After the trip to Sighnaghi, the next day we had a shorter drive, to Mtskheta. Mtshketa is one of the oldest cities in the country, and is a mere 20 kilometers north of Tbilisi. Its the headquarters of the Georgian Orthodox Church, and its collection of historical sites are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The two sites we visited in Mtshketa were the Jvari Monastery and the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. Jvari was built in the 6th century and is on a mountaintop overlooking the rest of the city.
It sits at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers.
The day we visited, it was very windy, especially where the remains of the old building created a kind of wind tunnel.
We then descended the hill (this trip was all driving, no hiking this time) to see Svetitskhoveli. As in Tbilisi, there were many places shaded by grape vines growing overhead.
The cathedral was under construction/repair in parts, but it was still open both for tourists and worshippers.
One story of the cathedral is that it was so beautifully designed that the architect's former teacher was overcome with jealousy, and used his influence with the king to have the architect's arm cut off. This stone carving commemorates the arm (near the top of the photo) - it's supposedly holding a chisel, but it looked more like a carpenter's square to us.
There was beautiful stonework like this in several places at Svetitskhoveli. We saw it elsewhere in Georgia, too, but it was exceptional here.
Here's a look back up at Jvari from just outside Svetitskhoveli.
After our visit, our driver, Henry, took us to a restaurant on the way back. Vernon and he went to order, and Henry said the kids would like . This is it in the picture below - it is bright green, and slightly anise flavored. The kids did in fact enjoy it. We had a couple of other wonderful dishes here, including lobiani, which the restaurant is best known for. It's beans cooked in a clay pot (Vernon did not partake) with a kind of hard cornbread on top.
After lunch, Henry brought us back to Tbilisi and dropped us off at the dry bridge flea market (it's a bridge, but it doesn't span any water). Eero spent a lot of time shopping. When he noticed a guy selling old devalued currency, including a 20,000 old lari bill, he wanted to buy it, because he figured if he had 20,000 anything he could buy a lot of video games.
The more general flea market is up high, but if you go down to the lower level, you find the artists' wares. Here's Cielo display a little toy wool cat she bought - you can see some of the paintings on display behind her. The painting above her head is a still life of Georgian foods, including khinkali and khatchapuri.
