Friday - Khertvisi Fortress

The lunatic hotel woke us at 6.20, dozed until 7.00 and away in the coach at 8.00. The Irish couple Ken and Margaret McDonnell had succumbed to the food and decided not to go on the trip. We had sardines, meat balls, buck wheat and other things for breakfast.
First stop was Borjomi for water.
The next stop for a walk was the town of Akhaltsikhe. This was unusual in that there were shops selling all kinds of things. We wondered around for about 20 minutes before continuing the trip.
We then traveled on to Khertvisi Fortress. This was a long and tedious drive. The fortress was first build in the 2nd century BC. The church was built in 985, and the present walls build in 1354. The fortress has steep slopes down to the river and very commanding views.

View of Khertvisi Fortress from the road.		View of Khertvisi Fortress on the way up.
View of Khertvisi Fortress on the way up.		View of Khertvisi Fortress on the way up.
View of Khertvisi Fortress on the way up.		One of the large towers of View of Khertvisi Fortress
One of the large towers of View of Khertvisi Fortress		Nino Chincharauli (the guide) and Andrew Bartman.
View from the fortress along the valley		The curtain wall
View of the river from the fortress		Ray Law using his Sony camera
		Looking down from the wall to the river below
The fortress tower		View of the fortress wall.
This school was on the other side of the road and river to the fortress. It was modelled to look a bit like the fortress.		Suspension bridge across the river. The lines were steel cable, but the decking was made of loose planks. It was quite good fun walking across the bridge trying to make it swing.
Andrew Bartman, and Ian White, with I think Ray Rolinson in the background playing on the bridge.		Last view of Khertvisi Fortress