We ended up in the Tbilisi’s old town and spent a little time exploring the narrow, cobbled streets.   Passed the famous painted houses with carved balconies, the very Islamic looking sulphur baths and views back across to the cathedral on the other side of the river.


We passed through the very tourist targeted area filled with bars, night clubs and cafes, before stopping to admire the Tamada statue.  We had seen a smaller version of him on the fountain in Kutaisi, but this time he is much larger and a cultural landmark of Tbilisi.  If you missed the Kutaisi blog, the Tamada is a toastmaster and is a symbol of Georgian hospitality.  He is responsible for leading feasts, offering toasts and is considered a person of wisdom, wit and respect.  A should also note, that the sculpture is based on an 7th century artifact found in Vani.

By this time it was almost 4 o’clock and we had not stopped so definitely time for some food.  We found a cute café, and tried a couple of Georgian dishes we had not yet had.  Pkhali, a dish of chopped up spinach leaves combined with ground walnuts and herbs (it tastes much better than it sounds) and another type of Khachapuri, this time Adjarian Khachapuri. 

Perhaps the most iconic of the Khachapuris, the Adjarian Khachapuri looks like a boat of dough filled with melted cheese, butter and an egg!   I was not really sure how to eat it but ended up using some of the dough to mix the egg and cheese together and then scope the filling.  You do have to be careful of where you take the bread pieces from at the beginning so you do not get a flow of cheesy goodness all over the place.  Again, I think it tasted way better than it sounds. Lol.

We washed this down with some wine for me, and a fresh tarragon lemonade for Ania (who is still on antibiotics).  The wine was good but the tarragon lemonade was amazing, sooooo much better than the sugary fizzy stuff in a bottle.

This part of the city felt with European and we continued on passed the Peace Bridge and ended up at the Gabriadze Clock Tower, more commonly know as the Leaning Clock Tower or Wonky Clock.  We happened to stumble across it just before 5pm so were just on time to see the angel comes out and strike the bell on the hour.  It is actually part of the puppet theatre building which was also created by Georgian director, screenwriter and artist Rezo Gabriadze.

We slowly made our way back to our hotel and over 20,000 steps later I was ready for a relaxing evening of packing and preparing for our next destination tomorrow.

 

Back to the mountains … more snow and traffic jams

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Georgia, April 2025

Today Tazo picked us up in his 3rd car – a second landrover, this time with LPG!  Apparently, it is cheap to have cars so many people have more than one, or in Tazo’s case, more than two.

Unfortunately Ania was in more pain this morning so our first stop for the day was another emergency dentist.   Our search for a dentist took us to a beautiful part of the city with wide tree lined streets flanked by beautiful buildings, including universities, shops and apartments.  There was also some lovely street art.   At least we got to see a part of the city we would not normally! 

It took a while but we found a dentist that was open and they were so kind and did not charge her for their time.  They did give her a prescription for stronger antibiotics and stronger painkillers, but did recommend that she needed a tooth extraction which she was not keen on doing in Georgia (though I am sure it would be much cheap) so she just needed to get the pain and infection under control.

We finally left the city at 11am and not far out of the city we got caught in traffic!  Not sure where it was all going, but it was pretty slow for a period of time.  It is a crazy place when you just pass a random 6th century fortress on a hill as you drive down the road! 

Tazo got us more delicious roadside hot Georgian bread, today in the form of puri.  Puri is a savoury bread, baked in the same tone as the sweet bread we had the day before.  The bread was long and shaped like the curve of the tone and is actually called shotis puri.  It was steaming hot and really tasty.  Honestly, in my opinion, you cannot go wrong with a country that thrives on bread, cheese and wine!

The road we were on today is called the Georgian Military Road and it runs 212 km from Tbilisi to Russia.  In fact, today it is the one and only remaining open land border with Russia.  This meant the road had an eclectic range of vehicles from all over the region, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenian, Russia ….  And there were trucks, oh so many trucks!  Despite still being 150km from the border we started passing trucks parked up on the side of the road, queuing for the border.  Apparently, the lines are controlled by police, who move them on to the next stop point all along the road.  Tazo mentioned that they let the trucks cross in one direction in the morning and the other direction in the afternoon and that we did not want to get stuck behind them!! 

Back in 1914 this road was described as one of the most beautiful mountain roads in the world but I am pretty sure that was before it was full of trucks!  Some of the trucks started moving and try as we may, for every truck we passed, there were another 10 in front of us making the journey much slower than it should be.

In our attempt to beat the trucks, we could only stop for a brief photo at the Zhinvali Reservoir.  An artificial lake created by a nearby hydroelectric dam which was built in 1985.  The lake itself provides much of the water used in Tbilisi.  With the surrounding mountains and forest covered slopes, it was quite beautiful. 

We wound our way up the mountain, with the road narrowing as we climbed, till we reached the popular ski resort of Gudauri, at an altitude of around 2220m above sea level.  Apparently, it is the most popular ski resort in Georgia and has over 70 km of ski runs and it is the highest settlement along this road.  Because of the warm March, much of the town was closed up as two weeks ago there was no snow, but today it was covered in snow again.   We thought we had some serious snow the other day, but they must have had a lot more here given what was left on the ground. 

As we were still on a mission, we passed straight through town and only to be stuck in a traffic jam, mostly of trucks!  So picture this – we are now stuck on a narrow windy stretch of mountain road – with a 2-metre-high snow back on one side, and a drop of the mountain side on the other.  The traffic is at a standstill.    Apparently, some of the tunnels ahead can not fit two trucks side by side so traffic can only go through one way at a time causing these huge backups. 

Unfortunately as we had left Tbilisi a couple of hours later than planned, Tazo had to make the call that we just could not make it to our final destination of Kazbegi – he actually said that the traffic is so bad these days that he would never recommend trying to get there as a day trip, even without the snow! 

Of course this traffic has only been an issue since the Russia – Ukraine war started and all other countries closed their land borders.  Prior to that this was not the problem it is today.  They are currently in the process of building a new tunnel through the mountains to the border which should definitely solve part of the problem (although the route definitely won’t be so scenic)!

As disappointing as it was not to get to Kazbegi, the views from our traffic jam were absolutely breathtaking and I could get out of the car to take some photos before Tazo managed to make a crazy U turn in a tight space to head back down to Gudauri and the Russian-Georgia Friendship monument.

We parked in a small, snow filled car park and my slight deviation from the well walked tracked found me in knee deep snow – and of course, again I was not dressed for snow!!  At least this time I was using my sunglasses for the sun (and the glare from the snow)!

The Russian-Georgia Friendship monument was built in 1983 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Treaty of Georgievsk, which we learnt about when we met King Erekle II in Kakheti a few days early.  This was the treaty he signed with Catherine the Great to try and strengthen his kingdoms independence from Persia. 

The large round, structure overlooks the so-called Devil’s Valley and its mural depicts scenes from Georgian and Russian history and was designed by Georgian architect George Chakhava.   

The views were just stunning, but there may have been the most tourists we have seen in one place on the entire trip!  Throw in their buses and minibuses in the small car parks and narrow roads and now add snow, and it was all a bit chaotic! 

One more quick stop in town for more breathtaking views of the mountains and down the valleys, including a classic “Georgian church on a hill” before we continued back down the mountain and out of the snow. We continued to pass trucks, so many more trucks than we passed on the way up. With all the trucks on the side of the road, and another 500 sitting in a roadside truck park, they must have numbered in the thousands! 

By this time it was almost 4pm and most definitely time for lunch, Tazo knew just the place.  In fact, this food stop was one he had told us about on our first day with him as this area, called Pasanauri, is sometimes referred to as the ‘cradle of khinkali’ – that is, where they originated and where you get the best ones!   

Not being an expert, all I can say is that were definitely the best we have had, and this time we paired it with a Mkhlovana (I think), basically a Khachapuri with cheese and herbs inside which is a speciality of the east Georgian mountain regions.  It was probably also my favourite of the Khachapuris! 

Back on the road and in less of a hurry we could do a couple of stops.  The first was at the convergence of two rivers – helpfully known as the Black Aragvi and the White Aragvi lol.  The white is due to sediment rich in limestone and the black from organic material and silt.

Now I have seen amazing images of the two rivers meeting and the different colours flowing side by side but as you can see from my photo that was not our experience!  You can almost make out a slightly different colour but it definitely was not amazing, possibly due to the river being fairly full and fast flowing. 

