Awesome Armenia!

გამარჯობა მეგობარები!

Hello friends!

I hope everyone in the States had a lovely and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday! I seriously missed the time spent with family and eating some good old-fashioned turkey and stuffing!  BUT I made up for it by travelling to Armenia this past weekend!  Armenia is the country located south of Georgia with a population of about 3.2 million people.  It’s also the first country to adopt Christianity as the state religion in 301.  It’s a simple marshrutka ride or night train from Tbilisi and the value of the US dollar goes far there, so why not visit?  (Fun fact about the Armenian people: They are world-wide chess champions and take it as a class in school!)

Early Friday morning my fellow TLG friends from orientation Daylene, Nombulelo and I caught the first marshrutka out of Tbilisi for Armenia.  After a quick hour and a half we found ourselves at the border and smoothly made the transition to Armenia for the small price of an Armenian visa (3,000 Dram or the equivalent of $8).  What ensued next was a 4-5 hour drive through Armenia to reach the capital of Yerevan.  Armenia is a really rocky country with a ton of mountains everywhere (most of them with snow-covered tops!!) so the drive was really pretty and would have been lovelier to take in the middle of fall with all the changing colors!  We eventually made it to the bustling city of Yerevan.  Over one million people live here and it’s apparently one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, dating back to the 8^th century BC?!  Who knew?

We started off by finding our hostel and purchasing our train tickets for the Saturday night train back to Tbilisi.  Much of Friday was spent just exploring the city.  We made our way to Republic Square in the heart of Yerevan.  There’s a big history and art museum and a huge fountain during the warmer summer months. 

This is the National Gallery and History Museum

Republic Square Roundabout

As we walked the three of us definitely took note of the differences between this capital city and Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital that we’ve spent quite a bit of time in.  Although we only saw a portion of Yerevan it was interesting to note that there were paved sidewalks everywhere (we didn’t have to continually look at the ground to make sure we didn’t trip on broken concrete), pedestrians had the right of way when crossing the street and the sound of blaring car horns were sporadic.  Additionally, expensive shops like Burberry and Armani were also newly built for the richer population to peruse.  It’s the little things we notice when we change environments now; I wonder what I will notice most when I return to the States. 

We eventually made our way to the Yerevan Cascade area of town where a large park area is home to many statues and surrounding restaurants (I counted a total of three KFCs and a Pizza Hut while there).  The Cascade is a huge monument of steps that has been in construction since the 1970s yet still remains unfinished at the top.  Each phase of the monument contains different works of art.  We enjoyed looking around at the variety of sculptures and statues before climbing up the steps of the Cascade to get a great view of the city and the distance Mount Ararat (which is technically more in Turkish territory).  Mount Ararat is believed to be the Biblical resting place of Noah’s Ark. 

Cool sculpture made of metal letters.

The Cascade steps

Each level of the Cascade has different sculptures and things 

Here's another level

Yerevan at sunset.  Mount Ararat is the little hump above the clouds in the distance

On Saturdays our hostel hosts an “Essential Armenia” tour for the equivalent of about $40 which took us to five places around Armenia.  Along with about 15 other people we headed out bright and early to Lake Sevan, the largest lake in Armenia and one of the highest fresh-water lakes in terms of elevation in the world.  We first visited the monastery of Sevanavank which was completed in the 9th century.  The surrounding view of Lake Sevan and the snow-capped mountains were really amazing!  The weather was pretty cold (maybe 40 degrees) but the sky was so clear and the sun was shining—can’t complain about that!  

Examples of Armenia Cross-Stones that decorate the graves here

Sevanavank

Lake Sevan and the President's summer house

Our next stop was another 9^th century monastery Hayravank also located on Lake Sevan.  We finished the first half of the tour by going to the Noratus cemetery.  The first graves stones here date back to the 10th century and it contains the largest amount of khachkars (or tomb stones decorated with crosses) in Armenia.  All twenty or so of us then piled into the Armenian home in the village of Lchashen where a lovely family cooked us all lunch.  There was soup, bread, cheese and chicken, so needless to say, it reminded me a lot of meals I eat in Georgia.

Hayravank Monastery

the cemetary 

Some more cross-stones 

This stone depicts the murder of a couple at their wedding party when a man on a horse crashed the place and killed everyone.

 Our final two stops of the day were really impressive.  We drove to the other side of Yerevan where we saw Garni temple.  The area surrounding Garni has been inhabited since 3000BC and the temple that remains today was probably built in the first century AD and was the summer residence of past rulers.  Next to it are ruins of a church built in the fourth century and a bathhouse that contains a Greek-inspired mosaic.  It definitely looked as though it was inspired by buildings and monuments one would see in Greece like the Parthenon!  While Garni was awesome to look at, the surrounding mountains and trees were even more beautiful and the remaining fall colors were still there!

