Sunday October 9th

Today we left Tbilisi for the old capital and spiritual centre of Georgia, Mtskheta .It had been the capital of most of eastern Georgia from about the third century BC and has a beautiful setting where the Mtkvari (which runs through Tbilisi) and Aragvi rivers meet.

 

 

First we called at the beautiful Jvari Church, visible for miles around on its hill top position overlooking the two rivers. To many Georgians it is the most holy of holy places and stands where King Miriam erected a cross soon after his conversion by St Nino in the 4th century.

 

 

As it was Sunday we were able to observe an Orthodox Mass and enjoy the singing and later to hear Katy's explanation of some of the rituals and customs. From here we went back down to the city and visited Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, a grand and enormous building dating from the 11th century. Its story goes that a Mtskheta Jew was in Jerusalem at the time of The Crucifixion and returned with the robe. He gave it to his sister who died in a passion of faith. The robe was buried with her and, over time, people forgot its exact site. When King Miriam first built the church in the 4th century the wooden column could not be raised from the ground but after an all night prayer vigil by St Nino the column moved on its own to the robe's burial site.

 

 

At the time of our visit the church was packed with both worshippers and sightseers; it didn't seem to matter that a service was in progress and both congregation and tourists intermingled. In Georgian churches the congregation stands. After sampling the sweetmeats at the local stalls (interesting!) we went back to the coach for our next stop, Gori, the birthplace of Stalin. We lunched next to the museum on typical Georgian fare, the most popular of which is spicy meat dumplings ;a delicious meal which was followed by our visit to the Stalin Museum.

 

 

 

 

It is rather odd when the celebrated son of a town is a man who was responsible for the deaths of millions, but I was impressed with the way of dealing with it. All the old memorabilia, the official propaganda, and other artefacts were presented without comment but the guide who showed us round gave us the truth behind all the propaganda as well as a really informative lecture on Stalin's life. Stalin, incidentally, was his nickname and means man of steel.

 

Across the courtyard from the museum was the home where Stalin was born

and round the corner his personal train carriage. He was afraid of flying and took over the Tsar's railway carriage, which was, in fact, quite modest. The general opinion of the group at the end of the visit was that they would like to read more; surely the best compliment for a guide!

 

We then returned to Tbilisi to the Ethnological Museum which were unable to visit yesterday. It is a collection of houses from all the different regions of Georgia, illustrating the different customs and architecture of the country.

 

In one of the gardens were the pots called qvevri made from Georgian clay and buried in the ground and used for storing wine. Wine has been made in Georgia for at least 8000 years, and is drunk on all celebratory occasions.