We also had time to have a quick stop at the medieval Ananuri fortress, on the shores of Zhinvali reservoir.   Original built in the 16-17th centuries, the fortress includes an Orthodox monastery, bell tower and three churches. It was apparently still in use until the beginning of the 19th century and as with other fortresses we have seen, there are secret passages down to the water to allow people under siege inside to get water and food.

Despite damage from battles and fires during the year, the fortress still retains beautifully carved facades.

I am not sure I have mentioned previously, Tazo’s driving music is an eclectic mix of old school music ranging from jazz and swing to soul.  On today’s playlist we were listen to “Georgia on my mind” by Ray Charles.  Obviously, it was written about a different Georgia (the state in USA) but  Georgia (the country) was definitely in my mind ❤️.

Given we had had lunch so late, I did not go out for dinner, but I did have a lovely view out to the cathedral from my room and was very happy with the photos I took just out of my window as the sun set!





 

 

 

Monasteries and myths

On By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

Georgia, April 2025

Today was Red Friday (as I explained in my previous blog) and Tazo’s family were near by, so he spent the morning with them, and we had some free time to explore the town of Kutaisi, one of oldest cities in the world having been continuously inhabited since 1,400BC.

With a population of around 135,000, Kutaisi is Georgia’s 4th largest city, and it was an important political centre in the Middle Ages and the capital of Georgia from the 8th century BCE to the 11th century. Not only that, it was actually the seat of the Parliament of Georgia from October 2012 to December 2018 in an effort to decentralise the Georgian government. The move was not particularly popular and in January 2019, it was moved back to Tbilisi.

One of the main sites of the city is the Colchis fountain, so that was our first stop.  It is basically on a roundabout, in amongst the business city traffic so it was good to go early when we could easily cross the road to get to it! 

The fountain itself celebrates the ancient Kingdom of Colchis and has 30 large copies of famous gold jewellery, discovered at nearby Vani archaeological site. The figures include animals and ancient Georgian figures, including the lion that features on the Bank of Georgia logo and Tamada.  Tamada is thought to be representative of the Georgian toastmaster tradition and the original little bronze statue dates back to the 7th century BC. 

According to Greek mythology, Jason and his Argonauts visited the city, sailing down the Rioni river from the Black Sea to claim the Golden Fleece – today the river certainly does not look like a large ship could sail down it!  As well as leaving with the gold, he also left with the King’s daughter Medea who became his wife!

From the fountain we wandered passed the Opera House and Theatre, down some of the beautiful tree lined boulevards and across one of the bridges to admire the view out to the snow-capped mountains.  The old part of town was lovely and it was nice to have some free time just to wander. 

Unfortunately our time was cut short as Ania, my travel companion, had a toothache and we needed to find a dentist for her.  Despite being a public holiday, we found a 24 hour dentist just around the corner form our hotel and she could just walk in and see someone (although she did have to call Tazo for some translation services lol).  Armed with some antibiotics and pain killers we went back to the hotel to check out and meet Tazo to continue our journey.

Before leaving Kutaisi, we visited a couple of local sites, just outside the city, the first being the Bagrati Cathedral.  Originally built in 1003 by King Bagrat III, it is a symbol of a united Georgia and of the city itself.  It was on the UNESCO World Heritage site list, but then removed as reconstruction work over the years did not meet with UNESCO standards to maintain the integrity of the original structure, most of which had been destroyed through battles and subsequent decay. 

It is still an active church today, and so we could not take any photos inside but the main thing of note was some priests doing some DIY and some relics, including a human skull!  Outside there was a beautiful view across the city and out to the mountains beyond.

I am also back on Lada watch, with some great examples of their longevity and sturdiness being seen around the city!!

As we drove along narrow, cobbled streets to our next destination, I noticed the above ground gas pipes, as previously seen in Kazakhstan.  In some places they run about 30 centimetres of the ground but then go up to around 2-3 metres to allow for vehicles to pass under them.  Most were installed during Soviet times, so not surprise you see them in other ex-Soviet countries.

The 8th century Motsameta monastery is not only beautiful, perched on a cliff overlooking the Tskaltsitela river, but it is also where Tazo was baptised so he was excited to show it to us.    The name means the “Place of Martyrs” which relates to two brothers of a noble family who organised a rebellion against the occupying Arabs.  When their rebellion failed, and they refused to convert to Islam, they were tortured, killed and their bodies thrown in the river.    Subsequently they were recognised as saints and their remnants are kept in the nearby Gelati monastery.

Apparently, there is a secret (or perhaps not so secret) tunnel between Gelati and Motsameta monasteries used during wars and the crypts of both are said to hold relics such as bones of saints, including the brothers.

The monastery was beautiful inside and out, with purple flowers growing out of the rocks outside and lovely murals on the inside.

We were then back on the road to travel the 220km back to Tbilisi, and for a while we did not see the Easter holiday traffic that Tazo had predicted – but then we did!  Thankfully it was all on the other side of the road, travelling away from Tbilisi and for some time it was at a complete stand still.  Thankfully there was hardly anyone travelling towards the city so we were grateful to be going that way!

As it had been a busy day (since Tazo had picked us up) we had not had time for lunch, so we stopped on the road side to buy some Nazuki, a delicious, warm spicy sweet bread – there were lots of road side stalls selling it, advertising it with signs of brown oval blobs!  The bread was not brown, but I guess it was oval shaped and it was definitely tasty! 

Nazuki dates back centuries and its name translates from Persian as “exquisite”.  Traditionally they are cooked in a tone oven (a clay tandoor oven where the bread is stuck to the side) and in this particular area (called Surami), is called Nazukebi, a 1 Km stretch of Nazuki sellers.  Apparently a lot of these were set up during period of great economic struggles, allowing people to support their families by baking and selling nazuki. 

Also along this stretch of motorway, we passed very close to the Russian occupied state of South Ossetia, and I mean really close.  Tazo pointed to a village not far aware and noted that it was occupied by Russians!  It is crazy to think that life goes on so close to the contentious “border”.

We arrived back in Tbilisi and Tazo dropped us back at our hotel just after 5pm and thankfully I had much nicer rooms than we did for our one night stay – I even had a little enclosed balcony.  This time we are here for 3 nights so it was time to do some washing and realign the packing.  As we have been constantly on the move, I tend to alternate the same two outfits (rather than unpack my bag) so it was good to remind myself what else I had packed and get those out to wear.

Ania was not feeling great so I went on the hunt for somewhere to have dinner and came across a lovely Italian restaurant.  I felt a little guilty having Italian food in Georgia but made up for it by having a glass of Georgian wine.🍷

Fortresses and dinosaurs

On By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

Georgia, April 2025

Our hotel in Akhaltsikhe was ok, definitely not as nice as some of the others we had had.  Unfortunately I could not get the water hot enough to wash my hair and breakfast spread was not as vast as other places – serious first world problems and nothing I could not cope with (especially for only 1 night). 

Akhaltsikhe is a small town with a population of only 18,000 and sitting at 1000m above sea level and before leaving we visited Rabat Castle, which dominates the town.  It is medieval fortress, initially built in the 9th century which has been called Lomsia (Lion), Akhal-tsikhe (New Fortress) and Rabat or Rabati (meaning fortress in Arabic)! 

We had to wait a few minutes for our English guide and acquainted ourselves with a couple of the local stray dogs.  There are stray dogs everywhere in Georgia but despite being stray, they seem well feed and looked after and they are not aggressive with us or each other.  In fact they are all very friendly.  That said, it seems our ‘guide’ dog was not a fan of our actual guide and did her best to keep in between us and him and barked at him if he got too close lol.

The oldest part of the complex was built in the 9th century, with subsequent additions, including the high walls, entrance gates and watch towers being added in the 12th century.  The varying architectures of the different eras and religions is clear here and it was interesting to learn that the “church” has functioned as a church and a mosque over the years – depending on who won the most recent battle.  From the covered balcony’s (for Muslim women to enjoy fresh air without being seen) to the mosque/church which was actually designed by an Italian Catholic), a Muslim madras (or school) and a ‘secret’ opium room.  What we see today has been through extensive reconstruction and renovation in more recent years. 

Apparently, Tamerlane and his Turco-Mongol army attacked in the late 1300’s on his rampage across the continent– if you had been reading my blogs for a while your may remember I met Tamerlane (or Timur) in Uzbekistan in 2019.  In this instance, Rabati Fortress withstood his attack.  

The fortress continued to be a site of battles as the area saw constant struggles between Iran and Turkey, and the region was in fact part of Turkey, and predominately Muslim until the invasion of the Russian Empire in the early 1800s.  The region briefly returned to Turkish control after WWI in 1918, falling back to Russia and the USSR in 1921.