Garni

Garni with some of the church ruins around it.

The awesome view!

More awesome views!

 Our final stop of the day was Geghard monastery.  While the monastery was founded in the 4^th century by Saint Gregory the Illuminator, the impressive construction of the church (literally carved into the mountain) began in the 12^th century.  We toured the church area and it was amazing to think that this was all carved by hand and without the modern tools of something like dynamite or machines! 

All of this was carved from the mountian

After Geghard, we had enough time to return to Yerevan and shop a little for souvenirs before catching the night train back to Tbilisi.  I was really happy I got to make this trip, Armenia proved to be a great little escape and such a beautiful country!  It was short and sweet and spent with good company!  I’m officially under a month until I return to the States so I’m hoping to spend more time with my host family until we have to say goodbye!

nakvamdis!

Kelsey

P.S. If you’re a future Teach and Learn with Georgia (TLG) participant I highly recommend Envoy Hostel in Yerevan if you get the chance to travel here!  Super clean, super friendly and great tours for a great price!

Field Trip Take Two!

გამარჯობა მეგობარები!

Hello friends!

I’m so lucky!  I was invited on yet another field trip this past Saturday!  Wooo! A free trip to some of the loveliest places in Georgia!  It also helps that it was my host brother Luka’s class having the field trip and even Tamila, my host mom, was tagging along too.  Luka prefaced the excursion for me on Friday saying it was going to be really cold and we were going near some mountains in the Imereti region of Georgia, which is a good 4+ hours from Tbilisi (mind you that would make it a 6+ hour trip one-way from my village). 

Well turns out that none of that information was really true.  We gathered together bright and early in the marshrutka and set off for Tbilisi as the sun rose.  I realized we weren’t heading to the Imereti region when we turned off the main Georgian highway and started heading in the direction of the northern region of Kazbegi.  So, since I’m now pretty used to the randomness of life here, I just sat there and figured if things got too crazy I would ask what was going on and where we were actually going.  We eventually turned off this main road and drove along the side of a mountain with the beautiful Lake Ananuri below us.  We drove for about an hour on this road deep into the mountains before finally arriving at the small village of Chargali which was surrounded by mountains on all sides; it was beautiful and peaceful. 

A very famous Georgian writer named Vazha-Pshavela (1861-1915) was born and raised here and now his former two-roomed home is preserved and they’ve built a small museum in his honor.  We got a quick tour of the two places before sitting down in a picnic area to eat lunch (this field trip also had enough food to feed an army).  Here are a few pictures from there:

Beautiful scenery!

This is a picture of  Vazha-Pshavela and his family that is shown in his house.  He's the guy in the middle wearing what is actually a traditional Georgian hat that's made out of sheep hair.

The 7th grade class with their lovely teacher Andi.  Squatting in the front are Salome and Elene.  The second row is Lasha, Giorgi, Luka (my host brother!), Giorgi, Vika, Lasha, Mari, and Tamuna.  And Simon is in the back row with Andi.

The museum across the street from the house

Mountains everywhere!

Cool painting on the inside of the museum

All the adults on the trip!  My host mom Tamila is the fourth one from the left.

 After this, we piled back into the marshrutka and I found out we would be visiting Ananuri, the fortress/church that overlooks the beautiful lake we passed earlier.  We got there about 1.5 hours later and briefly went into the church for everyone to light a candle and to say a prayer before exploring the small fort that is built around it.  The Ananuri castle was built in the 13^th century and the church was built in the late 1600s.  The views of the surrounding mountains and Lake Ananuri were obviously beautiful!

The view!  Lake Ananuri begins here.

This is a picture of the two churches on the grounds as well as a tower in between them.

Towers like this are all over Georgia (a lot near the border with Russia in the mountainous areas) and they were used as lookouts during times of war.

Typically road blocks in Georgia on the way to Mtskheta: sheep, goats, cows, and horses.

Our final stop of the day was the small town of Mtskheta which I visited a few weeks ago.  We actually visited one church that my friend Kathleen and I overlooked last time.  Samtavro church was built in the 11^th century and contains the grave of the very famous Georgian Orthodox monk Saint Gabriel.  As with any other visit to a church in this country, everyone bought some incented candles to light and said a few prayers before exploring the yard which had many graves in it(some where the writing has worn away).  After that we went to the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral which was still just as big and impressive as last time!  There was also what seemed to be fifty weddings going on since everywhere I turned there was another bride and groom in the church, they were all dressed so beautifully!

Samtavro Church in Mtskheta

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral again

My host mom Tamila and my host brother Luka (what a goon!)

