Skiing in Glumsoe, Denmark

Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Dear blog readers warm seasonal greetings/ wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I have seen enough snow the few days I have been in Denmark, so here is some pictures from a wonderful place in Denmark: Høje Møn, to remind us that it will be summer again.

Joint monitoring event and biological sampling in the Khrami River, 2 December 2010

Khrami River at the sampling site with the restaurant where we had our lunch to the left


Bird of the day: Cormorant


Bird of the day 2: Kingfisher


Kick sampling of macroinvertebrates


The result of the sampling


Dragonfly (på dansk guldsmed) larvae


Very delicious crane fly larvae (på dansk stankelben), also called leatherjackets


The river was rather polluted, no more than moderate status according the WFD, stones were covered with algae and fine organic sediment and the groups of macroinvertebrates most vulnerable to organic pollution: Stoneflies and Mayflies were totally absent


Some bottom living fishes had also gone into the net during the kick sampling


Keeping control of the samples from the different locations


Group photo of all the participants


During the lunch out team leader handed certificates to the three laboratories acknowledging their participation in the joint monitoring activities


One of the main activities of our EU Kura project is the so-called Joint monitoring where monitoring teams from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan collect water samples from a number of cross boundary rivers after a pre-agreed plan, partly by the individual teams and partly together. After the water samples are analysed independently by the three national laboratories, the results are compared and differences discussed at our workshops. The results are also used in our dialogue with the three laboratories on how they can improve their sampling and analytical procedures.

The three national teams jointly take samples from two sampling locations in Georgia: from the Khrami River and from the Kura River both near the border to Azerbaijan.

The national teams meet at the Khrami River to exchange samples and depart to their countries after a brief joint lunch at a restaurant at the Khrami River.

At this last sampling event I was invited to join, and to support my colleague biologist, Irakli, from the Georgian team in demonstrating biological sampling for the participants from the three teams.

Kazbegi, 20 – 21 November 2010

Soon the mountains will be covered with snow, and it is time to bring the livestock down to the lowland




Still some livestock is grazing on the meadows in the mountains


A view form the so-called Soviet viewing platform build in 1983 to celebrate 200 years of cooperation (some may call it occupation) between Georgia and Russia


We spotted a fox close to the Soviet viewing platform


Kazbegi is on the other side of the Caucasus


We took a walk up the mountains


Mount Kazbek (5,033 m) is a dormant stratovolcano and one of the major mountains of the Caucasus located on the border of Kazbegi District of Georgia and North Ossetia. It is the third highest mountain in Georgia (after Mount Shkhara and Janga) and the seventh highest peak in the Caucasus Mountains. The summit lies directly to the west of the town of Stepantsminda (the official Georgian name of Kazbegi) and is the most prominent geographic feature of the area.


The Gergeti Trinity Church is famous for its scenic location. Its isolated location on top of a steep mountain surrounded by the vastness of nature has made it a symbol for Georgia. In times of danger, precious relics from Mtskheta, including Saint Nino's Cross were brought here for safekeeping. During the Soviet era, all religious services were prohibited, but the church remained a popular tourist destination. The church is now an active establishment of the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church


Mount Kazbek


The bird of the day


Vlado persuaded Dima to join our second walk Sunday. Here he talks with a woman from one of the villages we passed


Pig siesta


My colleague from Denmark, Birthe, who is managing our Carl Bro part of the Kura project, was in Tbilisi over the weekend, and wanted to se some nature so Vlado proposed that we went together along the so-called “Georgian Military Highway” to the Greater Caucasus and stayed overnight in the town Kazbegi near the border to Russia.

We have had a long period with very stable nice weather here in Georgia, and this weekend was no exception.

Bolnisi, 19 November 2010, 3 churches, 3 carriages and a mosque

According the map the name of this church is Kvemo Bolnisi


Bolnisi Sioni
According to the old inscriptions at Bolnisi Sioni the cathedral was built in 478-493. The appearance of the church is simple and laconic. The walls are faced with smoothly hewn, large tuff slabs of deep and intensive turquoise colour. In this early period of the development of Georgian architecture designers did not set themselves the aim of artistic quality of the facades. They paid more attention to the interior design. Bolnisis Sioni Cathedral is famous for having an inscription of the oldest written Georgian to have been found in the country.


Inside the Bolnisi Sioni










According the map the name of this church, with the nice view, is Tsugrugasheni


A detail from Tsugrugasheni

Our team went on a trip in the direction Bolnisi. Eka who had planned the trip was not able to participate, so in the best Georgian traditions we had to improvise. Fortunately we had a map with us with the main tourist attractions, and we spotted some churches on the map.

The people living in this part of Georgia is mainly Azeri, which you can se from the shape of the houses and the way women dress. Also the Azeri villages tends to be better maintained and with less garbage than the Georgian ones.

From the main road along the Mashavera river we went up the in the foothills of the lesser Caucasus to visit some churches. You may ask why churches when the majority of the population is Muslims, but it illustrates how people is this region has moved around, and when the churches was build it was a Christian dominated area.