Gudauri, Ananuri & Aragvi Sunday 29 March 2009

Sunday we went on a trip to the skiing resort Gudauri in the Kaukasus at the Georgian military highway. Gudauri is located about 120km away from Tbilisi. It's 2200m above the sea level. There are quite long skiing traces in there (approximately 10km). We rented a car and the trip from Tbilisi to Gudauri two hours.

The first part of our trip to Gudauri was not to successful. Soon after we started our move upward into the mountains it started to snow heavily, and after that we went into heavy fog so we could not see anthing. When we arrived to Gudauri, the electricity had gone, so there we no lifts moving.

But the lifts started moving and we stated skiing although it was rather difficult to see where we were heading. During the day the weather improved, and we even got some sun on the lifts. Al in all it was nice skiing experience. And the way back we had nice weather.

The Georgian Military Road runs between Tbilisi (Georgia) and Vladikavkaz (Russia) and follows the traditional route used by invaders and traders throughout the ages. Known since antiquity, the Georgian Military Road in its present form was begun by the Russian military in 1799. The Georgian Military Highway has presently no role as a through route as it is closed by the border with Russia.

The Georgian Military Highway runs along the Aragvi River. A hydro-electricity dam built on the river produces much of Georgia’s power. The building of the dam in 1986 formed the Zhinvali reservoir. Near the reservoir on the river is the Ananuri castle with its Assumption Church.

On our way back we made a stop at the Ananuri castle. Ananuri was a castle and seat of the eristavis (Dukes) of Aragvi, a feudal dynasty which ruled the area from the 13th century. The castle was the scene of numerous battles.

The fortress remained in use until the beginning of the 19th century. In 2007, the complex has been on the tentative list for inclusion into the UNESCO World Heritage Site program.

Tbilisi old town & Narikala Saturday 28 March 2009

Narikala is an ancient fortress overlooking Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, and the Kura river. The fortress was established in the 4th century as Shuris-tsikhe (i.e., "Invidious Fort"). Most of extant fortifications date from the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1827, parts of the fortress were damaged by an earthquake and demolished.

Tbilisi's old town is slowly crumbling away, but some of the buildings were painted bright colours for George Bush's visit in 2005...the ones they didn't paint were hidden by a huge curtain!

Mtsekheta, 20 March 2009

Friday we used a couple of hours for a trip from Tbilisi to Mtskheta.

Mtskheta is one of the oldest cities of the country of Georgia is located 20 kilometers northeast of Tbilisi at the confluence of the Aragvi (one of our pilot catchments) and Mt'k'vari rivers.

Remains of towns at this location have been dated to earlier than the year 1000 BC, and Mtskheta was capital of the early Georgian Kingdom of Iberia during the 3rd century BC – 5th century AD. It was the site of early Christian activity, and the location where Christianity was proclaimed the state religion of Georgia in 317. Mtskheta still remains the headquarters of the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church.

Due to its historical significance and numerous ancient monuments, the "Historical Monuments of Mtskheta" became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.

Project workshop, 18-19 March 2009

18 – 19 March we had the second river basin management workshop of our project with representatives from the three countries. The participants seemed to be very interested (no one left before the WS was finalised!), and there was a lively debate, unfortunately in Russian, so it was very limited what I could understand.

Borjomi, 14-15 March 2009

Together with my Bulgarian key expert college and his wife I went on a weekend trip to Borjomi, with the purpose of visiting some of their friends who is working for the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park covering 76,000 hectares in the lesser Caucasus Mountains and inhabited by bear, wolfs and lynx.

Borjomi is famous for its mineral water industry its spring with hot healthy water, and the National Park. Borjomi mineral water is particularly well-known in those countries which were a part of the former USSR; the bottling of mineral water is a major source of income for the area. Because of the supposed curative powers of the area's mineral springs, it is a frequent destination for people with health problems.

Already before the Russian Revolution Borjomi was a favourite summer resort for the aristocracy, which gave it its popular name of “the pearl of Caucasus.”

The Soviet regime confiscated all aristocratic mansions and turned them into sanatoria, frequented by the Communist party elite.

Now many of the hotels and signatories is inhabited by refugees from Abkhazia (250.000 Georgians fled Abkhazia during the Georgian Abkhazian war 1992-1993 resulted in an ethnic cleansing of the Georgians in Abkhazia) , who lives a miserable life without job and future.

Opening of exhibition of paintings

My college Eka invited the whole team to the opening of an exhibition of very intesting paintings

Armenia, Debed Canyon February 2009

On our way back from Yerevan to Tbilisi we drove through the Debed Canyon, forming a part of one of our pilot catchments. It is a very impressive canyon, with several industrial cities.

During the Soviet period a vast and high-tech industrial and water infrastructure was developed for irrigation of agricultural lands, hydropower generation, and municipal water supply and wastewater collection and disposal.

Following independence and the economic crisis in the first half of the 90s, there was a marked reduction in the ability of the state to manage, operate and maintain the infrastructure. The main reasons are that the communist did not consider energy inputs, so it was extremely energy ineffective. Also inferior construction standards and materials during Soviet times made it impossible to run it after independence. As a result, industrial production stopped, the irrigated areas declined substantially and the municipal water services rapidly deteriorated.

We passed several big industrial sites totally abandoned, and looking as ruins, a rather depressing sight. All this activity was probably set up to create jobs and secure the support of the population to the soviet system. It must have been a major chock for the population when all the jobs disappeared more or less overnight after the soviet collapse.

But the water quality has improved. Due to industrial activity the river was dead during the soviet industrial expansion, but now it has recovered.

As the oldest Christian country in the world Armenia has a lot of very pretty and very old churches and monasteries, the pictures shows one of them together with a couple of gravestones.

Armenia February 2009

We had a short mission to Armenia. In Yerevan we discussed the project work with our local staff, the Ministry of Natural protection (Water Resources Management Agency) and two companies who shall assist us in making a River Basin Management Plan for two selected catchments (Debed and Aghstev).

It seemed that everybody was very dedicated to the project so it was a very positive experience.

In the evenings it was time for socialising, with very good grilled meat, and a lot (maybe too much) of vodka.

There were also time for some sightseeing. We vent to see the Garni Temple, build in the first century dedicated to Helious. The temple was situated in a very impressive landscape of volcanic origin (as most of Armenia).