Over the years, this multi-faceted complex has also been a military prison and a hospital!  And of course, the citadel which was used as a signal point to send messages by lighting fires which could be send 10kms away.  All the fortresses would be used in this way, passing messages for 100’s of miles through multiple fortresses and castle citadels.

Leaving town and heading towards our next destination, we passed through beautiful landscapes spotting fortresses on hilltops (part of the message sending chain I mentioned above).  We stopped for a brief walk in the beautiful town of Borjomi, who’s name is famous as a brand of naturally carbonated water that originates in the springs here.

Borjomi is a resort town, with a population of just over 11,000 which sits in the Borjomi Gorge.   As well as its mineral water fame, today it is known as a hub for adventure activities including 4WD trips, hiking, rafting, horse riding etc. and is continuing to grow in popularity. In the past, it was the home to the nearby Romanov summer palace and the gardens here started life as a park solely for the Russian royal family and other aristocrats and the town was used frequently by the Russian military for convalescence and to partake in the healing powers of the local mineral water.  It was once known as “the pearl of Caucasus”.

During the period of the USSR, all the aristocratic mansions were seized by the state and turned into sanatoriums for Communist party elite (so the same thing, just for different ‘aristocrats’).

On the day of our visit, the town was pretty quiet and lots of people were trying to sell their activities and wares.  Apparently, some of the guys were telling Tazo that they were give him a cut if he convinced us to do something with them!  We did stop and have a stilted but interesting conversation with an older lady selling ‘medicinal’ products made out of pine trees (needles, sap, bark etc) found in the local forests.  Not really sure of the medicinal part of it but it was interesting to learn about their beliefs in the natural products.

The park was beautiful and it was lovely to have a brief stroll in the sunshine and sample the so-called therapeutic waters from the Ekaterina Spring.  There is a fountain that you can fill your bottles from or drink straight from the tap …. It was not good lol.  If you did not breathe you could escape the sulphur smell, but you could not escape the metallic taste.  After a small sip, I did not go back for seconds!

We were soon back on the motorway and this section of the road has over 40 tunnels cutting through the hills, and big roadside rest stops featuring small supermarkets and American chain fast food restaurants Wendy’s, Subway and Dunkin Donuts.  More importantly they had clean toilets – most toilets come at a cost here, 1 Lari a visit, so we often found Tazo sponsoring out toilet visits lol.

Car chats with Tazo today covered the following:

  • It was the long Easter weekend and most in the country are Georgian Orthodox, so Easter is taken pretty seriously.  What we call Good Friday; they call Red Friday and families dye eggs red to represent the blood of Christ shed on the day of the crucifixion. Now we did not discuss ‘Easter Grass’ but I did see it being sold – they either grow or purchase this (basically 10cm high wheatgrass) which is used as decoration along with the red eggs to symbolise new life after the resurrection.

On Easter Monday, in a few days’ time, families gather for picnics at cemeteries to commemorate their loved ones, sometimes pouring wine on top of the graves.

  • The Georgian philosophy “Everything to my country, I get what my country can give back” reflects the strong sense of national dedication and loyalty.
  • After the collapse of the USSR, the years 1991 to 2003 are referred to as “12 years of suffering”.  There was turmoil internally and with neighbours and political and economic instability.  In 2003, the so-called Rose Revolution saw a non-violent uprising bringing on a change of government and subsequently stability.  They introduced a Zero tolerance policy and within 5 years they become one of the safety countries in the world.

We arrived in the city of Kutaisi, but before stopping in the city, we drove through and out to the Sataplia Nature Reserve, 10km out of town.  The park was created in 1935, after the discovery of the cave complex and the dinosaur footprints.    The name Sataplia translates to “honey place” as bees used to live in small holes in the cliffs.  Most are gone today but you can still see the evidence of their previous existence.

We had to wait around 45 minutes for an English guide (which was mandatory) but to be honest they really were not worth the wait as they did not really tell us anything.  They just directed us places, first into a small building that covers the dinosaur footprints.  There are 150 footprints, thought to be from 30 different individuals from 5-6 different dinosaur species, including one new genus called the Satapliasaurus. Generally they appear to be both raptors and grass eating dinosaurs from the Jurassic period.

From the dinosaur footprints we moved on to the incredible cave system – a karst cave system carved out by the Oghaskura River over 30 million of years its 300m length is filled with stalactites and stalagmites.  There is a boardwalk type walkway through the cave and the cave was filled with music and lights. It is also always a constant 14 degrees inside – to be honest it felt a little more like a disco than a cave complex lol.   The cave’s main attraction was a heart shaped formation where people make wishes. 

Once out of the cave we had free time to explore some of the 350 ha of forest, part of which has dinosaur figures that come to life as you walk near them and then the piece de resistance – the glass panoramic viewpoint overlooking the area.  It was rather a unique experience but it was lovely to have a walk through the forest and enjoy the nature.

Back in town, we decided to find somewhere to have a quick drink before Tazo dropped us at our hotel and we found a small café in the old town and we enjoyed a home-made semi sweet rose in the sun.  I think I have mentioned that everyone in Georgia make their own wine and although it was rather yeasty, it was still tasty.

Our hotel here was lovely (most have been pretty good) and we went to a restaurant called Agerari, recommended my Tazo, for a delicious dinner and a local beer. We had so much food, we almost had to roll back to the hotel lol.

 

 

Mountains high, valleys low

On By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

Georgia, April 2025


We woke to another day of cold rain, and due to the Easter holidays (where many things would be closed and traffic would be crazy), Tazo had managed to rearrange our itinerary, so instead of staying in Tbilisi for a few days, we were heading straight out again.

Today’s journey took us over the mountains of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region and we passed through beautiful mountain landscapes and small villages – neither were conducive to any good photos from a moving car …. in the rain!   But as we drove higher we started to started to see snow on cars coming from the direction we were going in!

In “Car Chats” today we talked about Georgia’s fight to retain its territory and independence.  Here, all men need to do 2 years military service and the last major skirmish, the Russo-Georgian war, was in 2008 when Russia took occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.  Still today, Russia and 4 UN states recognise these areas as independent states, whilst Georgia and most other UN states recognise it was part of Georgia, and therefore the EU, and the UN now recognise the areas as “occupied territories”.  Despite that, Russian continues to build military bases in the regions, create borders along the boundaries of the disputed lands and refuse entry to any international monitoring missions.

Russia continues to claim that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are independent states and not occupied territories and citizens can have local passports (of Abkhazia and South Ossetia) but get Russian passports for international travel.   Still today, tensions still run high along these borders and a permanent and peaceful resolution does not appear close.

Up into the snow we drove and at almost 2000m above sea level it was actively snowing.  And it snowed and snowed, like serious snow!  Apparently, March had been a very warm month and most people had changed to their summer tires so this was not ideal and it was not long before we came upon a traffic jam.   Not sure if there had been an accident or if people had just decided they could not go any further, either way, the road was blocked!

Thankfully, Tazo had picked us up this morning in his Landrover, so we went off road to get past the jam (I enjoyed this very much lol).  If we had not been able to do this, we would never have reached our destination for the day!

As we continued on, we got into almost a complete white out and the glare was insane!  Who knew the first time I would need my sunglasses would be for the snow!    We had now gone beyond the areas where the roads had been cleared and/or driven on by other cars and it was not always obvious where the road actually was!!   Tazo was also very excited by the snow as in the winter they plough immediately so he doesn’t often see snow like this on the roads!

We were supposed to have a stop at Paravani Lake, Georgia’s largest lake which is apparently quite beautiful.  Not only could we barely see the lake, but we could also not see the road that takes you down to the lake so a visit to the small chapel and wooden cross on the lake shore was not an option lol.  

Today we learnt about Saint Nino, considered the “enlightener of Georgia”.    Born in Cappadocia in around 296 to an Orthodox Christian family, and after studying the Holy Scriptures in Jerusalem, the Virgin Mary visited her during a dream.  She gave her a cross made from vine branches and told her to spread Christianity across the region. 

Saint Nino was joined by a number of other women her pilgrimage but they were captured by Tsar Trdat III who killed all the others.  Nino managed to escape death and continued on to the shores of Paravani Lake to rest.

The lake and its surrounding landscapes left a profound impression on Nino, who found solace in its peace and beauty. She spent several days by the water, where the local inhabitants offered her food and shelter, allowing her to regain her strength before she set off for the capital city of Mtskheta where she was complete her mission of the conversion of the people from Zoroastrianism to Christianity.    She is still one of the most revered Saints in the Georgian Orthodox Church and a grape vine cross is a symbol of Georgian Christianity. 

