Located in central Georgia, this church is known as the Green Monastery. Locals told me a story about how the monastery was once attacked and the monks were killed, causing the nearby river to flow with blood and stain the rocks red. One of the photos above shows an example of these reddish rocks, which according to the local story were connected to the massacre.
The Green Monastery is located in the forested Borjomi region near the center of Georgia. This was a great place to go hiking, with plenty of wildlife living in the surrounding mountains and forests, including bears. The mountainous terrain has some beautiful scenery during the summer, and Borjomi is also famous throughout Georgia for its mineral water, which many locals believe has special health benefits.
I visited Borjomi in late August and was surprised by how green everything still was. Back home in Virginia, plants often start looking darker and more worn toward the end of summer, but here parts of the forest still looked almost spring-like. While hiking I spotted a giant owl that flew out of a tree only a few feet away from me. Unfortunately I didn’t come across any bears, but maybe I need to return on a camping trip.
Here are some last pictures from the Borjomi Mountains. Above is more scenery from some of the steeper terrain, which looked like it could offer some great rock climbing. The hole in the ground looked like the remains of some kind of old structure or outpost, although I wasn’t sure exactly what it had been used for.
Below the mountains, people can drink Borjomi mineral water directly from some of its natural sources. Even though I didn’t get to see a bear with my own eyes, I did come across this tree with deep marks in the bark that appeared to have been made by a bear. Seeing evidence that such large animals were moving through the same forests definitely made the hike more interesting.
