However, once the first ray of light appeared on the mountain, I realized that it was totally worth it. This however didn't stop me from grumbling anyway.
When the mountain Kazbegi was finally lit by light and we were sufficiently frozen, we went down to have breakfast. The breakfast at Tsintia's guesthouse was delicious and had even more variety than the previous places we stayed at. A Georgian breakfast appears to consistently be: a creamy yogurt-like buffalo milk product, an egg, soft bread, butter, and home-made jam. While all of that is undoubtedly delicious, I started craving more variety after eating the same breakfast for a week. Tsintia had all of the above as well as salami, some delicious potatoes, fresh vegetables, and cookies. It was so kind of her to cater to other tastes. She did a similar thing for the dinner last night, serving dishes from a variety of cultures.
I was also really impressed that she had WiFi. Her guesthouse is located in the mountains near Kazbegi, and so, I can imagine how difficult it must have been to get internet in her region. It was also fairly fast internet and very stable, something that not even all the cities had. In short, when I go again to Kazbegi, I will definitely stay at her guesthouse again.
After saying a sad goodbye to Tsintia, we drove to Gori to see Stalin's birthplace and museum. On the way there, I discovered some mountain cows.
The museum of Stalin was very interesting and was very well-stocked with plenty of artifacts from his life. However, the tour was kind of pointless because the guide gave a very brief biography of Stalin's life which was heavily biased and littered with her own opinion and emotions, instead of being strictly historical. The museum itself was definitely worth visiting though. I got to see Stalin's childhood home:
And his personal wagon:
I was also really perplexed by the unusual design of the columns of the museum itself.
After Gori, we drove to Uplistikhe which was an ancient cave settlement. It was founded around 1000BC. Before 400CE, the city was a major pagan religious center. In 337 CE, after Georgia accepted Christianity, there began a conflict between the Christians and the pagans living there. Their temples were destroyed several times, rebuilt as churches, rebuilt as temples again. In the Middle Ages, the city was conquered by a variety of peoples and in the 1200-1300's were attacked by the Mongols which destroyed it the most. When Uplistsikhe was flourishing, it had more than 700 different buildings and was home to 20,000 people. However, only 150 caves remain to this day.
They had an underground tunnel for escaping in case they were attacked.
We had a fantastic tour guide named Hatuna, who was friendly and informative and extremely patient as my mom and I ran around everywhere and attempted to convince her to let us into a restricted area.
If we go to Uplistsikhe again, we'll definitely ask her to be our guide again.
After Uplistsikhe we went to Borjomi to see the natural mineral spring there. The Borjomi park itself was quite lovely.
Apparently the Romanov family liked to take walks there. I didn't feel like Borjomi park was something incredible, but it was still pretty and nice for a walk. I was interested in drinking some of the Borjomi water because it is said to have healing properties.
So, I waited in the line, cupped my hand and took a sip. My mouth was filled with unexpectedly warm water that had an intense taste of sulfur and rotten meat. Never trying that water again...
However, our end of the day wasn't very lovely. We stopped at Hotel Prestige in Akhaltsikhe, which looked like it had started to undergo repairs but stopped. There was dust, spots on the pillows, holes in the aforementioned pillows, a shower so tiny that I could barely move in it. The worst for me was the terrible internet, the power outlets falling out and the broken door. I dont understand where the prestige is in this hotel....
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