One hundred thousand martyrs and a blessing

I followed the icon and attending monks from the Georgian Orthodox church down towards the river. First they were joined by another procession and then all were submerged into the huge crowd waiting on the Metekhi Bridge.

This was clearly a major event, but what? Again language was a barrier to comprehension so all I could do was soak up the atmosphere and relish the experience.

One side of the bridge was reserved for a line of dignatories, and demarked with an array of banners, flags, icons and crosses. They made an impressive sight against the backdrop of some of the top sights of Tbilisi.

The bridge is at the heart of old town: on one side of the river was the Metekhi Church and statue of King Vakhtang Georgasali, while on the hill above the other were the Narikala Fortress and Church of St Nicholas (above).

The icon I had followed passed along the line of banners to the square just on the left bank of the river where there was the mass of the crowd and a marquee (below).

There were TV cameras on a crane above the crowd and others posted at strategic places such as below the statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali (see more pictures here).

The crowd were very patient and after about half an hour a service began, led by none other than the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Illia II himself.

To flash forward to what Google told me later, this was an open air service to commemorate the One Hundred Thousand Martyrs. It relates back to 1227 when Sultan Jalal al-Din of Khwarazm and his army of attacked Georgia where he drove the inhabitants onto the bridge and ordered them to walk and spit on their holy icons.

One hundred thousand of them refused and were beheaded, with their remains being thrown into the river below! As I'd noticed before, in Georgia martyrdom and faith seems inextricably linked together.

The service included many moments of the beautiful Georgian plain chants from several choirs, prayers, responses and readings. The Patriarch gave part of the service in the marquee but then led a procession with icons and senior clerics to the bridge itself.

It was quite hard to see what was going on, though got this glimpse of the Patriarch. You have to look closely but he is stepping down from the marquee:

The crowd around me had bunches of flowers and candles which they kept lit through out the service. This was not simple, for despite it being a lovely evening there was a bit of a breeze and one lady next to me seem to use up all her matches and had to get her candle re-lit by the help of others.

It was very packed and at one point another of the ladies shawls caught fire! It was quickly put out by the hands of those around her.

At the end the soldiers keeping us back from the line of barriers melted away and their was a scrum to the bridge. Here the congregation threw their flowers into the river to commemorate those martyrs way back in the 13th Century.

In the midst of all this pushing and shoving one of the senior clerics made his way back towards the square. The mass of people parted in front of him, a line of empty space that went just passed me.

As he walked along this line he placed his hands on the congregation and blessed each one, including me.

It and the service were both very moving experiences.

I left the bridge and joined the throng of good people of Tbilisi returning back to the city.

It was the end of my time in Georgia, and the memory card in my camera was a full as my heart.

The Quest - part 2

On the last day in Tbilisi I was going to head up the funicular railway to the Mtatsminda Park to get the view over the city, but on arrival at the station at the base it was clearly shut for winter.

Plan B was to try again to see the grapevine cross of St Nina, so instead went on the quest over to the Sioni Cathedral.

But on arrival while there seem to be a flock of priests (if that is the right word) the gold doors into the alter were closed.

It was clearly not going to be the day to see the holy relic, and was thinking that maybe it was time to call it a day and go back to the hotel to pack.

Then I saw this procession walking through the nearby streets including an icon and several clerics, so decided to change the plans (again) and follow them to see what was up.....

A wedding at the Tbilisi Sioni Cathedral

After hearing that the cross of St Nino made from grapevine and bound by her own hair was to be found at the Tbilisi Sioni Cathedral, I tried not once but twice to try to see it.

It was almost like a quest to see this holy relic. And like with all quests it was the searching that mattered not the finding for both times I failed but was rewarded in a different way.

The first time it was by being present at an Eastern Orthodox wedding. Well, to be accurate it was three weddings for there were a trinity of couples there.

Of course at first I had no idea what was going on, and there didn't seem to be any exclusivity in use of the cathedral. There remained the usual flow of mostly elderly women who'd come up to their chosen icon for a prayer and reverential kiss, or light a candle.

I hope the people there don't mind these photos - in general I try not to post picture of people without their permission.

So the first picture above shows the three couples with the candle that is Declaration of Intent and Lighting of Candles (all info from Wikipedia which of course was the first port of call back in the hotel).

After that there was the crowning:

According to Wikipedia:

After prayers are offered on their behalf, the groom and bride are crowned by the priest "In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". These crowns have two meanings. First, they reveal that the man and woman, in their union with Christ, participate in His Kingship. Second, as in the ancient Church, crowns are a symbol of martyrdom.

Hmm... there it goes again, Georgia and martyrdom.

Anyhow then there was the Epistle, the Gospel, the Common Cup (i.e. wine) and then the Dance of Isaiah in which all three couples process around three times to reflect the Trinity:

Then there was the removal of the crowns and greeting of the couples.

Finally they went outside where there was a final stage in the ceremony that Wikipedia didn't mention but I think you can guess what's happening here:

For those that haven't worked it out, look at what is just to the right of the street light in the top left of the picture!

Travel Planning and Travel Agencies

my2fish asked how I was able to find all these places, which is a good question.

I've done a bit of travelling on business and the key is preparation: find out before had what it is you want to do and then work out how to get to them.

