Wow, almost a month since my last blog. Training for the 2 Georgian battalions is going fairly well, some problems they need to work on, some problems we (the US) bring on ourselves. Frustrating.
So my weekend was good. Saturday about 15 of us went on an embassy sponsored white water rafting trip. I'd say it wasn't true white water but just some good fun rapids, good enough for all of us to get completely soaked. (Good thing I decided to leave my camera in the van.) Here's a link to the company.
http://travel-in-georgia.blogspot.com/2008/07/tours-around-tbilisi-white-water.html
After the rafting we had a great bbq picnic. Fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, bread, sulgumi cheese (Georgian specialty) pork, beef, and sausages. And beer, wine, and water.
Sunday I went for a walk. At least that's how it was sold to me; 'C'mon Sir, we're just going for a short hike to a monastery.' We started in the morning at a roadside cafe with Turkish coffee and Georgian cheesy bread. In the pic below, the taller tower (actually a cross) at the top of the mountain is our destination, the St. Something Zedazeni Monastery.
Our first attempt had us on the wrong approach, but had a nice view.
After an hour and a half circling around to the right hill we started up again on a dirt & gravel road. And I'm wearing my Sketchers loafers, yeah, good. In the pic below is one of the many refugee villages set up after the 2008 Russian invasion. The ethnic Georgians live here while ethnic Ossetian, Abkhazian, and increasingly Russian people are staying in the occupied territory.
Finally we reached the top, here's the iron cross and the monastery.
Back down again to meet our driver, thirteen miles total, and tired feet.
No comments:
Post a Comment