Cultural visits

For my birthday, Gaga made me a wonderful gift: a trip to three historically important places in Georgia: Uplistsikhe, The Jvari Monastery and Mtskheta. The trip included a short stop in Gori, home of that Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili that would be known to history as Stalin. I'm not really interested in seeing his desk, his pajama and his socks, so I decided to skip the museum, but despite everything, he was a historic figure and since the town was on the path anyway, we stopped. Here, his house, where he was born in 1878, is methodically preserved.

Stalin's wagon was armour plated and it was his principal mean of transportation. Reportedly, he was afraid of flying (like all prior dictators he enjoyed a certain level of paranoia), giving up only for the 1943 conference of Tehran.

After Gori, we headed to the cave city of Uplistsikhe, a complex of houses and temples dating back to the early Iron Age, build in sandrock. Situated on the left bank of the Mtkvari (the river that also flows into Tbilisi), it became and important cultural and religious center during the kingdom of Kartli, back then called Iberia, where pagan and Christian beliefs briefly coexisted. Its strategic position, with the rivers to one side and mountains to the other, allowed it to resist several attacks, ultimately falling only to the raids of the Mongols, during the XIV Century.

  

The city is divided in several areas, with spaces that once hosted houses, shops, temples and even secret tunnels. Most of these are now destroyed, also for the relative softness of sandrock, but you can easily see how extensive they must have been. We finished the tour and we were all hungry (there was also a Filipino couple), so Gaga drove us to a fantastic restaurant on the side of the road. You already known how I love Georgian food. This, a tipical Imeretian restaurant, was simply outstanding. Stuff started to arrive and it never ended. By the time we finished, we were stuffed like squirrel cheeks after a raid in a nut shop.

After this difficult ordeal, we headed to the Jvari Monastery ("Monastery of the Cross" in Georgian), so called because, yes, you guessed right, they claim it contains a cross made with the wood of the True Cross, the one used to crucify Jesus. This makes pair with Armenian claim they have Longinus' lance in Etchmiadzin :) I love you all!

This aside, the monastery is a beautiful sight, overlooking the town of Mtskheta (the former capital of Georgia during the Kingdom of Iberia) at the confluence of two rivers, the Mtkvari and the Aragvi. It's dated to the VI Century, on the site of a previous pagan temple, where legends say, Saint Nino, who brought Christianity to Georgia, erected a the aforementioned cross.

Darkness was falling fast, so we headed to the final part of our trip, the town of Mtskheta. Founded in the V Century b.C. it's one of the oldest towns in Georgia and also the place where Christianity was declared state religion (of the Kingdom of Iberia) in 337 a.D. Currently it enjoys the title of "Holy City" in Georgia. Unfortunately it was already pretty dark, so I couldn't take good pictures.

The Svetitskhoveli Cathedral ("Church of the living pillar") is known to be the burial site of Jesus' mantle, a claim shared with Trier (Germany), Argentuil (France) and other places in Russia and Ukraine. LOL. The inside of the church is beautiful, with many interesting frescoes, some of which quite unusual, like this one above, featuring scenes from the Apocalypse. When we visited there was a wedding, which seems to be one of the favourite activities in Georgia: drinking, eating and getting married. The latter allowed the former two, so I understand why. :)

Would you live here?

The first time I saw this on the Internet, I told myself I wanted to visit it. A prime example of Real Socialism architecture, it's straight from a Sixties sci-fi landscape. Salome, her sister and her friend Dimitri organized to show me the location, after I expressed the wish a few days before.

 

 

 

 

 The complex consists of multiple buildings of different heights, lined up on the side of a hill and connected by metal footbridges, one connecting the first building with the hilltop. A lift on the taller building directly connects the 14th floor with the ground floor, with another lift servicing the various floors.

 

 

 

 

 

It's not classically beautiful, but if you know me, you know I have little use for classic beauty. It's eerie, especially in the sunset, suggesting an inner world where strange things happen. A city in the city.

After visiting the building, we went to visit a huge pedestrian bridge, over the Vera river, near one of the buildings of the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. It's huge, being just for pedestrians, and it's reportedly used for both bungee jumping and... sucides.

 

 

 

 

Tbilisi once again

I've been silent for a few days, mostly because I've been busy eating and drinking. My arrival in Kutaisi, on the morning of October the 25th, was the confirmation that Georgians and Italians are much alike. EVERYBODY applauded upon landing. Not sure if I feel better or worse.

