from Gudauri via Gori to Kutaissi - Caucasian summer 2024 - 8
from Kutaissi to Batumi
from Batumi via Borjomi to Achalziche
excursion to Vardzia
from Achalziche in Georgia to Yerevan in Armenia
excursion to Etschmiadsin
excursion to Garni and Geghard
from Yerevan to Goris including visits to Chor Virap and Noravank
excursions to Chndsoresk and Tatev
from Goris to Sewan
from Sewan via Dilijan to Haghpat
from Haghpat in Armenia to Tbilisi in Georgia
Tbilisi and back home
23.07.2024 - from Gudauri via Gori to Kutaissi
Today breakfast starts at 7:30am, but I'm up early and go for a walk. It's 10° Celsius but doesn't feel cold. The sun is just high enough to shine on the opposite slopes of the mountains. I walk a little uphill and then down to the small church in Gudauri. Back at the hotel, I take a shower, have breakfast and at 8:30am we're leaving.
Today's program differs a little from what I would have done on my own. We will make a two-hour stop in Gori [↗]. Gori is Stalin's hometown, and the main attraction is the museum [↗], which should be anything but critical. I would have chosen Tschiatura, an old mining town, ugly but interesting. But that's the price you have to pay at some point on any organized tour.
Most group members opt to see the museum - because they are really interested or because of the lack of alternatives. I decide to stroll a bit around.
I visit a small church at the base of the fortress hill. Quite nice and with a baptismal font, the first one I've seen here.
From there I continue to the Public Service Hall, a modern building worth a photo or two, even though the harsh midday light doesn't really help.
I walk back through the bazaar towards the city center and climb up to the fortress, even though I know there's nothing to see there. It's an empty platform above the city.
The timing was so that we could have a quick lunch, but I'm not really hungry. I go to a small supermarket, buy some mini-muffins, and eat them in the shade of the park near the Stalin Museum.
Finally, it's time to leave, and the others I've spoken to are now also of the opinion that this stop is not worth it.
The drive west is mainly on a 4-lane highway with bridges and long tunnels, interrupted by sections that are still under construction.
Before we go to our hotel in Kutaissi [↗], we stop at the Bagrati's Cathedral [↗]. The Gelati Monastery that would have been on the agenda is closed until August.
Bagrati's Cathedral sits on a steep hill above the city, but we are lucky enough to have the bus take us up. The cathedral was almost completely destroyed in earlier times. Reconstruction work began in the last century, but at some point, it was decided not only to use the remaining old stones, or at least new ones that looked the same but to rebuild part of the church with steel.
Now it looks like a Borg, with metal parts attached to its body. No wonder the UNESCO World Heritage nomination was withdrawn a few years ago.
Our hotel is just a few hundred meters away, close to the White Bridge and the city center.
We take our things to our room and meet up again for a walk through the city. Nothing official, just common interests and a guide who is happy to have us along. Most of us even go out for dinner together.
