The ride to Mtskheta

The religious center of the Georgian Orthodox Church is Mtskheta which is only about 20 km away from Tbilisi's center. The plan was therefore to go there by bike. The kind people at the tourist information found a bike rental shop quickly and I rented this nice one for only 15 Lari a day:

The weather forecast said "sunny, up to 13 °C , real feel - 4 °C". I thought that must be a mistake. But yes, the wind was extreme. It did not feel like minus degrees but it was so strong that it was hard to stay in the saddle. I needed for the 25 km to Mtskheta 3 hours  and was totally tired. The road is along the Kura river and one had therefore to cycle the full time against the wind. I never had such strong wind on a cycle tour. When a squall came it was like one made a full stop with the bike. The wind was sometimes too strong to breath out and also the pedestrians had problems. The tour back home was in contrary nice. I always dreamed that the wind is so strong to push me up a hill. This was the first time I could experience this. It was hard to stay on the bike but I really made it with the wind to the top of the not so steep hill.

The video of Queen - Ride the wild Wind is the perfect one for this post.

At first some impressions of the ride to Mtskheta:

Leaving Tbilisi.
 

Typical houses in the Didube district.
 

The Sakartvelo cinema is still a cinema but about 2/3 of its area is used by a supermarket

At the Sarajishvili metro station.
 

Close to Zahesi. This section was the most extreme.
Walking would have been as quick as riding.

Most of the ride was on streets with the former tram. Watching this video will give an impression how the outskirts of Tbilisi still look. What is different are the cars. There are now only modern cars and not the cheapest models. Some have the steering wheel on the left side and some are directly imported from Japan with the steering wheel at the right side.

Mtskheta is a very small town. The Svetitskhoveli cathedral is its center and it is surrounded by a fortless-like wall. The whole complex was almost empty and also the 4 nice ladies in the tourist information were happy to talk to somebody.
One of the differences to western churches and also to Armenian churches is that there are no seats in Georgian churches. Cathedrals have a throne for the bishop in the center of the church. All churches are built more or less the same way since centuries until today. They don't have different styles like romanesque, gothic etc..

The complex of the Svetitskhoveli cathedral.

The entrance.

The entrance from the inner side.

The cathedral.

Another view.

The height is impressive.

The throne and the pulpit.
 

This is the seventh pillar (see the Wikipedia article
about the church) and this an icon for the Saint Nino.

The rood screen.

Unfortunately I could not find out what this is.

A bit aside the center is the complex with the Samtavro church and the Saint Nino monastery which is still used as such.
At many touristic sites are many old woman begging for money. This not clever because if you give one money you will have to give all of them money. Therefore most tourists gives them nothing.

The entrance of the Samtavro complex. The woman are begging.

The Samtavro church.

The nunnery part. The nuns live in the house at the right side.

In the north of the city is the ruin of the Bebris Tsikhe fortress. I am not afraid to enter ruins but this one is really dangerous. Most of the walls already tumbled down. While walking around parts of a wall fell down during a squall. It is said that many historical sites, even world heritage sites get lost because either there is no will or no money to preserve them.

The Bebris Tsikhe

View from the fortress to the new Mtskheta.

This part of the castle slided into the river. They began to stabilize
the mountain but stopped for an unknown reason.

The tower is also close to collapse.
 

This park must be beautiful in summer.

View to Mtskheta.

In the west of the town is a bridge over the Kura. Close to it was the rest of an ancient bridge, called Pompey's bridge. Well, it is already gone:

The bridge was on the left side.

High above Mtskheta is the Jvari monastery. The original plan was to cycle up there but I was too tired from the ride to Mtskheta.

View from the Svetitskhoveli complex to the Jvari monastery.

Finally some words about cycling in Georgia and Tbilisi. The car drivers respect you as cyclist. Cycling on a 6 or 8 lane street is not dangerous because the outermost lane is used to repair cars, as bus stop, taxi stop etc. So you can use this lane without problems. My bike was perfect because the suspension is necessary on the roads. In Tbilisi I had fun cycling the steep streets around my place using all the gears the bike provides.
What is really dangerous are dogs. They are not used to bikers and go crazy. At the Zahesi water power plant I was cycling up the hill. On one side of the street was a company and they had a pit bull protecting the buildings. He was not on a lead and immediately hunted me. I cycled up the hill as fast as I could while the dog tried to catch my leg. I even managed to overtake a car. I hit on its side window and the driver realized the situation. He opened the doors blocking the bastard from me and we went up the hill, me cycling around the car until the beast left from us. He really saved my life! But what would have been if I had no bike?