Wanderings: Caucuses etc: Kutaisi

Monday, June 12, 2017

The train slowly made its way down the valley from Borjomi to the junction with the main line at Kashuri. Along the way, I noted that the grade crossing gates were manually controlled. On a branch line with 4 to 6 trains a day, this must be a rather dull job.

At Kashuri, there were two hours to wait before the westbound train to Kutaisi. The square outside the station had a small bake shop with pastry in the windows. As I pointed to the various items, the baker showed me various mixing bowls she was stirring to present the contents of the pastries. I picked the one thay looked like some brown sugar concoction; drat, it was mushed baked beans (1).

As each train arrived, a few ladies with baskets of food and drinks approached the doors of the train and called out what they were selling; they seemed to be doing a reasonable business. Upon the arrival of one train, an older man shuffled down the stairway of the yrain followed by at least a dozen 5-gallon pails of apples (2). He seemed quite frail, so I helped him carry the pails into the station, then to someone's car.

There were some Swedish travellers at Kashuri who were also waiting for the westbound train. They had walked to a nearby grocery for provisions and the man asked if I had a wine bottle opener. I did not. "Travelling naked" he replied, as was he, he admitted. They had spent four days in Borjomi, which seemed a long time to me. They had spent a lot of time just reading and relaxing.

The "fast" train to Kuaisi covers the 221 kilometers from Tbilisi to Kutaisi in only 5 1/2 hours, which is much faster than I could ride my bicycle. Just west of Kashuri, the train passed through a long tunnel, signalling our crossing of the divide betwern eastward-flowing water destined for the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea Basin. The train split at Rioni junction with one car heading up the branch line to Kuaisi while the rest of the train proceeded to the Black Sea coast.

The main attractions in Kutaisi are two monasteries a few miles from town. After stopping at the guesthouse, the hostess arranged for her husband, Giorgi, to take me to the monasteries, for which there is no public transit access.

Levan, an official guide showed me around. While he was born in Georgia, he spent most of his first 24 years living in Germany. He did not like his job as a bouncer at a club in Berlin (he liked to smile too much, he said) so he decided to return to his ancestral home in the nearby village and work in the tourist trade.

The Gelati Monastery was built in the 1100s

during the reign of King David the Builder, who first united most of modern Georgia. As with many of the religious buildings in the area, the interior frescoes, etc. were damaged during the period of Ottoman rule. In this case, the Turks set a fire in the monastery. A mosaic of Mary and Jesus over the altar survived the fire, and has been restored.

The tomb of King David the Builder is on the site and was constructed (on his orders) so that visitors entering the Monastery site would step in his grave to get to the monastery. He believed this expression of humility would help to atone for his sins. The views from this monastery are said to extend to the high Caucuses, but the low cloud cover and rain the day of my visit made for a limited horizon.

The nearby Motsameta Monastery is built on a high bluff at a bend in the river. During my visit, a woman was chanting while the priest spread incense around the church.

(1) Throughout my voyage in the Caucuses, I have pointed to various pastries in shop windows that I thought were sweet but turned out to have savory fillings. There seems to be a particularly strong cheese commonly used as pastry filling here.

(2) The practice of carrying large volumes of produce on the train is quite common in the Caucuses. Georgian Railways even levies charges for bulk produce carried by passengers on its trains.