The day has finally come. After so many months of self-isolation, the sophomore students of GZAAT history blocks finally got to meet. Keti Stura’s blocks were the first ones to go! We all met up near the Republican Hospital, excited to greet and see each other in person after so long, which we never fully got to achieve since hugging and taking our masks off was strictly forbidden. That however did not stop us from giving fist pounds and driving our History teacher- Keti Mas crazy because not all of us were very obedient with keeping our masks on at first... However, a lot of the students figured they would have to deal with it and that it was all for their good. We were supposed to leave for Mtskheta at 14:30, but a couple of students were a little late, so we ended up leaving at about 15:00. The car ride to our destination was very quick. We were there in approximately 30 minutes and were ready to see all that Mtskheta had to offer.
The first thing we did was go on a little hike up the hill to the ancient Armazi fortress dating back to 2nd-8th Centuries CE. The hike to the fortress was pretty easy. We told stories and enjoyed the beautiful view on our way up. From up the hill, we could see the two rivers: Mtkvari and Aragvi, the Jvari Monastery, and all the red-roof houses. The rivers were a dark green color, the sun had just started to go down and the golden hour was beautiful. When we got to the archeological site, we got to take a closer look at the things we had seen in our handouts on previous lessons: the ancient baths, wine cellars, and even a special building that resembled a church. Keti Mas told us a lot about how they built everything in the past, and how at first they did not use any type of substance to make the rocks stick to each other, and how later when the fortress was renovated in about 4th century CE, they started using different substances to keep the building blocks together. One thing that everyone found extremely impressive was how in bathtubs, they had an actual heating system and water pipes going all over the inside of the bathtub walls. We could see one of those water pipes in the debris and how its structure looked like. After we were done exploring the Armazi Fortress, we headed down the hill to our car. On our way there, some dogs were not so nice, and that very much scared not only us, but our teacher as well, but we still managed to get to our bus safely. After we took our seats, drank some water, and regained our energy, we headed to another archaeological site. We got there in about ten minutes and were let through the site’s doors by an old man. The field we were let in was full of all types of tomb debris. Keti Mas explained how a dead body used to be positioned inside their casket and showed us some big tombs where a couple of bodies could be placed at the same time. While near tombs, Keti Mas asked us if we wanted to visit another site, or if we’d rather head back to Tbilisi. Most students wanted to stay and check out more historic places, so we went back to our bus, and headed to another archaeological site. We were on our way there when Keti Mas made a decision to head back to Tbilisi since the site turned out to be a little too far away, and we wouldn’t be able to get back on time.
When we entered Tbilisi, most of us had already fallen asleep because we were so tired from walking up the hill. The bus driver brought where we left from. We got out of the bus and were about to give goodbye-hugs when we were reminded by Keti Mas’s piercing stare of disapproval that we could not have the luxury of giving hugs, so we had to make peace with fist pounds once again, and headed back to our houses ready to face another day of online lessons and stay-at-home lives. We asked Keti Sturua, our History teacher, why she decided to take us to Armazi Fortress specifically, and here’s what she said: “I want the students to realize that not only is Mtskheta the oldest and the first capital of Georgia, but it is a place where the whole Georgian history begins. The archaeological history of Mtskheta is overly interesting and unfortunately known by few. Armazi Fortress is also unpopular and unknown, but it is still a very unique place for Georgia. Since we were studying about Georgian history, we thought it would be very interesting to take you on fresh air and show everything in real action.” We also asked our new classmate, Kato Ambokadze, how she enjoyed her first field trip with us: “It was a very interesting place to visit. We were able to see the remains of different places. I enjoyed going on a field trip. I was able to gain new information about how people lived in the past and also I was able to finally go out and interact with my classmates.
Because covid-19 took so much joy out of our lives, the place was definitely worth visiting.” Lastly, we would like to thank our amazing history teacher, Ketevan Sturua, for taking the time to take us on a field trip and for considering our wishes to see each other again after so long. We love you Keti Mas!
Edited by: Mariam Begiashvili
Sounds like fun! ; ))