Natural, industrial and urban landscapes

3-17 September

After our trip in Svaneti we find that the good weather period is still continuing, so we decide to continue our ride instead of returning to Tbilisi. The question is where. We think about going to Abchazia, for which we already received a release form that allows us to go there for 10 days. But we finally decide to stay in Georgia, visit some more mountainous landscapes and also visit Chiatura, a peculiar example of an industrial landscape, shaped in Sovjet times. From there we would go to Tbilisi.

This is what we saw on our ride:

First we noticed that the rock formations are made out of limestone (yes, there are quite a lot of caves around also, but we didn't visit them).

Khubi IV
When we pitch our tent in the valley near Ghebi a dog comes and decides to stay with us forever. He feels at home and safe and falls asleep after we give him some bread soaked in the oil of a tin of fish.
The next morning we leave the tent and ride the last 6 km to Ghebi and back, followed by Khubi IV. When we return to the tent a herd of cows (and bulls) appear (we are close to a cow track) and sometimes they are too curious. This does not get the approval from Khubi IV, who considers the cows to enter our territory and he starts to chase away the cows and fight the bull. This looks really funny and a bit scary, because the bull is not really impressed by Khubi, so he threatens Khubi with his horns, while Khubi is barking, snapping and making small attacks. It feels really good being protected by such a brave dog. We then leave and although we explain to Khubi that we are now going to descend on an asphalt road. He decides to follow us.

Khubi IV feeling safe:

Khubi IV getting tired:

Khubi IV getting overheated

And a few kilometers later Khubi disappears out of sight. 😢

We then go to Gelati to a hotel with a swimming pool and visit the monasteries nearby:

The Cathedral of the Virgin of the monastery of Gelati has a beautiful mosaic, which is partly destroyed by an earthquake. Still it is one of Georgia's greatest work of art.

 The Monastery of Motsameta is nearby and beautifully situated on the edge of a cliff:

 We also visit the Bagrat Cathedral in Kutaisi  (second largest city in Georgia):

but its restoration is subject to debate

The bride doesn't care about debatable restorations. It is Saturday and there is a lot of marrying going on.

Kutaisi also has a lovely bazar

and lovely wall paintings and children:

We then continue to Chiatura. Chiatura is a small town that sits amid one of the world’s richest manganese deposits, perhaps 222 million tonnes. Bidzina Ivanishvili, who’s worth about US$4 billion, also comes from Chiatura, so the town is not in the state of total post-communist decline you might expect. The first manganese ropeways were built in the 1930s and the oldest cable-car (No 25) dates from 1954, just after the mines were turned into a modern Stalinist industry. 17 of the cable car systems still exist and a few are still in operation. They have become a touristic attraction and are nowadays called Stalin's death coffins. We have just watched them operate and not tried them ourselves.

Just before we arrived in Chiatura we passed by Katskhis-Sveti, a natural limestone monolyth on which some crazy monk has built a small hermitage. The pilar was not climbed for a long time (1944) and recently (2009) the ruins were restored. The monolith is situated in a gorge where several climbing routes have been built.

After the end of the Cold War the work in the old mines of Chiatura started drying up and many inhabitants left Chiatura in search of work elsewhere. The population decreased tremendously, many houses got abandoned. That was the first thing that caught our attention while entering Chiatura. Large abandoned buildings and apartment blocks as well as this huge Soviet war memorial:

We walked a bit around in Chiatura:

Chiatura has not yet really switched to modern tourism:

To make our visit even more dramatic a terrible thunderstorm was developing:

The river is pitch black:

Road maintenance is delayed:

Any maintenance is delayed

Stalin's death coffins:

A visibly relieved tourist:

And finally this fantastic picture of Chiatura that I found on journalofnomads. They have written a very interesting article about Chiatura with pictures and a movie.

After Chiatura we ride to Gori. And we see yet another example of recycling:

Wanted: Flat tires to complete my fence

And we finally get to see the higher Caucasus from the plain. For the first time the weather is clear enough to allow this long distance view.

We see a castle

and we pass it

And in Gori we see a number of strange statues and this is one of them:

Gori is the city where Stalin was born and has a Stalin museum. 'To the people of Gori there’s little purely political significance to the museum: Stalin is simply the only important thing ever to come out of Gori, and is revered as the ‘strong man’ rather than for his views or deeds. There’s no doubt that the locals are far too quick to overlook his immense crimes, but you would in any case be foolish to expect any mention of the gulag or the Ukrainian famine in a museum like this, and if you ask you’ll be told they’re waiting for proof, much like George W Bush on climate change'.

For us Gori is just the train station where we want to take the train back to Tbilisi in order to avoid cycling through Tbilisi for 25 km, which is an utterly insane and unhealthy undertaking.
We buy a train ride lottery ticket for 1 Lari (0.33 Euro) and we win nothing. The train leaving at 9:00 am is cramped with people and goods. Goods to be sold in Tbilisi need to be transported in the train. It all goes for just 1 Lari. The 9 am train is for the working Georgians, not for the tourists, especially those with bikes.

This will easily fit in the 9 am train:

And this too:

But not this:

So, we buy a new train ride lottery ticket (no, we didn't get the money back for the former one). The train of 9:45 is able to accommodate us and our bikes.
Note that Martin is sharing a two seater with a woman and her son.

And then we arrive in Tbilisi and come across this street sign. We try to pronounce it and are again not successful. 7 consonants in a row is just a little bit too much for our tongues.

We visit Fabrika: 'Fabrika is the space for rebellious minds to create and share. Once a soviet sewing factory, it has been revibed and transformed into a multi-functional urban space bringing together enthusiastic individuals ready to stretch their minds with new exhilarating experiences. The space now continues its life as the popular hotspot that unites urban style cafes and bars, artist studios and shops, educational institutions, co-working space, a mind blowing open spectacular courtyard, the biggest in the region hostel and ever changing one-off events'

Therefore is a lot of art around (Fabrikaffity)

Fabrika has a lovely square with small shops for young starters and bars and restaurants

It has ateliers that are shared among artists

Some people use the surrounding walls as their atelier

These are painted stairs

And these are also painted stairs, but differently

There is room for working. Here a handicapped person is interviewed for some broadcasting

but you can also check your smartphone

Then we visit Tbilisi down town again and see the Always Ultra bridge from a different perspective during the day

And during the night

We come closer to Mother Georgia who looks down on Tbilisi

This is what she sees

And we stroll through the botanic garden behind Mother Georgia, where Martin tries to destroy the bamboo forest

crosses a hanging bridge

and there are also still some beautiful flowers

We visit the sulfur baths, but just from the outside

and in the evening we go to a concert of Katie Melua who is born in Georgia and sings about 9 million bicycles

and the evening after we visit the theatre:

Cirque Eloize with their performance Cirkopolis in the Alexander Griboedov State Russian Drama Theatre in Tbilisi. The artists rebel against monotony, reinvent themselves and challenge the limits of the factory-city.

In the mean time we make plans for our last act in Georgia. To be continued.