We started off visiting the castle of king Heraclius- a famous king of Kahetia. He was a fantastic military leader, but regrettably not a good politician.
On our way to Tsinandali we stopped by a market to buy some churchkhela which are walnuts on a string soaked in grape juice.
After that we went to Tsinandali to see the residence of the Chavchavadze family. A lot of famous people had stayed there like Pushkin and Griboedov and Dumas. The Chavchavadze family itself was fascinating. In 1853, king Chavchavadze's wife, children and family were kidnapped by the son of Imam Shamil who demanded a million roubles. The king was able to pay 40,000, but only by loaning the money from Russia and even that messed up the economy.
One of his daughters, Nino Chavchavadze married the famous Russian poet Griboedov, but he was killed soon after, leaving her a widow at the age of seventeen.
Another one of his daughters became the ruler of Mingrelia also at a fairly early age, leaving me feeling kind of like an underachiever.
While walking around there, we met several incredibly friendly dogs that insisted to be part of the tour.
You know a country is friendly if even the street dogs want to make friends.
Afterwards we went to Gremi, which was a citadel city of Kahetian kings. I learned one very important thing- I don't want to live in a citadel.
This is the largest room. Its kinda cold and barren. However, the view is fantastic!!
I like how no matter where I look- Georgia is always picturesque.
No comments:
Post a Comment