We continued on passed small, abandoned looking towns (apparently many only live here in the summer), until we reached the small village of Foka (I have also seen this written as Poka) and the St Nino Monastery.  Tazo went ahead to drag the nuns out in the snow to open their shop and the church for us to look around, as we trudged through the snow (now about 15cm deep)!   Again another moment I was grateful for my waterproof shoes but all in all I did not pack, and most definitely did not dress, for snow! 

The shop was selling a huge range of hand made products, including chocolates, biscuits, jams, oils, cheese, hats, ceramics and jewellery and given that they had been forced to come out in the snow we felt obliged to buy a few bits (mainly chocolate lol).

The Church here was built in the 11th century out of perfect cut square stone blocks and contains old carvings and fresco remnants as well as some beautiful icon imagery.

Back on the road through more deserted towns, we spotted whites storks nesting on the top of power poles.  I bet they wish they had held off their migration and nest builing for a few more weeks as they did not appear to be particularly happy! 

As we travelled down, we arrived back into the rain, but by the time we got down into the valley, we finally saw the sun!  It was hard to imagine that less than 2 hours before we were in the snow.


After a quick photo stop at the 4th century Khertvisi Fortress (we will return for a visit a little later), we followed the Kura River (that runs through Tiblisi and also through Azerbaijan out to the Caspian sea) down the valley.  During the stone age, most people lived near the rivers, hence the numbers of fortresses and watch towers in the valleys along the rivers.  Even Alexander the Great apparently travelled down this valley on his march towards India. 

One of the sites we were most excited to visit in Georgia was the Vardzia Caves, one of a number of cave complexes in Georgia.  It is thought that the cave complex was built in a number of phases, starting in the second half of the 12th century, during the reign of King George III.

According to the legend, the King’s daughter, Tamara (who went on to become Queen Tamara) was playing in the caves as a child.  She lost sight of her Uncle and called out “Ak var dzia”  – “I am here uncle”.  The words var dzia echoed around the complex (which was under construction) and were heard by the King who decided it should be named this way. 

Before I move on, let’s take a moment to meet Queen Tamara, one of Georgia’s greatest medieval monarchs who ruled from 1184 to 1213 CE.  She was the first female ruler of Georgia and was referred to as the “King of Kings and Queen of Queens”.

Her father, King George III had no sons and was concerned about losing his power so named his daughter Tamara co-ruler at 18 years old in 1178.  By all accounts she was a badass who despite having to continually deal with resistance to her rule by clergy and noble men of the time, she went on to be responsible for Georgia’s greatest territorial expansion.

Back to Vardzia, the cave complex runs around 500m along the cliffs, is up to 19 tiers high and includes more than 250 rooms, 28 wine cellars and 3 churches.  There is also defences and irrigation systems including aqueducts and reserviors. After sustaining heavy damage in an earthquake in 1283, it was partially rebuilt before being mostly abandoned after the Ottoman invasion in the 16th century.

We took the free shuttle bus up to the first level of the caves and then had time to explore some of the caves, up and down stairs, some more like ladders.  I think we spent even more time admiring the beautiful views down the valleys and the blue skies which we had not seen for some time.

Back down at the car park we had some freshly squeezed pomegranate juice – it was very expensive (15 Gel or NZ$10 for a cup) and a little sour. I did enjoy it but would not rush to pay that price again.  That said it was probably tourist prices being a tourist site!  We also picked up some Georgian meat pies (I don’t seem to have made a note on the actual name) which were tasty and way better value than the juice!

We then head back up the value and stopped at Khertvisi Fortress. One of the oldest and well preserved fortresses in Georgia, it has sat on this hill since the 10-11th centuries overlooking what was the Silk Road.  As with most fortresses in Georgia, there are many tunnels underneath – in this case they run down to the river to allow for water collection and also communications, not forgetting an escape route in times of siege.

Over the years as the town of Khertvisi was destroyed by Mongols, captured by Turks and then by the Russians, the fortress continued to dominate and its position as a military garrison was restored.

It was another full day and one full of surprises (mostly weather related lol) and we were exhausted by the time we arrived in Akhaltsikhe (our stop for the night). We could only muster the energy to pop to the local supermarket for some instant noddles for dinner before heading to bed! 

 

Museums & Wine of Kakheti

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Georgia, April 2025

We woke to a cold and rainy day but, at one point, the rain cleared a little and I could see out to the beautiful snow-capped mountains in the distance and I was definitely excited for the next few days. Bur our first full day in Georgia was to be spent exploring in and around Telavi and avoiding the rain where possible.

I will warn you, today was a crash course in a small part of Georgia’s long history … and now I am sharing that with you so enjoy if you like that kind of thing 👍🏻or just look at the pictures and move on lol.

We started the day at the Telavi History Museum, a complex the includes the only preserved royal palace in Georgia, a church and a bath house, along with a museum and art gallery.  The museum had a great collection of historical artefacts and information about the history of ceramics, architecture, coins, clothing and the importance of grapes and wine.  It was interesting to see how the country has incorporated parts of its history, including Mongol, Russian and European, into its culture.

We then moved on to the art collection, a private collection of Ketevan Iashvili, a female cosmetologist born in the area in 1883.  She had an interest in fine art and collected it throughout her life (sometimes she was apparently given art in lieu of payment for her services by wealthy customers).  In the 1970’s she donated her collection to the museum and some of it can be seen here today.

We then had to brave the weather and head outside to visit one of the most important parts of the museum complex, the Palace of King Erekle II (also known as King Heraclius II or the Little Kakhetian).  The much-loved King Erekle ruled Kakheti from 1744 to 1762, before uniting the regions of Kakheti and Kartli (upon the death of his father who was King of Kartli) and ruling both until his death in 1798.  He is considered one of the most important and powerful Georgian kings, modernising the Government, economy and military, but unfortunately, he was also part of the reason for its downfall.

He was known as a great diplomat, and in an attempt to keep his kingdom safe, he made a pact with Russia for protection, unfortunately it was not enough to save it from a Persian invasion in 1785. 

Construction on the palace started under King Archil II in the 17th century and what we see today was completed under King Erekle II, who turned a more simple palace (where he was born in 1720 and died, in the same room, in 1798) into a fortress with the construction of the 5m high walls. 

We had a local guide through the museum and the Palace and it was interesting to learn some more of the interesting facts about King Erekle and his palace. I have summarised what was a lot of information as best I can below:

  • The palace is a shadow of its former glory.  It used to be beautifully adorned with colourful walls and mosaic floors in a Persian style, all of which were destroyed by the Russians (Empire rather than USSR).  Unfortunately there are no images and very little written about how it looked so it cannot be restored. The Russians also used the great Audience Hall as horses stables as a further sign of disrespect.
  • King Erekle is considered the People’s King and form all accounts, he was liked by his people. He led from the front, literally, being 15 when he fought his first battle, and 75 when he fought his last.
  • A 17 year old Erekle was taken to Persia for 2 years.  He was a good diplomat and when he returned, ruling Persia allowed him to be King without giving up Christianity.  I should note that this part of Georgia was under Persian rule longer than the rest of the country, but they always remained Christian at heart.
  • Erekle was already King of Kakheti when his father, who was King of Kartli (the region where Tbilisi is) died, leaving Erkele to unite the two eastern Georgian kingdoms into a single state under his power.
  • After initially using the death of his Persian ally, Nader Shah, to his advantage by declaring independence, King Erekle then signed a protection agreement in 1783 with Russia (chosen because they were Christian).  Unfortunately, they did nothing to help when Persia did invade and in fact Russian troops went as far as to evacuate the area leading to a full invasion in 1795.  He went to his death in 1798 hoping that Russia would come to the rescue so Georgia could continue its existence, but unfortunately, just 3 years later, it was consumed into the Russian Empire.  
  • King Erekle had 3 wives (not at the same time) and a total of 28 children, most who died young or at birth. His last wife was a strong, intelligent woman whom he married when she was just 12 and she bore him 23 of his 28 children.  In the later years of his life, she had significant influence over his political decisions. She was not in favour of the agreement with Russia and was deported to St Petersburg in 1803 where she lived until her death.

 

In summary, he seems like he was a decent bloke, tried to do his best for his country and his people but was screwed over by his supposed mate!  In fact his dress sense denoted his diplomacy and he was often depicted wearing a Persian style hat, a European style cape and a blue sash to represent Russian. 

We did not explore much more because of the rain but could see the King’s personal Persian style bath house in the distance and churches in the grounds. One of the two churches actually dates back to the 9-10th centuries.  Much older than the palace itself.

