May 072014
Today we had a 2 and 1/2 hour drive out of Tblisi. Our destination was the David Gareja Monastery complex.
There are a few things about this drive. We are heading south east towards the Azerbaijan border. This is classic steppe country, a semi arid desert, that is essentially just wide open country, no trees, and grass for as far as the eye can see. It is time to move the grazing animals up to the high country, so we had so much fun hoping off the bus and taking pictures of the cowboys herding the sheep, cows, goats and whatever other animals went along for the ride.
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The David Gareja Monastery Complex includes hundreds of cells, churches, chapels, refectories and living quarters hallowed out of the rock face. The complex consists of 15-20 monasteries depending on what book you are reading, and the countryside they sit on is vast, but I could not find an idea of acreage.
These caves were carved out differently than the other two we saw. Here they would heat the sandstone and pour water on it to break off the cave walls in chunks.
The complex was founded in the 6th century by St. David Garejeli one of thirteen Assyrian monks who arrived in the country to spread the gospel. David had two disciples Dodo and Luciane, and the three of them left Tblisi to find a more aesthetic life. They headed east towards the holy land and made their final stop here. Eventually, the word spread and the area became a pilgrimage area.
From the 11th to the 13th century the cultural development of this area reached its highest phase, with frescoes that became part of the world’s treasures.
Upon the downfall of the Georgian monarch, the monastery suffered a period of decline and then devastation by the Mongol army in 1265. The monastery was restored and then suffered an attack by Safavid in 1615 when all the monks were massacred, and manuscripts, many of the frescoes and unique works of art were destroyed.
After that there was a period when the monastery was unoccupied, most likely due to the fact that the Persians were occupying the area. The monastery was resurrected in 1690 by Father Superior Onopre Machutadze.
The monastery was again closed after the Bolshevik takeover of Georgia in 1921. During the Soviet War in Afghanistan the area was used as a training ground for the Soviet military. They did some serious damage to the murals that were still left in the monastery by using the monastery as a firing range.
The original monastery is still active today with some very antisocial monks. The monastery complex sits on the Georgian border with Azerbaijan, and is part of a few border disputes. The area has been part of both countries during history, but since the monks were Georgian and it is such an important part of the Georgian religious movement, the Georgians are not open to any negotiations, especially talks on the part of the Azerbaijanis to make it a joint tourist center.
On the ride home we were told about the social situation in Georgia. After the break up of the Soviet Union pension funds were suspended and many people had absolutely no income. Today pensions have been re-instated but are very, very small. They run about $150 Laris a month which is about $85US. The retirement age for woman is 60 and 65 for men. There are talks of upping the retirement age for men to 67. Unlike social security, everyone gets a pension irrelevant of time and type of work.
St. George, who replaced Lenin after the fall of the Soviet Union
Education under the soviet was free from kindergarten through college. Today state kindergarten costs about 150 Lari/month but private kindergarten is double. School is compulsory from the age of 6 to what is equivalent to our sophomore year in high school
It is spring and wildflowers are everywhere, I always loved red poppies.
State schools are free of charge, and I am not really sure there are any state universities. Private university can vary between 5000 Lari ($2850 US) a year to $15,000 US a year.
Georgia adopted universal healthcare in January of this year (2014). Healthcare is free for retired people and vaccinations are free of charge for children under 14. Doctors visits are charged per visit but 70% of hospital stays are paid by the government, however, there are waiting lists for operations.
Old cars are everywhere, but filled with wine bottles, now that is worth a photo.
Old cars are everywhere, but filled with wine bottles, now that is worth a photo.
Military service is compulsory for men at 18. If you get into college before the age of 18 you can defer your service until after you graduate. The service is 18 months.
In soviet time it was compulsory for everyone to learn Russian, so it was the second language. Today it is still taught, but being replaced by English, various European languages and even Japanese.
We saw tortoises everywhere
We leave Georgia tomorrow and head for Armenia. It has been an interesting trip. Georgia is obviously suffering financially from the break up of the Soviet Union. There is a considerable soviet hangover, obvious in much of the older citizenry. Our guide, while delightful, towed the soviet line so often, I often just tuned her out. Which is sad, but you can only hear so many times that every fruit, vegetable, and red wine produced in Georgia cures all ails including radiation poisoning.
There is absolutely NOTHING to purchase in Georgia. I am not surprised. People are so busy trying to figure out how the country is going to move forward , that the concept of tourism is so very much on the back burner. I discussed this earlier when I pointed out there were essentially no hotels outside of Tblisis and the ski resorts. However, it is also obvious in the fact that most every museum is closed, and there are no tourist shops to speak of, yes they exist, but they seem to cater more to the Russian tourist than people from outside the Russian mindset.