Gax - Region of Water & Churches

Inside the Georgian Orthodox Church

The colors were breathe taking

Gax region is known for their water because the town was built on the river banks of the mountain Kurhumchai near the base of the Greater Caucasus. This water is very popular (both gas and non gas) and it is bottled here and sold around Azerbaijan.  But more importantly Gax is known for its Georgian and Albanian Orthodox churches. The town has a large population of Georgians living here. While the Georgian Church (above) is still in operation and has weekly services, the Albanian Church (below) has been boarded up and closed for sometime.

Albanian Orthodox Church

I thought I would be  really informative on these churches and google them on-line.  But I came up with nothing.  You think I was searching for top secret information and not the history of these two beautiful churches. So, if you find out anything about them, please let me know. We (two PCV's and I) set out about 8:30 am from Zaqatala and caught a marshurtka to Gax.  Because they take the back way (it is shorter in distance) but the roads were so bad it took over 1 1/2 hours of bumpy roads to get there (the longer route would have taken us 45 mins of paved road..go figure)!  When we got off the marshurtka we had to walk another couple of miles to the top of the hill to where the church is located.  So by the time we got there whatever service was going on was over.  The paintings inside (as you can see) are absolutely amazing and the gardens were beautiful.

Gardens behind the Georgian Church

The church has its own bakery, so I bought a fresh hot loaf (30 qepek) and we sat in the garden and ate it with tomatoes, cucumbers and cheese (we just needed the wine!!).   The day was absolutely beautiful.

Fresh Hot Bread

After we ate, we met up with another PCV and had a nice visit, he shows us around town and we had some ice cream and left for home.  It was a good DAY.  Next week I will be in Balaken for the start of kids camps throughout the regions (I am involved with 4 so far!!)...

Life Challenge: A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases, it will never pass into nothingness.... John Keats