Mountain hike to Trinity Church

It was a late start today. We had a lovely breakfast at the guesthouse, boarded the bus and went to the start of our hike up a mountain to visit Trinity Church. It’s about a one hour hike up 1,000 metres and only about 10 kilometres from the Russian border.

It was extremely scenic as well as challenging. The photos give you an idea of our travels. Trinity Church was built in the 14th century but not much is known of its history. The Soviet government closed the church and it was only returned to the Georgian Orthodox Church in the 1990s. The church is quite small and once again in order to enter we had to put on skirts even though we were wearing pants. The views from where the church sits were spectacular.

We hiked down, which was much more difficult than hiking up. The way down there were lots of loose stones so you really had to watch your way. I was grateful for the walking stick one of our fellow travellers had lent me.

We had lunch at a lovely restaurant and then visited Jvari Pass Travertine National Monument. “Travertine is a hard, porous, low-density, semi-crystalline rock, made as a result of the precipitation of calcium carbonate. It is often secreted from underground waters, creating stalactites and stalagmites in caves.”

Next we visited the Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument which was built in 1983 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Treaty of Georgievsk and features a large circular structure with Soviet-era mosaics depicting Georgian and Russian history, as well as a platform for viewing the Caucasus Mountains. Georgians have decided to retain it despite its Soviet history because it is considered art.

We got back to the guest house with a little time to rest up and then had dinner. The dinners here have been cooked by the owner’s mom and have reminded us of my mother’s cooking 🥰Read more