Monasteries and mountains

On Monday 4th August, we set out from Tbilisi for our day trip to David Gureja Monastery and Udabno via Get My Guide. This was with Gamarjoba Georgia Tours and cost £57.48 for the two of us. The meeting point at 09:30 for the 10:00 tour and we took a Bolt taxi to the meeting point at the Avlabari Metro Station (6.20 GEL, £1.70). At the station we met loads of other tourists and were lead to the tour office around the corner before boarding our bus. This was the first time we used the Bubble Bum inflatable booster seat in Georgia but it was easy to set up and use, and although I expect Tiger could have survived Georgia without it, it did give her that little bit of height and us a bit more security. One other point is that all of the tour buses we took in Georgia had seat belts in every seat. There was only one marshrutka public bus later on which had no seat belts.

The bus first of all stopped at a small supermarket so we could stock up on snacks for the trip - and an obligatory pink plastic Stitch car, of course, for her ladyship. When we got back on the bus, our guide on the bus was particularly brilliant at helping us get to know each other. We had people from all over the world with us, and particularly memorable was the lady from Australia who drove fork lift trucks for a living! He also was very knowledgeable about the history of Georgia but it was a bit harder for me to take it all in, with Tiger asking me questions all the time!

Our next stop was at a salt lake. There was some quite robust and spikey shrubbery underfoot but we did manage to walk down to the lake, and walk on the cracked surface of it! Very impressive.

We continued the drive through Udabno Village. This area is the only "semi-desert" Georgia has, and it's more than amazing to see how diverse Georgian nature is. When we arrived at the David Gureja complex, we parked up and started walking toward the famous Rainbow Mountains. The most impressive feature of this landscape was the mineral-rich sedimentary rock, which looks like it’s been painted with brightly coloured stripes. The rest of our group went for a one and a half hour hike in some quite considerably hot weather but I took the much easier decision for us which was to take photos and then have a relaxing wander around.

We first of all found some kittens at a random house, then we walked back to where the van was parked up and found another cat with kittens and a dog who came for the walk with us! This kept us amused for ages, as well as having loads of ice creams and cold drinks from the air-conditioned cafe.

Our group eventually came back extremely hot and sweaty and I felt honestly like I had made absolutely the right choice for us! After they had had their refreshments, we walked up to the David Gareji Monastery Complex - one of the most spiritual places in the country. It is actually the site of two monasteries (Lavra and Udabno) which were constructed by St David Garejeli in the 6th century to strengthen Christianity. It’s believed that St David chose this isolated location because he wanted his Disciples to lead a life of holiness independent from the rest of society. We saw some of the 5,000 (!) monk caves carved into the rock.

Here's the link to the most up to date information from Emily's Wanderlush blog, but essentially due to a dispute over the Georgia / Azerbaijan border and whose land the monastery actually sits, large areas are now inaccessible to tourists and there is a big wall sectioning this off. Nevertheless, whilst we couldn't see it all, it was still amazing to see it (and see from up high the parts we couldn't!).

Next, our guide was too knackered to go with us (!) but we did a 30 minute up and down hike to the border of Georgia and Azerbaijan - including seeing Georgian soldiers! As we'd missed the other bit of the hike, I was pleased we did this section. It was uphill and steep but not too long, totally do-able, and Tiger raced up. We sat and admired the view for a while before heading down. This time, Tiger practically ran down, went past all the grown-ups and was first down, where-as I was almost last!

After we came down, we then drove back to Tbilisi - about 1h45 and 100km drive. Tiger fell into a bit of a deep sleep and I had to wake her up when we got back at 17:00! She was super grumpy but did rally a bit after she properly woke up.

We took a Bolt taxi to the Rum Roof Kitchen Bar which was not quite as impressive as I had been hoping from checking out their Instagram but was still had some great views, impressive cocktails and a decent kids menu! It's located on the 5th floor of the Ibis Styles Hotel Tbilisi. We also had a go at the table football - Tiger's first time - before walking home to our apartment. A great day all round!