We spent our second night in Georgia in Kutasi.  Enroute, we made several stops for photography.  Our local Georgian guide, Gvantsa, liked daisies and picked them whenever we stopped.  Seen above, she has found another field of wild daisies, and is picking a bouquet for her seat on the bus. Throughout Georgia, we often pressed her into modeling service, as she turned out to be very photogenic.

That night we visited the 11th century Bagrati Cathedral, and stayed until the church was lit and the “blue hour” appeared in the sky. It was interesting to see a Georgian Orthodox monk bring out a tripod and photograph the scene right along side us (lower right). In addition to the tripod, we also observed him driving a new BMW, smoking cigarettes on a nearby hill, and chatting on his smart phone. We concluded that Georgian monks must be paid quite well.

Earlier in the day, we had stopped at Uplistsikhe, also known as “God’s Castle.” This monastic cave settlement is carved out of the rock, and reminded us much of the cave homes in Cappadocia, Turkey.

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Georgia declared independence, along with all the other satellite countries.  During their retreat, the Soviet army took whatever they could, and destroyed much of what they could not carry.  Along the road to Kutasi were scores of dilapidated factories and mines, remnants of that period.

We stopped by one sand cleaning factory (above block), which had been made inoperable in that retreat.  It made for an interesting documentation in urban decay, which is significant historically.  There was also an abandoned railway car near the factory that provided some of the most colorful images (center and lower-right).

There was also a stop at the confluence of the Aragvi and Kura rivers, with the old city of Miskheta in the background (upper-second). Then a view of Katskhi Pillar, a single 120 foot tall towering pillar of rock with a small cell for a single monk at the top (center). Other images above were from other smaller churches we visited, with the lower-right being a photograph of Karin from our group, whose sunglasses show Evelyn and Marla reflected in them.