The Road Less Travelled

After lots of whining and cajoling on my part, Giorgi finally gave in and took me on a "family adventure." We drove over an hour into an through the city of Gori, which some of you may recall was the main focus of Russian hostility during the August 2008 war. Finding no signs to our destination, we had to ask directions to the ancient cave town of Uplis-tsikhe, translation: God's Fortress. The weathered man on the road told us to turn left, turn right, go over the bridge, and then we would see the town right in front of us. We turned left, turned right, went over the bridge and found only a "T" in the road. We decided to turn right at the "T" because that road was new and freshly paved. After driving about 5 km without any luck, we turned around and took the road to the left, which consisted of mostly dirt and potholes and only remnants of the original asphalt. We were again bouncing through the back country of Georgia and it felt good.

We trekked back over the river on a bridge where local boys were jumping the 20 feet into the water without batting an eye, and without a single sign showing us how to get to this major tourist attraction, Giorgi, Sophie, Luca and I followed our noses and came upon Uplis-tsikhe at the hottest point of the day when all other tourists were headed home for siesta. We had no choice, though, we had to squeeze our trip between and into the nap schedules of two little people. So, onward we went into the cave village.



Sophie made instant friends with the ladies taking care of the restroom as well as the resident dog (who enjoyed her leftover khachapuri) and immediately decided to act as our tour guide and guard dog, growling at all of the guests going down as we walked up. Our hike began in the cool tunnel to the river, where we climbed up and up and came out into a complex of cave dwellings and churches. The trip probably would have been much more informative if we had purchased a guide, but, as it was, Giorgi only mentioned that there were guides for sale once we reached the village at the top, and the guides were all the way back down at the bottom. Anyway, we traipsed around the sandstone guessing at what holes in rock might have been two thousand years or more ago when the city flourished. We're pretty sure we found the kitchen, but then again, it could have been an ancient pagan ritual sacrifice alter. Perhaps it was both.

We hiked almost to the top in the hot summer sun but Luca let us know he had had enough. I left my entire family in a cave to stay cool and forged ahead, determined to get some good shots of this tourist mecca even on the mother-of-a-toddler and mother-of-an-infant timeline that we had. So I got the proverbial church shot and headed back down to rescue my family from the heat.

We took an actual family photo from a perfectly situated ledge where they waited and then headed back down the hill and through the tunnel from whence we emerged. We even caught a glimpse of a bat on the way down. Giorgi cautioned me not to let it get caught in my hair. If only I were a squirrley wife and worried about such fluffy stuff our conversations might be a little lighter!



Sophie's favorite part of the adventure was hopping down each and every step, which took almost as long as our whirlwind tour itself. We traipsed back to the parking lot under the exposed electrical wire hanging across the path and back to the truck which stayed surprisingly cool, and bounced back into civilization.

Once in Gori, we wondered when we would ever be in Gori again and decided to take advantage of the moment and poke our noses into the Stalin Museum (yes, Stalin was from this very city in Georgia). So we bought tickets and this time purchased a guide. The guide led us on an abbreviated tour, which turned out to be her entire spiel, just said faster. I couldn't understand most of it, as she had a thick accent and was speaking too fast, but it was fun to walk around and look at pictures of Stalin and his family and see little models of illegal printing presses that he used in the revolution. Perhaps the highlight of the Stalin museum, though, was the 25 Lari (~$21) magnet I had to have. I made Giorgi buy me the magnet/bottle opener because, really, who else can say that they have a Joseph Stalin magnet/bottle opener?

Out of money after our major souvenir purchase, we headed back to Tbilisi to bathe our children, eat dinner and eventually get some much needed rest. It was a good day indeed.