We took a quick detour to see the impressive 900 year old Plane Tree that is all that remains of the forest that used to cover the area.  It is 46m tall and 12m in diameter and today, its health is closely monitored to ensure its ongoing survival.  It is apparently considered a symbol of Georgia’s strength and resilience and it might also be able to make dreams come true lol.

We headed slightly out of the city to our next stop at the Aleksandre Chavchavadze House Museum in Tsinandali.  Not surprisingly it was the home of Prince Aleksandre Chavchavadze.  Born in 1786 (to a noble father who was at one time ambassador to our friend King Erekle) he was Georgian poet, public benefactor and once colonel of the Russian Army and is considered the ‘father of Georgian romanticism”.  He inherited the house from his father and turned it into the cultural and intellectual centre of the country. 

We had to wait for a tour in English so we braved the rain to run to the large building behind the house, which today is a Radisson hotel and the home of the estate’s wine collection and museum.  Another of Chavchavadze’s claims to fame is that he was the first to bottle Georgian wine in a European style. 

We were taken through a locked door and down some stairs into the estate’s vast historic wine cellar where more than 16,000 bottles of his personal collection are stored.  We learnt about the 8,000 years of Georgian wine making history and saw some of the early artefacts they had collected, including pressing equipment and fragments of clay pots (used in the Georgian style of wine making) dating back to the 6th millennium BC!

There are detailed written records for the wine, and the earliest bottle of Aleksandre’s wine is from the 1841 vintage.  Unfortunately, the early wine is no longer drinkable. (I wonder who dared to open a bottle to try it to come to that conclusion?)

Back in the house with our English speaking guide, we were taken around the rooms (no photos allowed inside) and given commentary about the family and the historical pieces on display.  Not all the pieces belonged directly to the family but all were beautiful luxury items from collected from all over Europe and Russia.  It included the oldest grand piano in Georgia and carpets from Azerbaijan.

As the story goes, in July 1854, the troops of a Chechnyan Muslim leader attacked the estate (avenging the family’s support for Russia), pillaging the house and kidnapping his relatives (including his son’s wife, her sister and their children).  It was not until March 1855, after complex negotiations, they were returned in exchange for a ransom and an exchange of other prisoners.

Disillusioned with Russia’s control over Georgia, he ended up joining the failed Georgian rebellion against Russia in 1832 which resulted in him burning much of his poetry written between 1820 and 1832 in fears that it would be used against him, but he was still exiled, before returning to the Russian army at the request of the Tsar.

Following his death in 1846 (officially an accident, unofficially by the hands of Russian assassins) and that of his son David, the ransom loan had still not been repaid and the estate was given to the Russian Imperial family as a summer house.  Summer seemed very far away on our visit as I am not sure the rain let up for a minute!

Finally the moment we had been waiting for was upon us – wine tasting. For this we travelled the short distance to the Kvareli Wine Cave which apparently have the largest storage of Georgian wine, which is stored in more than 7kms of tunnels. The tunnels were originally built in the 1950’s by the USSR army, allegedly as a missile base or a bomb shelter, before being converted into a wine cellar.  Apparently at the time they were also building bomb shelters in Tbilisi, saying they were building a metro system!

After a traditional welcome song, we joined our wine guide to learn more about Georgian wine and the winery.  In 1995 they started cultivating grapes and building wine making facilities and the existing tunnels made a perfect storage facilities – maintaining a standard 12-14C and 70% humidity. 

This winery has a lot of award-winning wines (apparently over 200 gold medal winners) and have vineyards around the country, as they only use their own grapes to allow them to control the quality. 

 

We learnt about the Georgian wine making process which mainly varies from the European style in that it is fermented in large clay pots, known as a Qvevri, Kvevri or Ch’uri.  The pots are a special shape to allow for circulation and they push the skins and twigs to the bottom daily.  When the bubbles stop, they seal the pot and then it sits for the required length of time.  When ready, they traditionally use a scoop (made from a dry pumpkin skin) for the first sip, which is drunk from a clay bowl (it needs to be drunk in full and not sipped)!

We sampled a number of different wines and decided that we liked the semi-sweet ones, and I am a little embarrassed to say I preferred the European styles over the Georgian styles.

Back on the road, we had more great car chats with Tazo covering a multitude of topics – this is exactly what we wanted in a guide! 

A quick stop at a random road side restaurant for a late lunch of a tasty Georgian beef soup and more Khinkali (I think most meals with include these lol)  before arriving in to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. By the time we got to our hotel, the rain had eased a little and I even saw the sun for a moment so popped out to get my first glimpse of this beautiful city (we will have more time to explore in on another day).  

 

Goodbye Azerbaijan, hello Georgia

On By cockneykiwi152 Comments

Azerbaijan & Georgia

April 2025

I was woken early by the Muslim call to prayer and to a misty morning. As I had now discovered the importance of the buildings just across the road from the hotel, I headed out for a quick walk and in search of coffee.

There are two caravanserais on the main road in old Sheki, the upper and the lower which both date back to the 18th-19th centuries.  They were built as fortified structures with just one gate, so they can be protected more easily. 

The Upper one is a tourist site, of course it was closed at 7.30am but I did manage to sneak in a small door (inset in to the big door) to have a quick look at the first courtyard.  As in time gone by, there are a lot of shops along the the outside and we had walked along them the night before.  Today they are mostly souvenirs and also some Halva shops, making a traditional local Halva (a sweet made from sesame paste and honey).

 

The Lower caravanserai is a hotel today, but more importantly for me (that sounds like a terrible thing to say 🤓), there was a lovely coffee shop just across the road … and it was open!  I enjoyed a coffee and watched the local Ladas go by – they definitely rule supreme in this part of the country and I love it.

As we headed towards the border, we passed yet another Albania church on a hill side – I should note that the Albanian churches I see on this trip are not related to the Albania of today, but of the ancient Caucasus Albania which sat in the south eastern part of the Greater Caucasus mountains (most of which sits in modern day Azerbaijan.  The mountain landscapes were filled with wild braided rivers, shepherds grazing their sheep and as we neared the border, trucks, lots of trucks.

We said our goodbyes to Rugiya (our Azerbaijani guide) and our driver and walked to the border crossing.  It took around 45 minutes to depart Azerbaijan (only because we got caught behind a tour bus) and then walked the short distance across no mans land and into Georgia.  The Immigration guy was so excited to see a New Zealand passport – his exact comment was “I did not expect this today” lol.

 

We found our Georgian guide, Tazo and hit the road on the next leg of our Caucasus’s tour. Let’s be clear, we are talking about Georgia the country, and NOT the state in American as many first assume!

The currency here is the Georgian Lari (GEL), NZ$1 = GEL1.6.

First, I little context. Georgia spans Eastern Europe and West Asia, bordering Russian, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.  It is a small country (only 69,000 km2 – compared to New Zealand’s 263,000 km2) with a population of around 3.7 million, 2 million of which live in the capital, Tbilisi.

As with most countries in this region, its history is complex and somewhat turbulent and even today, the geopolitics of the region continues to cause issues.  After adopting Christianity in the 4th centre, the Kingdom of Georgia remained strong until the 15th century when they succeeded to the Mongols, the Ottoman empire and Persia, before becoming part of the Russian Empire in 1801. 

After the fall of the Russian Empire, they had a couple of years as an independent republic before, once again, being invaded by the Red Army and becoming part of the USSR until 1991.  It was not until 2003 that they gained political stability and aligning themselves with the EU.   I will touch further on parts of this as we travel around and learn more.

The weather was less than ideal, but it was better than the forecast for the following day, so Tazo recommended that we visit the hilltop town of Sighnaghi today rather than tomorrow. A small town in the Kakheti region, Sighnaghi was built in the 18th century as a fortress but today it is referred to as Georgia’s “City of Love” (though I am not sure I know why)!

We drove up into the cloud to the town and we did have to imagine the charm of the town, and of course the view – which apparently is beautiful and our imagination continued as we wandered down through the cobble stone streets to our lunch stop.    

In just a few short hours, we were already impressed with Tazo and he ordered a great array of delicious Georgian food for our first meal.  It seems that walnuts, cheese and bread play an important part of Georgian meals and this meal incorporated all of the above – eggplant stuffed with walnut paste, khachapuri (a few different varieties but the basic one is bread with cheese), tomato salad, BBQ pork and Khinkali (broth and meat filled dumplings). 

All were delicious and I washed it down with my first glass of Georgian wine.   (I will warn you now, food photography is not my thing – most of time we would be half way through eating before we remembered to take the photos 😂.)

