We departed Tbilisi at 9am and returned 9.30pm (Cost 110 Gel)
The tour took us to within 5km of the Russian border.
The final few kms we swapped out of our not so large tour bus pictured below
and got into smaller 8 seaters to go up to the monastry and great mountain views.
Along the way we stopped off at a viewpoint over a reservoir, and a 13th century castle and church.
The Georgian tour guide talked non-stop, swapping from Russian to English in an instant.
Her accent was so strong and she spoke so fast, she might as well have been speaking Chinese.
She talked from 9am to 5pm without drawing breath. No micro gaps to ask questions.
No time to simply sit quietly and enjoy the views or think. It was a nightmare of epic proportions.
The thing is that the other Georgian tour we took was exactly the same and also one we took in Estonia and Latvia that was the same. All ex-Soviet Union countries. Must be something to do with that.
The tour guide thinks that the only thing we want to have are facts, facts, facts, for hours on end.
I would rather listen to the gentle whirr of angle-grinders.
I have always wanted to see the Caucasus mountains and they were, for an hour or two, simply superb.
Worth the pain of the tour guide? Yes. I simply plugged in my earphones and listened to my tunes and when the views were dull, my Netflix downloads, but it could, and should, have been sooo much better if only she had shut up.
