Route to Chiatura to Gori
Gori was a town nearest to Uplistsikhe, our destination. The journey from Butichi Guest House to Gori was just 2 hours, we took about 4 hours as we stopped at Chiatura and Sachkhere to do a bit of exploration.
Chiatura
A windy down hill road took us to the central of Chiatura. In the town we saw several cable car lines and stations. These are not “tourist cable cable car” but local transportation for locals to move up and down from the central to the town outskirts.
We parked our car and walked around town to explore. We were looking for a nice cafe for breakfast unfortunately all the cafes we passed were not open for business. It seemed that most locals did not eat out in the morning which accounted for cafes not operating. We left Chiatura and headed east. Just about 4km from the town we came upon a extremely old doorless cable car handing stationary in the air. This antique cable car was used to transport miners to their mines in the hill many many years ago!
Breakfast at Sachkhere
As we were near Sachkhere we saw a burger cafe which was opened for business. It was close to 9.45am and we were famished. We ordered two ham/bacon burger which came served with gloves. We figured we were to eat the burger with our gloved hand and later understood why gloves were needed. The meat and cheese were so juicy that soon sauce were dripping and flowing all over our hands. Definitely the best burger!
Gori city
Finally we reached Gori City which was a rather modern city, nearest to Uplistsikhe. Gori was an important military stronghold in the Middle Ages and maintained a strategic importance due to its location on the principal highway connecting eastern and western parts of Georgia. We understood that the Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin was born in Gori.
At our stay for the night we had a good view of Gori City hall and Gori Fortress. Beyond the city we could see lovely snow mountain ranges.
Gori Fortress was a medieval citadel situated above the city of Gori on a rocky hill. Standing on the hilltop, the fortress’s outlines follow the natural relief, hence the irregular shape. The inner fortifications occupied the entire plateau, from which the walls descended towards the road along the western slope.
Uplistsikhe
Uplistsikhe was just 14 km from Gori. It was an ancient Cave Town-Fortress. The entrance ticket/pax was 15Gel
Uplistsikhe was identified by archaeologists as one of the oldest urban settlements in Georgia. The earliest traces of human presence in Uplistsikhe dated back to the end of the 2nd millennium BC. Its earliest remaining structures were from the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. The town was in its heyday as far back as the 9th – 11th centuries. In 13th century, it was ravaged by Mongols.
The Uplistsikhe complex were into three parts: south (lower), middle (central) and north (upper) covering an area of approximately 8 hectares. The middle part was the largest, contained a bulk of the Uplistsikhe rock-cut structures, and was connected to the southern part via a narrow rock-cut pass and a tunnel. Narrow alleys and sometimes staircases radiated from the central “street” to the different structures.
The southern part had a complex of structures. Among them, a ceremonial hall was the most notable. The majority of the caves are devoid of any decorations. The central ensemble, a big hall with coffered tunnel-vaulted ceiling and the palace complex. Next to this hall, a three-nave basilica was hewn from rock in the second half of the 6th century, and to the east of it, a three-church basilica of brick was built in the 9th – 10th centuries.
Walking among all these rock housing, we tried hard to imagine the daily lifes of the ancient citizens of these communities. After 2 hours of exploration we left Uplistsikhe which meant “The Lord Fortress”.
Night a Gori
Be booked an apartment (Apartment 32) in Gori town on booking.com. The apartment was in a condominum and our host met us at a open space just outside the condominum where we parked our car. The unit had a kitchen, a living cum dining room, a bedroom and a toilet with washing machine. The cost of the apartment for one night was 100Gel.
Beside the condominum was a supermarket which was so convenient for us to buy some meat and vegetables. This host was probably new to apartment renting, as there were no tea or coffee or salt in the apartment. In most apartment that we had stayed, the host would provide free tea/coffee powders, oil and salt and other condiments for cooking!
The apartment has a lovely view of the City hall that lighted up nicely at night.
With the supermarket just next door we were able to buy some stuffs and cook the meals we liked.
