What? Were we in Azerbaijan?

On Sunday we made an excursion with our friend David Bloss to the David Gareja Monastery complex, which lies southeast of Tbilisi at the border with Azerbaijan.  David Gareja is one of those special places one must visit every few years and marvel at the other-worldly landscape.  It is made more special by climbing up the ridge (a steeper hill incline than any we had in Nepal this year) to the very top to look into the vastness of the desert which is Azerbaijan.  Then one traverses the side of the ridge, just below the rocky top, and peers into the caves where monks had once taken refuge well over a 1000 years ago (they date from about the 6th century).  The wonderful frescoes have been damaged over time and have never been protected from vandalism.  As a matter of fact, the Soviet Army used to use the caves for artillery target practice.

Along the access road to David Gareja

This monastery, which we had visited years ago, dates from the sixth century AD and consists of a walled enclave with caves that were/are monks' quarters.  Another part, mentioned above, is up on the far side of a high ridge behind the enclave, consisting of more caves, some with ancient frescoes, overlooking a wide panorama to the east.  In our previous trips to David Gareja, we had always understood that the whole complex was Georgian, and that the border with Azerbaijan was close, but somewhere to the east. 

View of the ridges near the access road to David Gareja

We climbed up to the top of the ridge, then along the eastern side of it and back over the top. This is a trek we have done many times over the years.  Not knowing of the current dispute, we always wondered where the actual border was and even on Sunday speculated about it.  Speculation ended when we encountered two guys in uniforms labeled as "border guards" who didn't understand Georgian!  They were right at the top of the ridge.   Marty asked in Georgian where the border was and we received blank looks.  We tried again and it did seem as though they were indicating that it was "right there."  Well, it seems that the exact location of the border has now become a issue, with both countries claiming that the whole thing lies in part (or entirely) within their country.  We did not have a clue about this current dispute until we climbed up on the ridge and found Azeri border guards!  Thus, we had unknowingly "visited" Azerbaijan without a visa.

We have alluded to the border between two countries without giving you an explanation of why this might be significant.  The significance lies in that this is an historic location to both countries.  For Georgia there is the monastery and the rich history of the monks who came there so many centuries ago.  Thus for Georgians this is very significant in their Georgian Orthodox religion.  For Azerbaijan it is similarly significant but for other reasons.  The Azeris believe that the monastery and caves are the work of the Caucasian Albanians who are believed to have been the ancient inhabitants of Azerbaijan!  Neither Azerbaijan nor Georgia drew the border...it was another one of the Soviet borders drawn and has no "natural" maker such as a river.  So the controversy of the border's location continues.  It is a long-running dispute reflected in several blogs and articles found on the Internet.  N
Although the two countries' governments are very friendly toward one another, neither would want to give up this place to the other, and so we suspect that there will be no quick resolution to this border issue.

In southeastern Georgia and at this time of year it is not unusual to see large flocks of sheep of 1000 or more grazing across the landscape.  To us Mainers it is all amazing.  The lack of trees and rolling rocky ridges if varying colors make this a mystical place.

We asked the shepherd how many head in his herd, and he said 1100.

One of two shepherd dogs we saw.  This dog is only three years old but looks much older.