In just a few short hours we had already learnt some important information about Georgia and her people:

  • Georgian’s like food with flavour, and “food without salt is not food” lol.
  • Georgia is the home of wine making (more about that another day) and it is important for Georgian people.  Without wine, nothing happens and almost everyone makes their own.
  • Georgia’s main exports are copper and other minerals/ore.
  • The Georgian alphabet is unique and in fact, there are 3 versions of it.  One is widely used, the other two are predominately for religious texts and inscriptions. 
  • I was the first Kiwi guest that Tazo had had

The cloud lifted briefly to allow a quick and hazy view of the valley below, with the green pastures and fish farms (which seem a little random to me in the middle of fields lol).  Apparently there are also lots of minerals in the soil here which are great for grapes. 

While Tazo ran back up the hill to get the car, we took a short walk along part of the 4 km defensive wall to a watch tower flying a very tatty Georgian flag in one of the 28 watch towers along its length.  Again, we had to use our imagination on the view!

 

I have to admit, I was in a bit of a food coma on the next part of the drive but we had lots of good chat with Tazo on the journey to Telavi, the main administrative centre of the Kakheti region and our stop for the night. 

Dinner was not required but we bit have a snack and some homemade Green wine (they use the grape skins during fermentation) to finish of the day. 

But, before I finish this blog, I thought I would touch on the country’s name of Georgia and the infamous St George.  Georgians actually call the country Sakartvelo, and although it is not entirely clear where the English name of Georgia came from, there are a number of theories mostly based around St George.

St George, an early Christian martyr, was born in Cappadocia in the second half of the 3rd century. He is the patron saint of the country (and many others), a large number of churches in the country are built in his name, George (or Giorgi) is one of the most common male names and the country’s flag features his red cross on a white background!  What more do you need to convince you of is importance to the country and its people and perhaps the English name.

When he started fighting dragons, and became the patron saint of England is another story entirely lol.

 

North west to Sheki

On By cockneykiwi153 Comments

Azerbaijan

April 2025

It certainly seems that things do not start early in this part of the world, so I always have time to do a little writing in the morning.  This morning’s pick up was 9.30am and this morning we left with our bags as we were leaving Baku behind and heading west.

Not sure if I have previously mentioned some of Azerbaijan’s more recent history.  The country gained independence from the Russian Empire in 1918, but it was short lived as the Red Army invaded in 1920 declaring Azerbaijan as part of the USSR.  The country finally regained independence again in 1991 (after the collapse of the USSR in 1989) and the first president of independent Azerbaijan was Heydar Aliyev.  As we headed out of the city, we not only passed many more photos of fallen soliders, we also saw many large billboards of Heydar Aliyev.

Ilham Aliyev, Heydar’s son, took power in 2003 and has been President ever since. In this time he has increased the president term from 5 to 7 years, and removed the limit of times he can be reelected. So far, he has been President for 22 years and his wife is actually vice-president! Take from that what you will.

We did not see much in Baku that was a reminder of the Soviet times, but did see some old tower blocks as we drove out of the city.  Not only did the architecture change, but so did the landscape, and the further we got away from the coast, towards the Caucasus mountains, the more green the landscape became.

The long drive today gave me time to make some more observations about driving here.  Smoking and using phones whilst driving seem to be a national pastime – thankfully our driver did not smoke in the car but close enough to make it smell pretty bad.  Driving inside one lane and the use of seat belts appear optional (I think I have mentioned the lane driving part before!). The driver would put on his belt when passing police stations then take it off again.

The roads were actually way better than expected, except for a section were we travelled on a new road which was not finished yet.  Apparently, the new route cut over an hour off the trip and for some reason meant the driver had to go even faster.  In this case we were actually told this. At some points I had to close my eyes with some of the manoeuvres that the driver was doing.   I was thankful to arrive at our destination in one piece!

We were driving on the North West route, and the further we got out of the city the higher we climbed and the greener everything became.  Another observation was that the further we drove, the number of high end cars dwindled, and the number of Soviet era Ladas increased – (I love those things 😂).

We had a toilet stop at a roadside supermarket.  The supermarket was lovely, full of fresh produce, bu the toilet was smelly and squat so we did not bother with those!  Instead I decided to sample one of the popular Tarragon Lemonade drinks which seem to be very popular.  It tasted a little more like aniseed to me but it was ok, I definitely prefer the pear version.

We started passing people selling fruit and vegetables on the roadside out of the back of their Ladas.  I wish I could have taken photos but at the speed we were going there was not much chance.  We did manage to stop at one to purchase a dried fruit thing, so at least there is one photo!  There were lots of Strawberries on offer, which looked lovely (from a distance) but apparently grown in greenhouses.

There are often times on my travel where landscapes are so like New Zealand, I could be at home and this was one of them.  The rolling green hills were so familiar and at one point we were stuck behind a truck full of sheep, making me feel right at home. The small quiet towns and cows grazing on the roadsides was like a different country to Baku.

We stopped for lunch at Nohur Lake, a beautiful lake surrounded by forest in the Greater Caucasus mountains.  I was surprised to learn, it is actually a manmade lake, to supply water to the local area, and is now a popular place for locals to visit.  It was a beautiful location, but not suprisingly, the restaurant on the lake was very expensive. I picked the cheapest thing on the menu, a chicken kebab for AZN16, every else was over 40!  I would rarely pay that for a causal lunch at home!

We stopped in the small town of Nij to visit Jotaari Church.  Initially an Armenian church, built in the 1820’s, it is now used by the Albanian-Udi population.  The Udi people were the native people of the Caucasus area and converted to Christianity in the 4th century.  There are only 10,000 Udi people today and around 4,000 live in this small village and still speak their own language.  Their Orthodox Christian church is open to the public, but as with many churches, no photos are allowed inside. 

In the church grounds there are a number of large Hazelnut trees, Hazelnuts being one of the main crops for the area.  We had a cute little wildlife encounter with a cute little squirrel foraging around under the trees which was an opportunity to bring out the camera – these days most of my photos are taken on my phone.

Now in the countryside, Ladas are definitely more prevelant and are often loaded down with stuff – sometimes it appears to be everything except the kitchen sink or perhaps including it!  Actually horse power also seems to work fine in this part of the country with people riding horses down the road, along with horses pulling carts. 

We had passed many police checks but were not stopped until we were just entering Sheki, our destination for the day.  Not really sure what they were checking but it seems very common. 

Sheki (also known as Shaki or Şeki) sits in the shadow of the snow capped Caucasus mountains, in the north west of Azerbaijan, was once a stop on the Silk Road, connecting east and west. 

Our first stop was the small nearby village of Kish and the Church of Saint Elishe, what was a Georgian Orthodox Church dating back to the 12th century. It subsequently became a Caucasus Albanian church.  The Sheki region was once one of the biggest Caucasian Albanian states in the region. 

To get to the church, we abandoned our car and jumped into a bright blue Lada driven by a lovely lady.  We zipped up the narrow cobbled streets with Azerbaijani music pumping – I loved it!  When we got to the top she kindly offered us samples of her homemade pomegranate wine and cognac from her shop before we went in to visit the church.  It was a beautiful spot and very peaceful.

Back down in Sheki old town, we visited the Khan’s Palace.  After it’s Caucasus Albanian era, the town became the capital for the powerful Sheki Khanate.

The palace was built at the end of the 18th century by master craftsmen (many from Iran) and there are intricate designs and details both inside and out.  Unfortunately, we could not take photos inside so you will have to believe me when I tell you of the wonders of the detail inside.  (I should note we were constantly watched by guards to ensure we did not take photos 😄.)

Each of the rooms are beautifully painted with murals including pomegrantes (the tree of life), Iris’s (apparently bacteria can’t survive in a room if it has Iris’s in it, or silk for that matter, one of the reasons they often had silk wall hangings).  Images of battles filled the throne room along with images that indicated the kind king that he was e.g. dragons breathing flowers rather than fire and goats playing with wolves.

 

One of the key features of the palace are some of the best examples of ‘shebeke’, the Azerbaijani stained-glass windows that are made without the use of glue or nails.  It was initially made with very fine glass imported from Venice, but today the glass is more than 3mm thick. They use small pieces of glass which slot into the wooden frames and some of the panes contain 1,800 pieces of wood and glass and weigh up to 40 kg.

After our palace visit, we went to the Shebeke workshop to see the master at work. He insisted we tried to put one together and then I felt obiliged to buy the one I made 😝 .  No, of course I was not obliged, I wanted it, I just wish I could have afforded a bigger one as they really are so beautiful and such an incredible skill. 

