Batumi to Mtskheta: An Unforgettable Journey to the HEART OF GEORGIA скачать в хорошем качестве

Batumi to Mtskheta: An Unforgettable Journey to the HEART OF GEORGIA

Today I’m crossing Georgia from west to east, from Batumi on the Black Sea Coast to the capital Tbilisi, with my driver Zaza, stopping at some of the nation’s most sacred sites in KUTAISI and MTKSHETA (and eating roadside snacks!). Batumi - the Pearl of the Black Sea - has seen rapid development in recent years and by population is now Georgia’s 2nd city, full of bright lights and casinos. I’ve really enjoyed my time here and you’ll find a separate film about Batumi on the channel. Yesterday it was warm and sunny but this Sunday morning in early November it feels like autumn has arrived on the Black Sea. We head north from the city along coast, past the docks, the hotels and resorts, and the endless construction works tempting property investors. There’s a more natural landscape to our right, as lush mountains rise into the clouds. Road signs steer drivers towards the city of Sukhumi further up the coast, but the capital of the breakaway region of Abkhazia has been off limits since 1994. Head that way and you’ll soon find Russian soldiers blocking your access. The Abkhazia question remains one of Georgia’s most intractable issues. The highway from Batumi to Kutaisi is being upgraded and we intersperse fast motorway stretches with slow drives through villages where Zaza has to avoid wandering cattle. As with other infrastructure projects in this region, Chinese construction companies and Chinese workers are tasked with the job. Two hours from Batumi we enter the suburbs of Kutaisi, historically Georgia’s second city. During the latter years of the Soviet Union it became famous for being the epicentre of the powerful Georgian mafia - an organisation that had influence across Russia. That’s not the case anymore, as far as I’m aware., and I’m not going to start asking questions. Going back much further in time, the settlement here was one of the principal towns of Colchis - the legendary empire of Medea and the golden fleece. Former president Sakashvili controversially replaced a statue of David the Builder in front of the opera house with the Colchis fountain, which reproduces found artefacts from that period. It’s the fountain that now appears on all of kutaisi’s tourist literature. High above Kutaisi city centre, on the site of an ancient fortress you’ll find the Cathedral of the Assumption commissioned by Bagrat III in the year 1003. It was left in ruins after the Turks destroyed it in 1692, and was placed on the UNESCO world heritage list in 1994. Former President Saakashvili, however, wanted to restore the cathedral to its former glory and hence it has been substantially rebuilt. UNESCO did not approve of the manner of the refurbishment and removed the church from its list in 2017. A less successful decision of former President Sakashvili was to move the Parliament from Tbilisi to Kutaisi. The politicians did not want to leave cosmopolitan Tblisi and as soon as he left power in 2019 the politicians hurriedly left too. The 83 million dollar building is hard to like and widely criticised as an expensive white elephant. There are plans to turn it into an IT hub. West of Kutaisi we pass through the town of Surami. I ask Zaza what the roadside stalls are selling, and he promptly stops at one. The sweet sugary bread known as Nazuki is apparently only made in Surami. I wonder what will become of the nazuki sellers once the motorway opens and bypasses the town. To the north of Gori road signs point to Tskhinvali. However, this is another road to a closed border. To the Georgians it is the Russian occupied region of Tskhinvali. On the other side of the ceasefire line it is the Republic of South Ossetia. To understand why relations between Georgie and Russia are so complicated then you need to study the Abkhazia and South Ossetia disputes. Our next stop is Mkskheta - one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world let alone Georgia. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Iberia, which stretched from the Caucasus well into present day Turkey. The centrepiece is the Sveti Tskhoveli cathedral of the 12 apostles which contains a number of royal tombs. It was built in the 11the century, rebuilt by Tamerlane in the the 14th century, and constitutes one of the most important examples of Georgian Christian architecture. Jvari means cross in Georgian. It is a UNESCO world heritage site, being an Early Medieval Georgian church that has survived to the present day almost unchanged.and the founder of the type of church architecture which became prevalent in Georgia and Armenia. It has dominated the surroundings since the 6th century. Filmed November 2024 ‪@TravelObscurer‬ Jonathan Wheeler Drone footage licensed through Envato Music licensed through Artlist