When staying in Tbilisi, there are several possible day trips. Number one on the list must be a ride into the high mountains of the Caucasus and the stunning Gergeti Trinity Church. The trip takes about 12 hours in total and is most easily done by rental car.
The drive follows the former Georgian Military Road, the main connection between Russia (north of Georgia) and Turkey and Iran (to the south). Given the importance of that connection, one might assume it’s a huge highway. It’s not. The road’s surface is clean and drivable, yet there is a lot of traffic—truck after truck heading south to north, supplying Russia with whatever it needs from Iran and Turkey.
Careful driving is necessary, particularly as local drivers sometimes attempt overtakes rather hastily, even with oncoming traffic. Along the way, one learns that there is indeed enough space for three cars side by side…
Smart move: start very early, around 6 a.m., so traffic is not too bad.
It’s a journey of roughly 100 miles. Elevation in Tbilisi is 450 meters (1,500 ft), while the church sits at 2,170 meters (7,100 ft) – so for most of the drive, the road leads uphill.
The first stop should be Ananuri Fortress, whose oldest parts date back to the fourteenth century. It combines several churches and fortification works. The fortress once served as the seat of local rulers and controlled access via the Military Road to Tbilisi. The views here are beautiful, the modern reservoir certainly contributes to that..
The water here is for Tbilisi. Seeing the huge capacity here it is clear that the malfuntions of the water supply in the capital have nothing to do with a lack of water. Again, it’s the infrastructure… .
Farther up the road lies a massive rotunda on a mountain pass. It’s windy up here, and the view down the valley is spectacular. The main attraction, however, is the rotunda of the Memorial for the Georgian – Russian Friendship and its mosaic.
Opened in 1983, it was meant to symbolize the friendship between Russia and Georgia. The year was no coincidence—it marked the 200th anniversary of the Treaty of Georgievsk, a much-debated agreement in which the King of Georgia accepted Russian supremacy in exchange for the Tsar’s protection.
The Russian Empire, however, did not protect the Georgians when the Turks and later the Persians attacked. Still, in 1982 (!) the Soviet Union referred back to the treaty to remind Georgians of their supposed obligation to obey Russian (i.e., Soviet) rule. As the Russian–Georgian relationship has deteriorated significantly since then, the place today bears a cynical undertone.
Next stop, easy to oversee: The German cemetery. After 1945, German POWs worked on the Military Road in the mountains not far from the memorial of Georgian–Russian friendship. Living conditions in the mountains are harsh, particularly in winter… .
That is what memorials are for: not to forget. Not to forget even those whose stories are not considered as worth to remember by those in power.
Finally, Gergeti Trinity Church itself is an absolutely stunning chapel high up in the mountains on a peak. It takes a few steep serpentines to drive there. It’s off-season now, so there weren’t the crowds that surround the church in summer. Luckily there also was no construction work and the inevitable scaffolding that comes with it. The church was built in the fourteenth century—and it looks as if not a single stone has changed since then. In the past, it often served as a place to hide the state treasury and religious artifacts when yet another conqueror invaded Georgia. Today, it has become the symbol of Georgia.
Religion still plays an important role in the country, the vast majority of citizens say that faith (in the version of the Georian Orthodox Chruch) plays an important role in their life.
On the way back to Tbilisi (before I fell asleep after the rather long day) I couldn’t help but think what a beautiful country Georgia is … .
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location Gergeti Trinity Church
Beautiful monuments and scenery! ❤️