Weddings everywhere!

Most of the 7th grade boys (bichebi)!  From L to R: Simon, Lasha, Luka, Vika in the back, Giorgi and Lasha

It was yet another fun filled day with a bunch of kids who have so much energy to spare!  I’m hoping to have an adventurous and fun weekend ahead of me since it’s Thanksgiving on Thursday and Georgia celebrates St. George’s  Day this Friday (and the students have the day off school).

nakvamdis!

Kelsey

P.S. Some of you were curious about what countries have been looking at my blog so I thought I'd share this screen shot with you all!  These are some statistics from this week:

Click on the picture to see the numbers more clearly!

Another Day, Another Excursion: Vardzia & Rabati

გამარჯობა მეგობარები!

Hello friends!

Hope all is well wherever you currently find yourself (Since apparently people are reading my blog all over the world?!!  The Blogger website tracks what countries people are reading my blog in and the stats are really interesting to keep track of!).  Once again I had another lovely and exciting adventure this past weekend in this crazy country of Georgia that I want to share with you all! 

On Saturday, a few of my friends from TLG orientation and I got up bright and early (6am!) to meet up with the same woman who organized my trip to David Gareja.  This time though our trip was to two places about four hours away from Tbilisi: Rabati castle in Akhaltsikhe and Vardzia Caves. 

Our first stop was the Rabati Castle in the town of Akhaltsikhe which is about 13 kilometers (8 miles) from the Turkish border.  The Rabati castle was built in the 13^th century and overlooks the town.  Throughout its history, Akhaltsikhe has been under the control of many different groups of people notably the Ottomans during the 17^th and 18^th centuries, and the Russian empire for most of the 19^th-20^th centuries.  Now, under control of the Georgians once more, it underwent a huge renovation and recently reopened in August 2012.  Now the Georgian government hopes it will serve as a tourist attraction for Georgians and foreigners alike.

The entire site contains a museum, a castle, a church, a mosque with minaret and a synagogue which was really cool to see architecturally side-by-side.  We had a quick tour of the place by a Georgian guide (most of which was understood through a rough translation by all of us).  The final part of the tour included a walk through an impressive museum that contains many artifacts uncovered in the area including pottery, weapons, money, religious artifacts and jewelry dating back thousands of years and discovered right here in Georgia!  Georgia’s history goes farther back than I could have imagined prior to coming here!  After this whirlwind tour we were free to explore Rabati and take pictures:

The view of Akhaltsikhe from the castle area

There were really interesting fountains throughout some of the newer renovated areas

view from outside the complex

A pretty garden, also showcases some of the different architecture throughout the place.

The view from up in the castle

Our second stop was Vardzia caves about an hour’s drive winding through the mountains from Rabati.  It’s Georgia’s most famous cave city.  Back in the day, the Georgian country was ruled by a Strong Independent Woman by the name of Queen Tamar (r. 1184-1213) who was the first (and only woman thus far) to ever rule Georgia.  Considering the state of gender inequality in Georgia now, it’s interesting that she was so powerful and remains a revered ruler in the country’s history.  She faced some opposition coming to power as a woman, yet then showed everyone how great she was by then guiding Georgia into one of its most prosperous time periods.

It was during Tamar’s reign that much the Vardzia caves and the monastery were constructed (the 12^th century).  It was created in the side of the mountain to protect monks there from invading neighboring empires such as the Mongols, the Turks and the Persians.  In the sixteenth century the place was finally conquered and the monks were driven away from this safe haven.  It’s been partially destroyed by a few earthquakes so that now only 600 caves remain from an earlier 3,000.  In modern times, Georgian monks have returned here to live and pray, so some of the caves are off-limits to tourists.

View of the caves from the road

The other beautiful view

It really was cold and windy

some of the caves

Paintings that remain by the entrance to the church

Apparently the name Vardzia comes from the story that when lost in the caves Queen Tamar shouted to her  uncle, "აქ ვარ ძია" (ak var dzia) which translates to, "I am here, uncle."

more caves

The weather was a little breezy and cold, but the trip to Vardzia was actually really calming and beautiful.  Some of the only sounds to be heard were the rushing of the nearby river amidst the occasional shout-out to a friend in another cave; there are only a few houses on the outskirts of the area and the views of the surrounding hills and mountains are stunning with the late fall colors.  I find excursions like these are especially awesome in that we get to physically touch and climb all over things that are literally hundreds of years old and are so special to the Georgian people.  You can’t always do that in other places around the world!

Well I’m staying in the village this weekend, but more adventures to come!  Under 40 days left!

Until next time, nakvamdis (“goodbye” in Georgian)!!

Kelsey