In this case it was a copy of the Lonely Planet guide to Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan that was the starting point. Its a bit out of date but was able to get a list of top things to see.

How to get to them was harder. My uncle had a motorbike and knew Russian. Having only English and no transport it was clear that the best approach was to get a local agent. This is more expensive but for someone time poor and otherwise stuck it was by far the best way forward.

A local UK travel agent put me in touch with Caucasus Travel and they certainly came up trumps. No hesitation in recommending them.

But getting lucky helps: having such superb weather was exceptional, particularly for a time of year when sites are mostly empty of tourists.

Its also a good idea to following your hunches and not having too fixed a plan - as will explain in the next couple of posts.

Shopping on the Dry Bridge Market

After the spiritual highs of two days of monasteries and churches it was time for a bit of more worldly excitements, in this case shopping at the Dry Bridge Market.

This is an area of central Tbilisi when anyone (it appears) can turn up and lay out their wares and sell pretty much anything.

The standard tourist fares are silver drinking goblets out of cow horns and long ornate silver daggers, neither of which was tempted by. Nor was I tempted by the rather bizarre art, funny hats, or glass tea cups that visitors are meant to purchased.

Some items would have been hard to bring back to the UK - such as a complete bear skin or a stuffed baby bear. Then there was a wide array of CDs and DVDs, some poor quality, others dubious morality, but no doubt all illegal.

There was an area dedicated to electrical components where you could stock up with old fashioned valves. The saddest item was a short strip of solder - value probably a few pennies.

But what I did find interesting and indeed tempting were the wide array of Soviet era emblems, badges and medals. In a way it was tragic you could pick up old WW2 medals from epic and bloody battles such as Stalingrad from the side of streets in a country that strongly rejected Russian rule.

Others seemed less loaded with history, so let the inner space cadet loose for a short while and wondered around saying sputnik and cosmos and ended up with a handful of Soviet era space badges which now must find a place to store.

For England and Georgia!

One of the strange things about travelling in Georgia was seeing flags that were almost but not quite the same as England, namely white with a red cross.

For the two countries have a patron saint in common, namely St. George, here slaying the inevitable dragon high above Tbilisi's Freedom Square - or Tavisuplebis moedani for those with knowledge of Georgian.

For those with Soviet era memories it was previously known as Lenin Square and during those times it was the bearded Russian not the Palestinian errant knight at the top of the pillar.

Tbilisi, Capital of Georgia

This roughly patched together panorama shows Tbilisi from the Narikala Fortress that looms over the city. Most of the city, including the oldest parts, are on the left hand bank of the Mtkvari River.

However just over the bridge is the Metekhi Church which stands on a rocky outcrop overlooking a sharp bend in the river. Fortifications at this point were used to control the river, together with the castle on the hill:

And Tbilisi definitely needed defending as there have been wave after wave of invasions from Russia, Persia, Turkey, Arabs and Romans. My guide for the two tours I took out of the city said that there had been 40 odd invasions, which can well believe. Well I think she said 40, it might have been 14 given she had a distinct accent, but the bigger figure in this case sounds more plausible

Georgia has a very long history and in classical times there were two kingdoms called the Colchis in the west and the Kartli in the east and south. The Colchis were the land of the Golden Fleece that Jason and the Argonauts searched for. This story apparently has an element of truth, in that sheep's skins were used to pan for gold.

The Kartli were also known as known as Iberia which was the term my guide used, which confused me initially. She also kept saying things like "the Russian invention of Georgia was followed by the Persian invention of Georgia".

Eventually I twigged that one should mentally replace "invention" with "invasion" but by this point it had been said too many times to be able to politely correct the pronounciation so let it go.

Actually it was in a way quite appropriate because Georgian culture is a mix of all these different cultures, so in a way it was invented by all these invasions.

Alas a lot of the old town was burnt in one of the many sackings of the city but it has been re-built in wood with lots of lovely winding streets and over-hanging balconies:

My guide book compared it to the house of Miss Haversham in Dicken's Great Expectations, but to me it unfortunately reminded me of another building in another Dickens, namely the House of Clennams in Little Dorrit.

This building collapsed into a pile of dust at the end of the book and that has clearly happened more than once in Tbilisi. Many of the quaint buildings are at closer inspection in need of some repairs:

This city does not have the oil wealth of Baku and there is none of the frantic re-generation, though some reconstruction is evident.

There is also a sense of edge, with more police cars screetching by or stopping and men with machine guns (!) emerging. SUVs with blackened windows go rushing by and on the motorway on the way back from some monastories we passed a military convoy with trucks full of bombs (big ones).

As well as having a troubled ancient history, Georgia has had a troubled recent one too. The war in South Ossetia resulted in Russian tanks only 60 km from the capital. Previously there were civil wars and other regional troubles.

Despite good relations with the west they now know that in the end their three big neightbours of Russia, Turkey and Iran are the ones that matter.

But what is attractive about this country is how they are determined to enjoy the good life and carry on regardless. You go into a restaurant for a quick meal and by the end there is a band bashing out U2 and Beatles hits or a fiddler is playing Jewish music with couples dancing.

It has a more European feel that Baku, with good coffee bars that have free wifi such as Entree on Rustavelis gamzini and the nearby Prospero's Books which as you might guess is also a bookshop.

Its hard not to like these people and wish them well.