Also on the palace grounds is the Russian Orthodox Nukha Three Saints Church.  Today it seems to be more of a backdrop for dress up photos!

 

Back in town and we were dropped off at our hotel – the adeptly named Sheki Palace.  The photo does not do justice to the enormous room we had here.  We were on the top floor, which seemed a little attic like.  The windows were tiny but what a lovely view across the old town. 

 Sheki was an important stop on the Silk Road and the most obvious reminder of this is the two great caravanserais that dominate this part of the city.  Unfortunately, when dropping us off, Rugiya neglected to tell us the importance of these buildings so when we were wandering around the souvenir shops that occupy the bottom part of the Upper Caravanserai, we had no idea of the importance of the building itself!  And by the time we did realise, it was too late to go inside. I get very lazy when I have a guide and don’t really do much of my own research on places – lesson learnt!

Upon questioning, the driver did recommend a small local restaurant near our hotel, where we finally got to try the local Qutab, a stuffed flatbread. More commonly served for breakfast or as a snack, we tried all three types for dinner – meat, cheese and herbs, along with some dolma and compote (water with fruit) and it was all very tasty and a fitting way to end our last night in Azerbaijan.

 

 

Anicent Azerbaijan

On By cockneykiwi151 Comment

Republic of Azerbaijan

April 2025

Nobody seems to start early here, so our pick up was not scheduled until 9.30am.  As I am still waking up at 5am, it gives me plenty of time to have a relaxed breakfast and do some writing before the day begins, which is not a bad thing.  

We got back in the car (which smells like stale smoke – smoking is very common here) with dark tinted windows (again very common). In fact, yesterday we had asked if we could get a car without the tint as we couldn’t see anything out of the windows when we are driving. They ended up taking the tint off the windows and yet they are still not clear -at least we can now see something!

Our first stop for the day was the historical ethnographic reserve of Qala Village, an open air museum, featuring petroglyphs from the 2nd and 3rd millennia BC to the Middle Ages, remnants of ancient residential complexes (above ground – a Dolmen, and below ground – nomads shelter) and demonstration buildings.  In the house there was a carpet making demonstration and an opportunity to give it a go.  It apparently takes about a year to make a room size carpet using the local method (using a tool like a crochet hook) and I think I can safely say, I will never be a carpet maker.   

 

Outside, under a 300 year old pistachio tree, there was a potter, demonstrating the use of the traditional potting well with the local clay and in the kitchen we were shown the art of baking lavash (an unleavened flatbread).  The wedding house showed the traditional décor for the wedding night and finally the farm with camels, sheep and donkeys.  They used the camels for wool and meat, but not milk.

From the village, we headed over to the Fortress which dates back to between 10-14th century and includes a tower (for surveillance and defence) and a strong hold.  Apparently, the foundations and tunnels are oringal and we were told that the tunnels go all the way to Baku but are not used today because there are too many snakes in there!

 

In another building in the same complex there was a random “Trash Museum”.  As the name notes, it is a museum of displays made out of trash.  Some were actually really good.  My favourites being an octopus made from pencil shavings and a human figure made from typewriter keys.

Our next stop was the Temple of Ateshgah, also know as the “Fire Temple of Baku”.  Although there has been a temple on this sight since the 10th century, the current temple was built in the 17th and 18th century.  The temple was used as a Hindu, Sikh and Zoroastrian place of worship the complex consists of a courtyard surrounded by cells for monks and pilgrims to stay with their animals. In the centre is an altar with an eternal flame.  Fire is an important symbol in the Zoroastrian religion, representing the light of God and purity.

The temple was abandoned as a place of worship in the late 19th century and apparently the natural flame went out in 1969 so it is now lit by gas, piped from the city nearby.

It was interesting to see the back streets, small shops and people going about their day to day business as we drove to our next stop.  In all the small towns, there are large posters of local men (mostly very young) who died in the 2020 war with Armenia.  Many of them would have been doing their 12-18 months of military service and are now considered martyrs.

We  also passed soooooooo many oil pumps on the side of the road.  Did you know that at the beginning of the 20th century, Azerbaijan was the world’s leading petroleum provider, producing 11.4 million tons of oil in 1901, more than half of the world’s production at the time.  Since that time, Azerbaijan’s place in the oil industry has declined, as other countries have increased and it is now about the 19th biggest producer of oil.  That said, oil & gas still make up 95% of the country’s exports. 

Apparently, all oil belongs to the Government.  Even if you find it in your garden the Government take it and maybe your garden and your house as well.  You will get some compensation though!🤨

As if just to show off, our next stop was Yanar Dag, the “burning mountain”, a natural gas fire that blazes continuously.  Apparently it has been burning for thousands of years and it alledgedly was started by a lightning strike in the 7th century. Of course, it is a symbol of the country’s natural wealth but also considered by some to have healing powers. 

It is decreasing every year so it is possible that it will stop burning at some point.  It was no Darvaza Gas Crater in Turkmenistan, but still interesting and of course it has been burning for much longer.

To get to our next stop, we had to drive right back through the centre of the city and back into the terrible traffic and out the other side but it gave us an opportunity to stop for lunch.  We had said that we wanted to have local food, and after an initial problem finding the place, and then working through what is local food on the vast menu (found by using QR codes on your phone) we had dolma (meat wrapped in vine leaves), Dusbere (a soup with little dumplings – in fact the smaller the dumplings the better, you should be able to fit 10 in one spoon), lamb kebab and a delicious Pear Lemonade.

Our post lunch drive took us out of the city along the coastline and through the incredible barren landscape (it is hard to picture that Baku used to look like this).  We passed industrial areas including ship building and metal, glass and cement manufacturing.  We also passed the abandoned building site of what was going to be Baku’s answer to the Dubai palms.  Unfortunately the pandemic brought the construction to halt and it has never restarted. 

Our first desintation for the after was Gobustan, another UNESCO site, where a rocky plateau is home to a staggering 6,000 rock engravings, spanning over 40,000 years of human inhabitation.  They were found in the 1930’s.

The landscape has changed over time.  At one time the sea once covered the landscape and other times the area was rich with flora and fauna.  The petroglyphs show life through out these years including images of boats (looking a little Viking like), hunting, animals, people, rituals etc.

They were amazing, but unfortunately we only had a short time to spend in the great museum before we were back in the car driving further through the barren landscape (at 110 kph in a 60 zone 😬) to our final spot of the day, the Gobustan mud volcanos. I don’t think I had ever heard of mud volcanos.  We have boiling mud from geothermic activity in New Zealand but these are completely different and Azerbaijan have the most of any country with over 350.

Mud volcanoes happen when pressurised mud, fluids, and gases erupt through the Earth’s surface and they normally happen where there are fault lines or, as in this case, a build up of gas and fluids under pressure.  

Again, there was another great museum that we did not have time to look around properly before heading out to see the ‘volcanos’.   I was surprised to learn that they are not necessarily hot and the bubbles are created by the methane gas.  The landscape was amazing and they were so cool to see.

 

It was an incredible afternoon and it was already 6.30 before we started back to the city, over an hour’s drive away (we were supposed to be back at the hotel by 6pm). But, we ran out of petrol!  Our Driver had to get a taxi to the petrol station for petrol 😂 .  Thankfully there was one not too far away and it did not take him too long before he was back and he and the taxi driver put the petrol into the tank while enjoying a cigarette 🙄.

So, 30 minutes later, even with fuel, the car would not start – apparently he did not buy enough. Perhaps now is a good time to note just how cheap petrol is here – approximately $1.10 per litre to the $2.50 per litre in New Zealand!  The driver had headed off again to get more petrol, this time returning in a taxi driving down the side of the road (on the wrong side of the road) 😂 we had to laugh, if we didn’t we might cry.  Second time lucky and the car started and we finally reached our Baku hotel around 8.30pm!  Another great day with another fun transport adventure.

 

 

Welcome to Baku

On By cockneykiwi151 Comment

Republic of Azerbaijan

April 2025

Currency – Azerbaijani Manat

NZ$1 – 0.99 Manat

Welcome to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan – the Land of Fire.

Firstly, settle in for a little background. Azerbaijan is a country in the South Caucasus area of Eurasia, bordering on Russia, Georgia, Armenian, and Iran.  Its capital, Baku sits on the shore of the Caspian Sea (which I think I have mentioned in a previous blog, is technically a lake).

Like Turkey, it straddles Asia and Europe and Baku really shows this blend of cultures, looking like the love child of Dubai and Vienna with wide European style boulevards, flanked by very European style buildings; towering, hypermodern, geometric glass buildings and historic Silk Road caravanserais.

