Thursday - Gadauri to Bakuriani - Uplistikhe

The visit to the museum of Stalin finished, we carried on to the cave village of Uplistikhe. The village is about 10km East of Gori. The village was a trading center in the 5th century BC, part of the Silk road. Later it became more isolated and was inhabited by monks until it was destroyed in the 13th century.

We saw the amphitheatres, pharmacy with eight layers of storage spaces where traces of herbs were found, bread ovens, prisons, basins for collecting the blood from sacrifices, and market stalls. The caves were all carved out of the soft rock, will carved pillars, and carved vaultings making the roof look as though it had been built. Outside there were water channels and drains carved into the rocks to stop flooding when it rained.

Rosemary went to the loos here, and was faced with a set of doorless stalls. She could see everyone squatting down and decided there was not a consensus of opinion as to the way you should enter.

As we arrived, there was one incident where a man in the local village run up to the coach and appeared to stab the rear wheel with a knife. The driver stopped very quickly and was out of the door chasing the man in not time at all. There appeared to be no damage and we continued the trip.

View of Uplistikhe from the village across the river.		View of Uplistikhe from the village across the river.
Closer view of View of Uplistikhe. There you can see some of the renovation work being done. Some of the pillars are now concrete because the old stone pillars were eroded		A room in the village with interconnecting rooms,
Some rooms		Notice the carved roof. The pillars are replacement concrete.
		A small church on top of the village
		Inside the village. This large room had carved archways, and carved beams in the ceiling. You would have thought you were inside a constructed building