It had taken us about an hour from Gyumri, to reach the border between Armenia and Georgia. Time, to say good-bye to our Armenian guide, bus and bus driver – to then leave Armenia behind and walk a good half kilometer over to the Georgian control point for the entry formalities.

Our Georgian guide was already waiting for us on the Georgian side; also a bus was ready, to pick us up. After about an hour of driving, we changed buses and found ourselves in a much more comfortable setup. 

It took only an hour until we reached the first proper stop for the day – Khertvisi Fortress (ხერთვისის ციხე). It was here, that we ended up having the first khachapuri of the trip (and arguably the best) – and some added mulberry “chacha”, to celebrate the successful border crossing.

After lunch another 20 minutes on the bus got us to Vardzia (ვარძია), a cave monastery going back to the twelfth century. The complex is more than half a kilometer wide and covers 19 levels. Highlight of the monastery is clearly the Church of Dormition, that has been carved out of the rock around 1180 AD; the church, as well as the caves and halls next to it are beautifully decorated with episodes of the life of Christ, as well as other scenes from the bible and pictures of the church founders.

We continued to Akhaltsikhe (ახალციხე), where – after a run for Georgian Lari – we had a first Georgian dinner, before making it to our hotel for the night.