Day 45, 14 July 2012 Sheki to Tbilisi Georgia

On arrival to Yukari Karavansarai Hotel, we were very impressed. The entry has a high vaulted ceiling, is dimly lit, and looks very much as you would imagine a caravanserai would have looked like. The courtyard is lovely, with very well tended gardens full of roses in full bloom. 

The garden beyond, where meals are served was wonderful, garden well kept, and peonies and roses in full bloom. 

View from our breakfast courtyard

It took us approximately 2hours to drive from Sheki to Lagodekhi border checkpoint. The road condition was good and we started to see the vast improvements as we moved towards Europe.

Azerbaijan border gate

The nation of Georgia (Georgian: საქართველო sak’art’velo) was first unified as a kingdom under the Bagrationi dynasty in the 9th to 10th century, arising from a number of predecessor states of ancient Colchis and Iberia. The kingdom of Georgia flourished during the 10th to 12th centuries, and fell to the Mongol invasions of Georgia and Armenia by 1243.

Metekhi Church (13th century) with the equestrian statue of the city’s royal founder standing above the steep cliffs of the Mtkvari River is one of the classic images of Old Tbilisi. The church has been destroyed many times by the enemy. During the Tsarist regime there was a prison there and in Soviet times Metekhi was used as a theatre. In was only in the late 1980s that the church was reconstructed again.