Georgia, the insider’s tip.
Surrounded by 5000 metre peaks on our way to the ‘Balcony of Europe’.
Communications genius and intuitive female, explorer and foodie, grasshopper trainer and tour diarist = Katharina
Favourite with the women at the
market and goat matador, soft-
shell fan and air juggler, good mood
enforcer and guide =
Andi
Early September 2009:
TEAM
On tour in Georgia The
8 Days in Georgia
Man of few words and master at stone skimming, motif hunter and capturer of fleeting moments, campfire expert and supplies gatherer =
Seb
11
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Alexandre Dumas the elder was a fan of the city’s sulphur baths.
Due to the heat, we decide to view the old part of the city with its baths and domes from the outside.
11
DAY
Next stop: Mestia, the capital of
Svanetia. We also get closer to the
conflict zones of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. A reminder that one hears
more about Georgia in the news than with Russia. What is a well-kept secret, however, is that Georgia is an outdoor paradise.
2
DAY
anywhere else, due to the tensions
DAY
2
Sweet-smelling fruit, piquant cheese and heart-shaped glasses. We go shopping at a street stall and in the market hall
and taste all kinds of things: aromatic apricots, honeycombs
to chew on and natural ‘churchkhella'. The ‘Georgian Snickers’
made from nuts strung together and covered in concentrated grape juice. Mmmm!
DAY03 At Mestia we are right in the middle of the Caucasus Mountains. All around
us, sheer granite peaks that are two, four and five thousand metres high jut into the overcast sky.
Our first tour takes us up the local mountain, Suruld
(2350 m). The rain that had been forecast arrives for real but our spirits remain high.
Our view is dominated by Ushba with its striking double summit (4737 m
and 4698 m), which initially remains hidden in the clouds. The ascent
of Svanetia’s highest mountain is
deemed one of the toughest in the Caucasus because it is so steep and rugged.
DAY03
Ushguli! It is as if we had travelled back in time a couple of
hundred years. Guesthouse Ushguli is where we are staying. Our hosts even take time for a few pictures.
I wonder if we will be given ‘Chatschapuri’ for dinner. This
cheese pie is a Georgian speciality (leavened bread with a
filling of cheese, eggs, sour cream and garlic + various other
ingredients) and is delicious. First of all, we set off on foot to explore the area.
DAY
4
TAG
4
The community of four villages up at
2200 metres is amongst the highest in
Europe. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. There are medieval houses and
fortified towers from the 11th century.
4
DAY
Here we are exploring the past.
Ushguli’s fortified towers remind us
of what our hosts had told us: that in many places in Georgia they are hoping for tourism. Due to the war
risk many visitors stay away even
though most of Georgia is unaffected.
DAY
4
DAY
05 The brave Miran is waiting for us this morning and patiently lets us load some of our camping
equipment on him. We set off with pack-horse,
equipment and our guides Tamuna and Homba,
two of Ushguli’s 250 inhabitants. Our objective: to follow the length of the Enguri to its source
on the Shkhara glacier, en route to Georgia’s highest peak.
TAG
4
DAY
05
On the way, we meet a couple of farmers. We
stop and get chatting.
Their traditional way of
making hay proves to be more difficult than it
looks. Another thing that
strikes us is how welcoming
and open the Georgian people are, whether in
the city or up here in the mountains.
By foot or on horseback? The Enguri is still quite tame here but it is a glacial river nonetheless, so Miran is at our service.
DAY
05
By late afternoon we reach the end of stage one. Before the terrain gets too steep and difficult to navigate, we find a
beautiful spot to camp, right between two huge boulders with
views of all the surrounding 5000 metre peaks. After a brief break in the afternoon sun, it’s off to collect firewood. Seb, the campfire expert, is in charge. Tonight’s menu: potatoes fried over the campfire.
DAY
6
During the night, we are flooded! Light showers turn into a thunderstorm with
heavy rain lasting right through the night. We are fine in our Jack Wolfskin tent.
Tamuna and Homba on the other hand get wet at some point in the night but still
sleep through it. Their composure seems unshakable.
During breakfast we have a team chat. With the thunderstorm the river has swelled. We have to cancel our plans.
We can’t go to the glacier this way as our return route may well be cut off. The river is already too wild to cross on foot now. Luckily we have Miran, and can use him as a horse ferry.
DAY
6
But very soon, we find a new objective. With 87% of the
country covered in mountains, we are spoilt for choice! We
walk through the Shkhara massif with glaciers and majestic peaks at eye-level. We get to the end of this upper Svanetia valley that, due to its altitude, is also known as the ‘Caucasian Himlaya’.
After crossing a pass, we see Ushguli way below us once again.
DAY
7
A lovely farewell from the team at the Ushguli
guesthouse including photographs and a packed
lunch. Seb manages to secure an extra portion.
:0) Pridorn, our unflinching driver starts the minibus in the direction of Tbilissi...
)
r d e Th
:r e iv
... We don’t get very far though.... Last
night’s rain has resulted in a landslide of mud and rocks across the road. We try to stabilise the ground with branches.
Finally we have to say goodbye to our little bus that has taken us all this way, and load our kit into the four-by-four that has come to help.
DAY0 Last day
8
The landscape changes shortly before we leave for home. After the jagged
grey/green of the Caucasus, we are
treated to the warm earthy tones of the dry steppe surrounding David
Gareja. On the way to this special
Orthodox complex, we meet an old
Georgian man who comes up here every day. He shows us the way to the network of caves that housed monks back in the 6th century AD.
DAY0
8
From up here you can see far into
neighbouring Azerbaijan. We admire
the frescoes and caves that served
as cells for the monks. Some are na-
turally formed, others are carved out of the soft sandstone. A couple of
buildings such as the fortification
have been built from stone.
We take a last look round and slowly
make our way back to the car where
Pridorn waits patiently. Then he takes us to the airport.
www.Via-Verde-Reisen.de: The Via-Verde team suggested two tours. The alternative one would have taken us on alpine paths through the Greater Caucasus and “Georgian Dolomites� for 8 days. We were tempted. Maybe we will just have to come back. www.ttc.ge: The Georgian agent. Our guide Tamuna was simply brilliant. She always came up with a solution and knew the answers to all our questions.
If something should happen: www.tiflis.diplo.de (German Embassy in Georgia)
THE END.
photos: Moritz Attenberger
www.auswaertiges-amt.de: For up-to-date information on the situation in-country.