Here I Am, Uncle!

With two and a half months left (75 days to be exact!) in my service, I'm trying to visit all the sights in Georgia that I've somehow missed. This past weekend a group of us went to Vardzia, a cave city built in the 12th century. It was really cool. Queen Tamar, Georgia’s famous female sovereign, grew up in the caves and got lost one day. The men soon began calling out her name and she replied, “Ak var dzia!” which means, “Here I am, Uncle!” According to legend this is how Vardzia got its name. The caves were heavily damaged by an earthquake and what you see in the picture is just a cross-section of what it used to look like. There is a monastery inside covered in frescoes where a few monks still live. It was built in Georgia’s “Golden Age” and is a great source of pride for Georgians.

Around the area there are fortresses and remnants of fortresses jutting out of the rocky landscape that were also built in that time period. We stopped in one on the way back..