Packing done, van loaded and we were off to visit places in Tbilisi that Tako thought I should see before leaving. I had been sorry, for example, to miss the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity: it’s so dominant in the city skyline that it seemed a shame not to have been inside.
But our first stop was intriguing and was something I had no idea existed.
The Chronicles of Georgia – created by the Georgian-Russian sculptor and architect Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli – consists of sixteen pillars each between 30 and 35 metres high, the top half of each illustrates the life of kings and queens while the lower half depicts scenes from the life of Christ, marking the significance of Georgia in the spread of Christianity.
Interpreting each of the pillars is a bit of a challenge as there is no guide, but we managed most of them!
Bearing in mind Georgia’s status as one of the world’s earliest wine-making communities, it seemed appropriate to use the changing of water into wine at the wedding in Cana to represent the miracles of Jesus.
This huge construction is on top of a hill overlooking the Tbilisi Sea (a man-made reservoir providing water to the city) in one direction and some of the older suburbs in the other. Some interesting buildings mark the Soviet era developments.
The regularity of the blocks of flats are a real give-away to the time of construction and, looking carefully, it’s possible to spot a number of factories falling into disrepair. This was once the area where factory workers were given homes and, from the first couple of days in Tbilisi I had no idea it existed!
We drove past the Tbilisi Sea, over the hill and down to the cathedral. What a disappointment! The external view was as I had anticipated, huge and dominant.
I had expected to be impressed by the inside, too, as I had been by every other church we had been into. But I wasn’t. For some reason this felt much less like a place of worship and much more a showpiece. There were people worshipping at the icons but it just felt different from the other churches.
The only real act of service I saw was this elderly man changing the sand so that the candles didn’t create a fire. And, actually, the image here of the body of the church is much brighter than it actually felt during our visit.
I had no need to linger here and we set off to do the other things on our list, including finding a snack – we didn’t need a meal as we were going out in the evening.
The highlight of the day – or at least the most eye-opening part of it – was a late afternoon visit to David, a young man who had found a way of printing ancient wine-making vessels (qvervy) using a 3D printer. I was fascinated by this idea and was able to understand for the first time how a 3D printer works. David is about to go into production with his qvervy being much more consistent and ‘standardised’ than they have been up till now. He is bringing wine-making in Georgia into the 21st – maybe even the 22nd!- century.
These young people are proud of their traditional skills but see that they can benefit from increased technological awareness and are able to make use of new ideas. They deserve to succeed.
Finally it was time to go to the flat and prepare to go out for dinner. Tako had chosen a restaurant that was, she said, ‘a little different from the norm’ but it was the other side of town and there was some debate as to how best to get there. We ended up using taxis and the metro – another Soviet era introduction with art not unlike that of the Moscow metro, some very plain stations, others quite ornate.
A good meal in an interesting place with groups of young people toasting everything in traditional fashion, knocking back endless shots of chacha and having a good time together. All too soon, it was time to go back and prepare for that early morning flight.
A snatched nap of no more than an hour and a half and we were off to the airport for my 5a.m. flight with its 13 hour layover in Istanbul before the final flight back to London. Turkish Airlines definitely look after their guests well and, although it was tiring, I enjoyed the tour they provided around the old city, taking in the Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and last but far from least, the Grand Bazaar before getting back to the airport in time to be sure I would get to the gate on time for the final part of the journey.
What an experience this has been!!!
When can I come again? Where should I go next?
Living the Journey 
Quite an adventure!!!! 👍😊