Trip around Georgia: Watercolors on Impressions
- Category: Ideas & Inspiration
- Practices: Watercolor, Photo & Video
Taking advantage of the thematic week, I want to remember my trip, which lasted for about 3 weeks last fall in the company of a couple of cheerful friends. During that time, I realized how multi-facet hospitable and beautiful country Georgia was.
Our journey began in Tbilisi . An interesting historical city, now the capital of Georgia. The name comes from the Georgian language "tbili" — "warm", it is associated with warm sulfur springs in the city. It is noteworthy that the city is located as if in a bowl, the so-called "Tbilisi basin", the flat part of which is the valley of the Kura River, surrounded by relatively low mountains. This can be seen in many photos, of course, this is the hallmark of the city.
The city is full of all sorts of historical buildings. But in many ways the old architecture is very organically interspersed with the new. Among the modern architectural curiosities stands the "Bridge of Peace" across the Kura, brightly illuminated at night and has an unusual streamlined shape, suggestive of something natural.
It is curious how the new and the old coexist here together sometimes this border is quite vague. Narikala fortress is definitely a place in the city that I would recommend to visit everyone. This architectural monument dates back to the 17th century, but the Church of St. Nicholas located on its territory was built in 1996, as part of the reconstruction of the destroyed building in 1827. For me personally, it was a revelation, visually I would not think so. The photo below shows the Church and the view from the fortress:
View from the fortress, looking at the city at night.
From the walls of the fortress you can witness a magnificent view of the whole city. Here you can see the statue of Kartlis Deda (Mother of Georgia with a Sword and a bowl — a symbol of strength and hospitality of the country).
Interesting monuments of Tbilisi:
The monument to Sergey Parajanov (a Soviet and Georgian film director, in particular the cult film "Color of Pomegranate").
Monument to Sofiko Chiaureli (a Soviet and Georgian theater and film actress).
Fragment of the Berlin Wall.
The next point of our route was Svaneti, namely Upper Svaneti — mountainous region in the north-west of Georgia on the territory of which there are such peaks as Shkhara, Ushba, Tetnuldi etc.. The hallmark of the region — Svan stone towers built mainly in the 9—12 centuries. Here we went hiking, and spent there about 5 days.
Here you can see the very stone towers in the distance:
My conclusion and impressions. Probably the most beautiful things in Georgia from what I have seen: clean, diverse nature, as if untouched by time small villages, silence, incredible views, at times, as if complete absence of civilization.
Blueberries in Svaneti:
After a hike on the mountain slopes, we went back to civilization, Batumi — a city on the Black Sea coast, the capital of the Georgian Republic of Adjara. Here we stayed relatively long — 2 days, but managed to admire the modern city and very warm and calm sea. Especially beautiful is the city center — night illumination, clean streets, southern nature, neo-Gothic architecture and modernism in the historical part of the city — all this is about Batumi.
Then we went again to the north, through Tbilisi, to Stepantsminda (Kazbegi). Then we walked to the foot of the Mount Kazbek (weather station up to 3600m above the sea level), there we were caught by the weather and forced to sit in a tent for a couple of days, but we still saw incredibly picturesque scenery and spent a little more than a week there.
Weather Station at 3600 m:
Above is the rainbow :)
Near Stepantsminda at an altitude of 2 170 m above the sea level is the Trinity Church in Gergeti, a building of the 14th century. The view from the top of it is stunning, the Church is framed in a circle of mountains, and in any weather looks very picturesque.
Our journey ended with a walk from Stepantsminda to our border along the Daryal Gorge along the Georgian military road. If you suddenly decide to do the same, make sure you have a car along the border on our side (Upper Lars), as well as along the neutral territory and not travel on foot, and it is probably better to do this in advance or leave some time to search :)
The road is very picturesque, firstly, it offers a view of the Trinity Church and Kazbek (if there are no clouds), then you will see 12 km of the Darial gorge, you get goose bumps when you realize that you go and see what was depicted by Kuindzhi, Aivazovsky, Lermontov, Vereshchagin in their works…
Tunnel on the way to the border:
Just want to pay your special attention to Georgian cuisine, but more on that will be in next post :)
Actually, my watercolors (20х29 cm) on the impressions of the trip:
Kazbek.
Svanetia.
The Inguri River.