I practiced to no avail.

“Kkhheta”, I could feel the shower of my own saliva.

The guesthouse owner raised her brows. So I showed the word on my computer. “Ahhh! Kkhheta!”.

Pretty sure that was how I pronounced it.

“Umm, yeah. Kkhheta.”

She pursed her lips. She seemed eager to correct me but decided to save her energy for things that actually matter.

I was to ask her to book the same cabbie who picked us up from the airport for a trip to one of the oldest continuously inhabited (and most unpronounceable) cities in the world, Mtskheta. Yeah, five consonants in a cluster because there’s an abundance of ’em in the alphabet anyway so why not throw as much in one word.

For me, the Georgian language is near impossible to comprehend. More so, to learn. The guttural speech sounds, the lack of vowel syllable nuclei. But you know what, I reckon these are the reasons why I find it one of the most fascinating I’ve heard (I can imagine it being the official language of Westeros). How we survived the country without uttering a single word correctly is beyond me.

Jvari Monastery perched on a mountain, overlooking the city of Mtskheta.
The day after, grandpa cabbie picked us up from the guesthouse and drove us about 20 kilometers north of Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi. We shared no common verbal language. The only time we “communicated” was when we hummed together Led Zeppelin songs that was being played by his car’s cassette player.

An uncrowded morning.

Thankfully, our itinerary was constructed for us by the guesthouse owner. So all we had to do was hop on and hop off the car throughout the half-day trip. Unfortunate, though, that there were no historical markers at the sites. Visitors, especially nonspeakers of the Georgian language, must do a bit of reading beforehand if not carrying a guidebook.

We journeyed to our farthest destination first, the Jvary Monastery, on a mountain above the junction of Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers. Then we headed back to the Mtskheta City center for the Svetitskhoveli (The Life Giving Pillar) Cathedral. Both buildings are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Jvari Monastery, a Georgian Orthodox monastery built in the 6th century.

Women must cover their hair upon entering.

Bas relief, The Ascension Of The Cross.

View from of Mtskheta City, ancient capital of the Georgian Kingdom of Iberia, from Jvari Monastery.

The Jvari complex was once fortified by a stone wall, and its few remains can still be seen today.

Outside the walls of Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. The walls are of the second half of 18th century.

Svetitskhoveli is known as the burial site of Christ’s robe. Story goes that a Georgian Jew (who was in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified) purchased the robe from a Roman soldier then brought it back to Georgia. Look up the interesting story.

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral was built in the 11th century, the biggest ecclesiastic construction of medieval Georgia. The original church on this site was built in 4th AD. Georgia adopted Christianity as the country’s state religion in 317.

One of the frescoes inside the cathedral. The paintings are mostly dated back to the 17th century.

We usually say “collect moments, not things”, and once in a while we eat our own words.

Ended the tour with a late lunch takeaway. Looked Georgian enough.