Kutaisi airport is cute, very small with a very sci-fi looking control tower. I soon found the bus to Tbilisi and proceeded to get some necessary sleep. It's a four hours ride anyway, and I needed to rest a bit, considering that Tbilisi greeted me with COLD AND RAIN, around 3°. Damn. And as if this wasn't enough, the first scare of the vacation was waiting: four ATMs refused to let me withdraw, stating they couldn't connnect to my bank. Panic. But the fifth worked, so I managed to relax, also thanks to a freshly baked khachapuri.

These days have been mostly dedicated to relax, after some intense months at work. I did a bit of sightseeing (after two days temperature or much better), met some friends, ate A LOT and saw a wonderful Psychic TV concert at Bassiani, a local club built in the Dynamo Stadium basement. But for the most I've been enjoying the sci-fi landmarks of Tbilisi.

I also went back to the Sameba cathedral, since last time it rained all the time. It's  still a magnificent sight, especially with the sun.

The Dry Bridge marker, so called as it's close to a bridge overlooking a street, is your classic flea marker where you can buy plenty of soviet memorabilia. Medals, coins, daggers, samovars, you name it.

The last one, a 1983 oscilloscope was too beautiful to leave there, so I got it for 50 Lari (a bit less that 20 Euro). It's in perfect working conditions (must be an oscilloscopio "della nonna") and will look very good in my place.

After two days at Gaga's hostel, I moved to Mimi's house, the sister of a future CS guest. Mimi has funny hair, a friendly cat and her grandma's tkemali is wonderful.

Tomorrow I'll go for some Georgian site visits. Mtskheta (the old capital of Georgia), Uplitsitkhe (ancient cave city) and The Jvrari monastery. In the meantime, I keep eating and eating.

Budapest... again.

Seems like I can’t really do a trip without something embarrassing. Yesterday, after spending a nice afternoon with Anna and her friend Judit taking pictures in a park, I headed for the airport, next destination: Kutaisi, Georgia. Little I knew my actual next destination was Dumbasstan. Once in the airport terminal I checked the board and didn’t see my flight to Kutaisi. Weird. I checked again, then checked the boarding pass. And well, here we go. My well documented fear of missing flights, that usually makes me arrive quite earlier, did the trick.

I went to the airport day one day before.

That’s some earlier. So, after a quiet retreat from the airport, I took the bus to Budapest again, and the fun began. Anna had to wake up very early the day after, so she went full-scale Defcon 1 emergency mode. Attempt to calm here proved rather useless, until Adrienn kindly took me in. After another hour-long trip from the airport to the city, I met her and we went drinking, to say goodbye to a long day (for both) and to forget my utter dumbness.

The day after, Adrienn kindly showed me around, starting from an awesome food joint with delicious soups and sandwiches, Bors. Then we went to Buda, where the citadella, the castle and Saint Mathias church (Mátyás-templom) are. The church itself is absolutely beautiful, shame for the Hilton built next to it, although I have to say that the church reflection in the large glass windows offers a pleasant sight.

Other than the church, the hilltop site provides a wonderful view of the Danube river and the Palace of Parliament, one of the most beautiful buildings in Budapest, built in gothic and renaissance revival style. Its dark red dome dominates the white stone of the structures, as well as the innumerable spires.

The citadella and castle area is also a repository or beautiful sights. Smaller churches, beautiful palaces with detailed sculptures. One example is Mary Magdalene church (Mária Magdolna-templom). Of which just the tower remains. During the Ottoman Occupation of Hungary, it was the only functioning Christian church in the country, until its transformation to a mosque in the 16th century. Its original function was later restored and it served as the coronation venue for Franz I of Hungary. It suffered severe damage throughout the World Wars, and it was almost completely destroyed during the Communist Era - with the exception of its Gothic belfry and some minor sections. Today, its ruins serve as a memento of the unpardonable cultural destruction of Communist times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truly Budapest is a sight to behold. After this long and tiring walk, we went back home, crossing the Danube, which offered the expect magnificent sight, and we passed close to Saint Stephen's Basilica (Szent István-bazilika). At 96 meters, it's one of the two tallest building of Budapest (it's equal to the Palace of the Parliament, symbolisying that worldly and spiritual thinking have the same importance).

After resting a bit I finally gathered my stuff and went out, this time the right day to take off to Georgia. Once in the terminal I made myself recognisable again queuing for a brief moment on the check-in for Tel Aviv, but I soon realised the mistake and very naturally pretended I was just loitering around, slowly and indifferently moving away. The Mossad probably kept an eye on me. Shalom! Once I found the right line, however, and heard Georgian being spoken, I relaxed.

Highlight of the evening: the actual gate, a makeshift prefab room much closer to the actual landing strips.

Well, who cares. საქართველო, მოვდივარ!

 

(The highlight of the evening was actually one of the two Hungarian hostesses. Schicchi wasn't a fool, after all!)