In Search of the Golden Fleece

I’m off to Turkey on Saturday, so I’ll try and update you all on the latest adventures I’ve had, or I’ll never get them down on (electronic) paper.

After Kakheti, 2 friends and I headed to Kutaisi.  Kutaisi is the 2^nd largest city in Georgia, but it is much smaller than Tbilisi and not nearly as much fun as Batumi, the Black Sea resort town. It has a long and colorful history, but most TLGers seem to think Kutaisi is only good for the free wi-fi and American food at the McDonalds there.  Still, I felt it was worth a visit. I have a friend who lives there and had promised him a while ago I’d come visit.  There are some nearby caves worth visiting, but sadly they are closed until May.  Kutaisi still seemed like a decent base of operations for seeing nearby places of note, so we made the trek anyway.  A friend had recommended a home stay that included food and drink, so we showed up about 10pm after taking the train in.  We were served a delicious mix of Georgian food with a healthy supply of non-potato veggies, much to our delight.  This was followed by the male host of the house, Suliko, pulling out his bag of drinking tricks.  He started off easy and had us drink from drinking horns, Vakhtanguri style.  Then he brought out a crystal or glass bell, which he had you drink out of and then ring proudly.  He also had a jug that he would show you how to pick up from the floor (this is a move in Georgian dancing).  Thankfully, as I girl, I did not have to embarrass myself in failing to do this. Suliko even managed to drink from an upside-down cup.  He was quite entertaining and even got us dancing to Georgian music.  I stayed up far too late talking to some other TLGers. 

We woke up the following morning and headed out to Vani.  Vani is a sleepy village now but was once a bustling city in the Colchis kingdom.  After locals noticed that rains brought golden objects raining down from the hills, they decided to investigate.  Archeologists unearthed gold, coins, pottery, and other artifacts from as far back as the 8^th century BC, although the majority of the finds are from the 3^rd-4^th c. BC.  It was very strange but very cool to see Athenian pottery in Georgia and to realize how far the Greek and Roman world extended.  There is a museum that showcases some of the finds and you can walk among the ruins.  I was mostly impressed to see giant amphora that were found still half-full with millet or wheat when it was unearthed by the Soviets.  It made me realize people really lived there.

These weren’t just people, these were the people of legend.  Jason and the Argonauts, the band of warriors he took with him on the Argo in search of the Golden Fleece, headed here, to the Colchis Kingdom.  A bit north of here, in the mountains, people used to lay fleece in the water to catch specks of gold that floated by, which is the realistic reasoning of how the myth of the Golden Fleece started.  No one can say for sure there ever was a Jason or Medea (and since their story ends poorly, it might be better if they remain mere myth), but if they existed, they existed here.  This was enough to satisfy my classical studies heart.

Thus satisfied, we headed back to Kutaisi and took a taxi ride to Gelati, Motsameta, and Bagrati, monuments of Orthodoxy in the vicinity.  David the Builder was one of Georgia’s best kings back in the Middle Ages.  In addition to fighting the Muslims (the Persians), he also built Gelati as a monastery and academy (center of learning and philosophy).  So people would remember him, he asked to be buried at the entrance, so visitors would have to step over his grave and think of him whenever they wanted to enter or exit.  The current entrance is located elsewhere, but his grave remains, although our taxi driver said his body probably is not there anymore.  The church there still has lots of paintings and an awesome mosaic.  The mosaic was damaged by an earthquake and the Soviets tried to paint the damaged part to look like a mosaic.  Atheist Soviets “restoring” a mosaic did not go over well with the devout, but the attempt was much nicer than the white-washing Stalin did to most Georgian churches.

We also went to Motsameta, which was awesome mostly because it is perched on a hill right by a bend in a river.  It’s a peaceful monastery with great views.  Bagrati is a big cathedral very close to Kutaisi that is currently being restored to its former glory.  While that is great, and the cathedral needs a lot of repair, it is now just a construction zone.  Still, we snapped a few pictures of the outside and admired the view of Kutaisi.  Then the 4 men drinking nearby made friends with us, offering us chacha and khinkali like good Georgians.  We chatted with them for a while and found out that they were cousins.  One of them is an officer in the Army and had been to the Helmand Province of Afghanistan and worked with American troops.  He had just gotten back from a month-long joint exercise, so the men were celebrating his return.  They tried to get us to stay longer, but our taxi was waiting, so we returned to our home stay for more food, wine, and conversation.

I put pictures on Facebook if you’re interested.  The link is under the pictures section (obviously).  I should also note that while we did not find the Golden Fleece, we did find Medea.  Our host and tireless cook (Suliko's wife) is named Medea (Mediko), which pleased me greatly.  Thankfully she seems to have enjoyed a fairly normal family life, complete with a daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter.  Her husband, who is quite the character, probably drives her crazy, but told her frequently "I love you".  Her response to us tourists was "Every day 'I love you', problema", which I thought was a priceless quote.  They've been married for well over 40 years.