Hi everybody! Всем привет! Hola a todos! Bonjour à tous! Hallo allerseits! Поздрав свима!
29 03 2 0 2 4
Walk around Mtskheti
"No preamble today" — none
At night it snowed in the mountains, the sky was clouded with endless blue. Lord, is it really possible to do this?! We have been traveling here for so long to see the beauty of these places!
He probably thought, “Of course not!” - and turned off the precipitation, leaving only pleasant freshness.
But, unfortunately, the photos look a little cloudy.
Now we are going to Mtskheta, the first capital of Georgia. There it is, located between the Kura and Aragvi.
There is a large parking lot in front of the city. There are a lot of cars and several tourist buses. There is also a small market with a couple of rows.
We ignore the market and head through the hospitably open gates.
At first it was not clear to me where the city itself was located. A long street stretched in front of us, bordered on both sides by shopping shops.
Then the understanding came that this was not just a city, but a “City - a souvenir shop.”
The city is very ancient. The first human settlements appeared here before our era. In our millennium, the city became the capital of the Georgian kingdom. But then the capital was moved inland.
An iconic monument remains in Mtskheta - the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. We went there to get some impressions.
Almost 30 years ago, the cathedral became a World Heritage Site. The territory of the cathedral is surrounded by stone fortress walls. The huge courtyard inside these walls is well-groomed, the green grass is evenly trimmed.
There are almost no flowers, but there are a lot of green spaces.
We enter the cathedral. We hear how the guide fills the tourists’ brains with terabytes of information. We pass by tourists maddened by the flow of data.
It is here (according to the Georgians) that the Robe of the Lord is kept - the seamless garment in which Jesus was dressed when he was led to execution. After the execution. Legend has it that one of the guards took the tunic and brought it here to his homeland.
No one has ever seen this artifact; it is supposedly kept at the base of the temple.
Ancient frescoes that were once painted over with whitewash are being restored in the cathedral.
Since ancient times, princes of the Bagrationi family were buried in the cathedral. The guide tells the group that the first Georgian president was also buried here.
Entrance to the cathedral and its territory is free. There are traditional requirements for appearance here. But we didn’t see anyone making any comments to anyone.
This cathedral is considered the largest temple in Georgia.
No symmetry, but it looks very nice!
From the territory of the cathedral you can see the Jvari Monastery.
We got acquainted with monasteries and temples. Now we continue to explore the city itself.
The balconies here look simpler than in old Tbilisi. But it still looks very picturesque.
Our main task is to get out of this souvenir maze.
If you move a little to the side from the main trade artery, you will be enveloped in ringing silence and emptiness.
Strange, it seemed to us that there were very few cafes in the city.
We agree that it would not hurt to try local delicacies and wines.
That's all! The city has been inspected.
That,s all for today.
Stand by
Sincerely yours
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