Sighnaghi and Davit Gareja
SighnaghiSighnaghi is affectionately known as the city of love. It’s a very charming town in the Kakheti region of Georgia, also known as the wine region! Alaska and I spent one day and two nights there wandering around town, which is quite small. It’s the most touristic place I’ve been in Georgia so far so one day was enough for me. The red roofs remind me of Dubrovnik, Croatia and there’s something quite beautiful about seeing the town from above.
Davit Gareja MonasteryWe drove to Davit Gareja on our way back to Tbilisi from Sighnaghi. This monastery complex is located right on the border of Georgia and Azerbaijan - in fact ~150m of the road to Davit Gareja technically falls within Azerbaijan! The monastery has been a source of border dispute between the two countries as both claim rights to the monastery due to the monastery’s historical and religious significance. Unfortunately we were not able to hike to Udabno Monastery, the upper part of the Davit Gareja complex, because access was blocked off by Georgian border guards due to the recent Georgian-Azerbaijan tensions.
Davit Gareja was constructed in the 6th century by a group on Assyrian monks who came to this area to settle down and spread the word of Christianity. What makes this monastery complex so unique is that the monasteries have been carved straight from stone! All types of rooms, from libraries to bedrooms to living areas, are carved from the stone. It was fascinating to see stairs carved from the stone and imagine hundreds of monks carefully making their way to the caves. It reminded me of the caves in Cappadocia, Turkey.
