Mtsketa-Christianity Capital

 "Bursting with history, Mtskheta was one of the first cities in Georgia and is the former capital. It was one of the first regions to accept Christianity and is therefore regarded as a Holy City by the Orthodox Church. It is only about 20km from Tbilisi and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994." Wikipedia 

A popular day trip from Tbilisi, historic Mtskheta is sometimes called “Little Jerusalem” on account of the town's immense cultural and religious significance. The former Georgian capital is also the seat of the Georgian pm church, and is a veritable living museum with all of the historic sites in and around the town. Wikipedia 

In the morning, I woke up at 4:30am-still enrolled in the jetlag club. I bought my tour ticket for 10am and got there nice and early at 9am. The sun was just peaking out from the clouds- got a chia seed cup and a flat white. The girls were so sweet I asked them about their favorite places in the area to eat and they wrote them down- they were so happy and proud. I then spoke to the restaurant crew from the famous restaurant “Best of Tblisi.” 

She was drinking a gigantic Turkish coffee (usually they are in double size espresso cups). She said she drinks 3 a day! Turkish coffee is so incredibly strong and I couldn’t believe she was serious. Her kind friend said that Georgians like everything in excess. Coffee is not their specialty, but they love wine and food and smoking-obviously. They said that they were all taking a day trip together to the spa area in Georgia. They invited me to come to the restaurant tomorrow when they would be working.

Then I talked with George- the bus driver. He was elated that I spend time talking with him, the standard questions-age, where are you from, do you have kids, etc. Georgians ask questions that are a bit more inquisitive. I have noticed the men can get easily attached just from a simple friendly conversation, so I tried to keep it brief and wished him a good day. 

While I wasn’t feeling my best, I tried to make other people always feel good spreading joy is something I do best.  I don’t usually join structured group tours, I decided to join this one due to the geographical location, and the city, being the oldest and most historic city in Georgia. 

The guide was quite lovely speaking in Russian and English. The Tourists were just tourists taking lots of photos and acting ignorant at times. It was a big reminder that tours are not for me. I always want to spend more time in a place and when I am in a great conversation with someone I hear the 5 minutes left or "Come on it's time to go." It has never been for Priscilla since my first trip to Europe 16 years ago. 

These were locations that required self-reflection and had such incredible meaning. I was absolutely astounded by the beauty of the city, the locals, the priests, the history, and the presence of the Holy Spirit. It was very emotional and it did feel something like Jerusalem, having that special, sacred quality. The Monasteries we visited were definitely places I would visit again and I would return to the city by myself to have that special quality time with the locals, villagers, and priests without the paparazzi.

This city is the heart of Christianity for Georgia. It reminded me of why I came to Georgia in the firstplace- the Christianity made the whole experience worth it...even if I just visited this one city the whole trip-worth it, loved it, check mark, bucket list done. God bless this city!