There was a full schedule of events today for the Patriarch’s funeral. It started with a Sunday service at Holy Trinity Cathedral at 9am, mourning bells at noon at all churches in the city, a procession to Sioni Cathedral around 2pm, and a burial ceremony at 4pm.
Sioni Cathedral was just 250m away from our hotel, so we were right in the heart of things. It reminded us of our trip to Mexico City where we could see the Inauguration ceremony from our hotel room balcony. From the breakfast café at our hotel here, we could see both Sioni in front of the hotel, and Holy Trinity across the river.
Tens of thousands of people flocked in from all around the country and abroad to pay their respects. The roads for the procession route and around Sioni were closed to traffic, so it was super quiet at our hotel, with the exception of the occasional police car megaphone.
Almost everything was shut down today. We had hoped to hit the laundromat, but yesterday the owner gave us a big crossed forearms to indicate he was closed today. Instead we just stayed in the hotel and watched the events on TV, just like the rest of the country. It was cool cause we could hear the bells and some religious incantations live, and then with a delay on TV.
There were still thousands of people lined up outside Holy Trinity Cathedral to file past the casket. Around 2pm or so, the procession started. We recognized parts of the route as we had just been there yesterday. We had also randomly stopped in at Sioni Cathedral on Friday - I think shortly after that it was closed to tourists for security reasons.
Eventually the procession reached Sioni. The service continued on into the late afternoon. Pedestrian traffic picked up outside our hotel, from folks dispersing from the procession to Sioni.
Later on we went out for dinner, at Tbileli Bar. They had a limited menu of home cooked food, which was excellent. I had chakapuli with lamb (a Georgian stew) and Heather tried lobio (a Georgian kidney bean stew served with cornbread). Both were hearty and hit the spot.
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