The country has a population of approximate 10 million, 4 million of those living in the capital of Baku.  90% of the population are ethnic Azerbaijanis and most are Muslim (although it does not appear to be practiced strictly).

The country has an incredibly complex history and I am not sure I will even be able to scratch the surface in the short time I have in the country, but as always I will do my best to get in to it , and bring you along for the ride.

I had a pretty good nights sleep and enjoyed a decent breakfast at the hotel – an interesting range of cheeses, vegetables, cake, and a few things I didn’t know what they were 🤨. After breakfast, I meet up with my friend Ania, who had arrived from Dublin the night before, and we met up with our local guide, Rugiya, who would be with us for our time in Azerbaijan.

As we navigated the traffic of the city (yes, I can confirm traffic is bad!), Rugiya gave us a little background of the country and city (which I will try to explain over the next couple of blogs). 

Our first stop for the day was at Highland Park, the highest point of Baku, giving a panaromica view across the across the city and the Caspian Sea.  The beautiful, peaceful park also houses a number of memorials to fallen soliders.  

The soil in the area is very salty and it’s impossible to grow anything (we will see more proof of this when we travel out of the city).  When wanting to beautify the city with green areas, soil had to be brought from other parts of the country. 

It is probably at this point I should mention Baku’s most iconic buildings – the Flame Towers, 3 flame shaped towers (the tallest being 182m tall) completed in 2012.  The flame shape symbolises the “Land of Fire” – from natural gas that comes up from the ground around the country, and the Zoroastrian religion that considers flames to be a symbol of the divine.  The buildings house apartments, a hotel and offices and dominate the city skyline by day, and by night (we will see more on that later in the day).  

From the view point in the park, we could see down the coast, from the 2nd highest flag pole (it was the first until the one in Tajikistan was erected); the Cyrstal Hall, built for the Eurovision contest in 2012; the “Baku Eye”; and the Sydney Opera House like, Deniz Mall. We could also see down to the new Crescent building (that I had seen the day before). When open, it is apparently going to be a 7 star hotel.

From the park, we headed down to the the UNESCO World Heritage Old City, which is still surrounded by the reconstructed, 12th century fortified walls, passing through the double gates, featuring the coats of arms of the ancient city of Baku. There are various versions of its meaning. It features a Bull’s head (believed to be linked to cattle breeding, replacing growing crops which was impossible in the salty soil) and therefore a symbol of the ancient city.  There are also two lions, probably as a link to the city’s orient culture, or a symbol of the Safavids, who took the city from the Zoroastrian’s.   

It is widely believed that old city construction started in the 12th century, with various buildings ranging up until the 16th century. But buildings such as the Bukhara Caravanserai are believed to date back as far as the 8th century, when the location grew in importance due to it stragetic location on the Silk Road and the shores of the Caspian Sea. 

Many of the old buildings have been carefully restored and reconstructed (following the strict UNESCO rules to maintain authenticity) and the area is so clean … and full of very friendly and well looked after stray cats.  Unfortunately both the large Caravanserai’s were closed for recontruction.  (If you have read some of my Central Asia blogs, you may remember that a Caravanserai was an inn that provided lodging for Silk Road travelers, merchants and caravans of camels). It was interesting to learn that the door of the Caravanserai has two knockers, a large one for men and a small one for women.  This way the people inside knew who were outside and who should open the door (remember most were Muslim and therefore men and women did not mix.)

It was clear from many of the items in the souvenir shops, that Pomegrantes are important to Azerbaijani culture and tradition.  They are not only the national fruit, but they symbolise abundance, blessing and fertility.  We will go on to see them depicted in decoration of buildings, as well as being used in many local dishes and wine.

We climbed the 12th century Maiden Tower (Gyz Galasi in Azerbaijani), one of the icon symbols of the city.  It is 28m tall, but oddly, because the Caspium Sea is actually 28m below sea level, when standing on the top of the tower, you are at sea level.  When built, it was on a rocky ledge that jutted out in to the sea, but today it sits 200m from the waters edge.   I should probably note there is some dispute about when it was actually built – with views ranging from as early as the 5th century,  through to the 12th (and in some schools of thought, a combination of those).

The eight levels, reached by winding staircases, are now filled with information about the old city and the tower itself and from the top there are panoramic views over the city (though sadly today there is a perspex barrier between you and the view).  The walls are made of thick brick and it even has its own well.

As the year of construction is debated, so is the tower’s purpose.  Too small for it to be defensive, too many windows for warfare.  Perhaps a Zoroastrian temple and definitely a beacon for ships in the 18th and 19th century.  Or perhaps we will just stick with the legend of the king who was forcing his daughter to marry a man she did not love.  She asked her father to first build a tower for her, which she then committed sucide from, by jumping from the top of it!  Perhaps we will never know.

An oddity of the city is the Miniature Book Museum.  Apparently the only one in the world and hold a Guinness Book of World Records for the largest private collection of miniature books. 

The next stop on our whirlwind tour of the city is the Palace of Shirvanshahs.  Unfortunately the fast pace meant we did not have much time in the museum which was a shame.  We definitely would have liked longer, but such is our itinerary, time is not always on our side.

The Palace is thought to have been built in the 15th century and is descibed by UNESCO as “one of the pearls of Azerbaijan’s architecture”.  The complex consisted of the main palace building, the shah’s mosque, Seyid Yahya Bakuvi’s mausoleum and the remnants of a bath house.  Not forgetting the great view across to the Flame Towers, highlighting the cities complex relationship between the passed and the future,

Before we entered the Palace, we took pause in front of some bullet pock marks on the side of the building. A reminder of the 1918 Azerbaijani genocide, where it is said, Aremnian Dashnaks, supported by the Russian Bolshevik leader Lenin, started a mass extermination of Azerbaijanis.  During 3 days, they attacked and killed all Azerbaijanis they encounter and approximately 2 million people were killed.  The site we saw at the castle mentions a number of 12,000 but that was probably only in the old city.  I guess a little understanding of this history helps put the ongoing troubles on the border in perspective.  It will be interested to understand the other perspective of the conflict when we get to Armenia in a couple of weeks time. 

A couple of points of interest that I noted as we rushed through the museum was that women’s belts were an indication of age – the bigger the belt, the older the woman.  And second was the changes in the language over the years … the spoken language has remained the same, but the written language has changed from Arabic to Cryillic to Latin over the course of the centuries. 

 

We spent a few minutes around the Carpet Museum on the Seaside Boulevard, another of Baku’s iconic buildings – this time shaped as a rolled up carpet.  Carpet weaving was listed by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Hertiage of Humanity.  We did not have tickets (or time) to go in, but we would see some carpets in our next destination, yet another icon landmark of the city – the Heydar Aliyev Center.

The Heydar Aliyev Centre was as unique on the inside as it is on the outside and housed an interesting range of international temporary exhibitions and permanent local ones on traditional clothing, musical instruments, dolls and carpets – some of the most beautiful carpets I have ever seen.  An finally an exhibition about Azerbaijan’s model of tolerance – excepting all people, race and regilion.

 After a short break back at the hotel, Ania and I headed out for an evening stroll along the boulevard.  The cold wind we had coped with throughout the day had died down, and it was a beautiful evening for a walk.  The Baku Boulevard was initially established in 1909, running parallel to the cities seafront and is over 5km in length.  Depisted being a Friday evening it was fairly quiet and peaceful.

The main reason for the walk was to see the buildings lit up, in particular the Flame towers and we were so excited when they came on, with images ranging from the flag, flames and people waving flags.

Even at almost 8pm in the evening, the traffic was insane, and there were very few places to safely cross the busy multi lane road (it seems driving in lanes is optional so there may be 4 lanes, or maybe there are 6 🤨 – who knows).  After backtracking a little, we finally made it across and headed up in to the old city to found our way to a random restaurant with local food and live traditional music.  Communication was a bit of a challenge but we ended up with pilaf (rice) with lamb and a cherry/pomegranate purée and a random drink made from Feijoa, local beer and tea.  It was not attractive or particularly cheap (around NZ$25), but it was tasty. 

We decided to be smart and use a bolt taxi to get back to our hotel (like uber) so we could just put in the destination into the app and not have to speak – epic fail!  The taxi did not show up, but the app said it was at the pick up point and then the driver starting calling but he did not speak English.   Not knowing where the driver was, and not being able to communicate, we had to cancel (but be still charged) and ended up getting a normal taxi at x3 the price with a driver who told us in broken English that all Bolt drivers are drunk or on drugs!   We were probably ripped off, but at least we made and it back and that would enough adventure for one day.  😝