An early morning start with our driver and guide heading to David Gareja monastery. The road disintegrated as we got to the caves, but Black George could get through anything. We climbed to the Natlismzemeli cave (John the Baptist) with our guide taking the lead with her large wooden stick pounding the ground to alert the poisonous snakes (they’re deaf and only respond to vibration. And, according to our guide, only bite if stepped on. But since they’re the same color as the ground, it’s best to scare them off in advance). Our driver meanwhile was throwing rocks ahead of us to scare them off.
As we entered the cave, John screamed to me, “Walk!!” as he noticed a snake curled up in the doorway of the cave, about 1-foot from my leg. Turning around, I saw the snake drop to the ground and fortunately he headed out the door (not so fortunate for John as he was heading right towards him). But the snake didn’t really want anything to do with us either- we had just interrupted his siesta- and he slithered away from us as fast as he could. It did, however, provide quite a jolt. We were assured that even if we were bitten, we had about 2 hours to get the anti-venom serum- and it was only a 45-minute drive to the local hospital--a little too close for comfort for me!
Next was Lavra, a low lying cave monastery that was still active. Still a bit snake-shy, I opted not to take the hour trek up over the mountain to Vdabno. It was a very stiff hike up the mountain and over the ridge to a monastery with views to Azerbaijan –through dense brush (in my mind, teeming with snakes). John made it and returned with rubber legs.
Next was Lavra, a low lying cave monastery that was still active. Still a bit snake-shy, I opted not to take the hour trek up over the mountain to Vdabno. It was a very stiff hike up the mountain and over the ridge to a monastery with views to Azerbaijan –through dense brush (in my mind, teeming with snakes). John made it and returned with rubber legs.
We had lunch in the house of the seismologist living alone in the hills (with his large poster of a naked blond woman in his bedroom) and made new friends with the two local dogs (part wolf), one-eyed Bear and Sara.
From there, we headed to the town of Gurdzaani and the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin, the only church with two domes and 3 altars in Georgia. Interestingly, there are no statues or sculptures in the Orthodox religion.
We walked the grounds of Tsinandali, the home of the 19th C Georgian poet, Alexander Chavchavadze. The summer home itself was beautiful and the grounds were filled with magnolias and cypress trees.
Our guesthouse that evening was owned by a lovely woman- a doctor who works at the state run hospital (and has not been paid in 10 months). We had a wonderful dinner with flowing wine and got more insight into the war with Abkazia (1993-1995).
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