A Trip to the Turkish Border and the 11th Century Cave City of Vardzia

Our original plan was to drive southwest to visit the Cave City of Vardzia passing the ruins of Khertvisi Fortress and Timogvi Castle destroyed by the Persians long ago.  Once we visited Vardzia we had planned to explore the Rabati Castle Complex in Akhaltsikhe.  But once we arrived at the Vardzia Cave Complex our plans changed rather quickly.  Seems we were in for a real treat.

We stumbled onto a folk festival and bus loads of dancers from all over Georgia dressed in their traditional regional clothing were taking turns on the stage dancing to their region’s folk tunes.  Interestingly different regions not only dressed differently in years gone by, they also sang songs about different topics.  One region’s folk music stressed how strong the men were and of their bravery while a different region’s song lyrics centered around love and courtship, and yet other regions lyrics focused on battles won and wars fought in the distant past.

We spent time listening to the music and watching the intricately choreographed dances both before and after climbing up to the 13 story cave complex.  And for the entire three hours of touring many of the city’s 400 rooms, 13 churches and 25 wine cellars we were serenaded by the folk tunes drifting up on the afternoon thermals from the valley floor below.

Queen Tomar (who I’ve mentioned in a previous blog) established this Vardzia Cave Monastery in the 12th Century.  In time this holy cave city grew to hold over 2000 monks in rooms carved out of rock over 13 floors.  Unfortunately a major earthquake in 1283 sheered away the outer wall of many of the caves and in the 1500 hundreds those pesky Persians invaded and a major battle was fought in the caves themselves and the Georgian defenders  were defeated and the Cave Monastery was abandoned.  The monks have returned in recent years with the retreat of the Soviets.

I have attached several photos of the exterior portico from the largest of the cave churches  but unfortunately photos are not allowed in the interior of this most holy of holies to the Georgian people.  I can tell you though that their are beautiful frescos in the church and one entire wall is devoted to a fresco of both Queen Tomar and her father King George.  I did take several photos of the church’s fresco lined portico and bells suspended from the outer cave entrance.

Following a series of tunnels further in. the mountain and behind the church is a large well which supplies fresh spring water to the monks.  The legend has it that the monks had to carry their water up the cliffs to the city from the river valley below until after a marathon prayer vigil the spring appeared and a well was dug.  The legend also says that no mater how much water is removed from the well the water level never varies.

The cave rooms were of all sizes and shapes with smaller ones for sleeping and larger communal dining areas with long carved stone tables for group meals.  Kitchen rooms had holes carved in the cave floor for ovens to bake bread and for clay pots to make wine.  Interestingly there seemed to be far more holes carved for wine jugs than for baking and the detail in the wine effort was much more pronounced.  My conclusion – the monks drank their meals and with enough wine sleeping on stone beds in a drafty cave may not have seemed half bad.

One thing I didn’t see were bathrooms.  Either the monks special relationship with god didn’t require one, or they just aimed out the cave entrance, or the communal bathrooms just haven’t been excavated yet.  They are still excavating and finding new caves every year.  This area is earthquake prone so there may be a lot more to be uncovered.

One thing I noticed as I worked my way through the cave complex climbing up and down the thirteen floors and thru hidden tunnels back to valley below – these monks were not big people.  My shoulders would sometimes scrape both walls and I would have to turn slightly to slide through.  The monks were also rather short – like jockeys maybe.  I had to bend at the waist to work my way through most of the tunnels heading back down to the river valley.

My conclusion – the monks either had a size limit  to be a monk  (no one over 5 feet tall was allowed to be a Vardzia Monk) and discriminated against large men and/or their liquid wine diet stunted their growth and no one grew taller than Jackie Barksdale. Thus putting a whole new spin on the phrase –

size matters!

Regardless of whether Vardzia is the original small small world, it is a very interesting place to visit and well worth the long drive.  And after we reached the valley floor again – you guessed it.  More singing and dancing to watch and a Magnum Double Chocolate Ice Cream Bar and a Coke Zero to consume.

Once I had my fill of cola, ice cream, singing and dancing it was off to Akhaltsikhe to tour the Rabati Castle.  The castle complex includes a mosque, medrese, citadel, and museum.  A lot of this castle complex is a reproduction rebuilt recently and lacking in historical interest to me.  But the older sections were worth the visit and I took some great photos from the top of the east tower.

And guess what?  Photos are attached!