The Four Corners of Georgia

Greetings from Tbilisi, capital of Georgia!  The days have been rushing by so fast as we zig-zag our way across Georgia, we can barely keep up.  There’s so much to tell and lots of pictures to share.  Every day has seen a new church on a hilltop somewhere, surrounded by spectacular scenery.  Now to remember which one was which…

We awoke from our riverside fort bushcamp after a restless night.  Lightning that had been flashing all around for hours during the evening eventually arrived overhead and seemed to linger for hours.  Ground trembling thunder and the heaviest rain we had ever experienced whilst under canvas. The lightning so frequent it made sleep virtually impossible.  With just a few inches between you and the elements you trust in your equipment to keep you warm and dry.  There were a few soggy sleeping bags in the morning but no harm done.

Onward to Kutaisi.  Georgia’s second largest City and one of the most ancient in the world.  A quick wander through the town we found ourselves in the local market and set about bartering for vegetables.  The stalls bursting with fresh produce, we found some lovely new potatoes, herbs and shiny aubergines.  Shopping in local markets is more challenging than in a supermarket where everything has a fixed price and the scales electronic, but it is far more fun and the quality of the produce seems to be better too.  The row of gold toothed women selling chickens, all proudly displayed with their bottoms in the air (the chickens), were delighted to entertain us with chicken puppetry, but we decided to go for some hand made sausages in the end.  The pig’s head on a hook was not so appealing either, the markets are not for the weak stomached.

Statues and water features in Kutaisi

Chicken sellers, Kutaisi

Rogs negotiating in the market, Kutaisi

Buying sausages, Kutaisi

We then headed up the hill to our home for the night in a homestay/guesthouse.  The streets were narrow & pot holed and the telephone & electricity cables hung precariously low but we eventually reached our home.  Nothing too fancy from the exterior, the group entered with some trepidation, only to find the most comfortable, smart and clean rooms of the trip so far, all en suite with free wifi!  Some ventured back into town whilst others walked to a nearby park and enjoyed the funfair.  We all gathered in the main dining room in the evening for a huge Georgian feast.  Georgia; the land of the expanding waistline.

Calypso outside the homestay

Gareth & Rogs on the bumper cars, Kutaisi

Hels and a supersize poker machine!

One careful lady owner?  Would you trust this used car salesman?

The next day we stopped in Gori and had a tour of the Stalin Museum, situated there because Stalin was Georgian and Gori was his birthplace and where he went to school.   An interesting tour from a suitably stern guide, who showed us the one room house that Stalin and his parents rented and lived in for the first 4 years of his life, followed by a tour of his private train carriage complete with bath tub and early air conditioning system.  Betsy managed to find us there after flying into Tbilisi in the early hours of the morning so the group was now complete once again.  She returned armed with goodies from Canada, maple syrup, a huge block of parmesan cheese and various other essentials, including plastic wine glasses with screw together stem and bowl, absolute essential for the discerning overlander.

Lunch stop, enroute to Gori

Stalin Museum, Gori

Rogs, in bed with Stalin

Gori's most famous son

  Our bush camp for the evening was alongside a cave city, Uplistsikhe, dating from the Iron Age.  It was worth the couple of Lari to wander round, explore the caves and watch the sun set from the high rocky bank overlooking the Mtkvari River.  It had a similar feel to the caves in Goreme, Turkey but without the hordes of tourists.  Rogs and his team of cooks knocked up a delicious vegetarian moussaka for supper in the potjie (an Afrikaans word, pronounced something like poyke) pot, topped off with Betsy’s parmesan, a real treat.

Betsy's back with the parmesan!

Laura, Uplistsikhe caves

Jeff, Jim, Ryan, Jody & Gareth relaxing in camp

Uplistsickhe lizard meets Mikkel's gecko

Mikkel watching over the potjie pot

Steep cave steps

Entrance to the caves

View from the top, Uplistsickhe

Gareth & Di loading the potjie pot

Pig wearing an anti-fence device

Off again the next day and up into the hills & mountains, through tunnels and over piles of snow on the spectacular Georgian Military Highway towards the Russian border.  A relaxed days drive with plenty of stops at view points along the way as the scenery got more and more stunning the higher we went.  We climbed the tower of the Ananuri Church and castle complex and got snap happy with another group photo at a stunning (wow, wow, wow, here we go again) mosaic structure, built on a rocky outcrop with snowcapped mountains all around.  The monument was built in 1983 to celebrate 200 years of friendship between Russia & Georgia and depicted scenes from both nations histories.  Calypso stood proudly in the centre and posed happily for photos, luckily the monument didn’t collapse under her weight.  We then passed the popular local ski resort of Gudauri, ever thought about skiing in Georgia?  Whilst some apartment blocks and chalets looked left to ruin, others were being built and looked very flash.  Sadly the season ended in April so we couldn’t get any runs in, even though skis were still for hire outside one shop.

We arrived at our bush camp for the next couple of nights, along side a river across from the small town of Kazbegi, just a few kilometers from Russia.  Whilst setting up camp a kind local offered some advice that we move our tents a little further along the way as if it rains heavily water can rush down the ravine and we may all find ourselves floating down river in our tents.  Another visit from some locals in the evening whilst we sat eating dinner, this time the police, with a warning about wolves!  After dark they suggested we didn’t wander off too far alone as there were wolves in the area.  Well we all survived the night, not a wolf in sight, and gathered together snacks, sunhats and water for a morning hike up the hill towards Mount Kazbek, an extinct volcano 5,033m high.  We were to climb as far as the 14^th Century Tsminda Sameba, or Gergeti Trinity Church that sits at 2,170m, except of course mountain goat Mikkel who ventured further up to reach the glacier.  A challenging hike made all the more interesting by getting lost along the way.  Eventually all finding different routes up via ravines and across snow lines, spying the church at the top filled us with renewed energy for the last few hundred metres.  Once there we donned scarfs and skirts to see inside the beautiful little church.  If you happen to see a copy of the Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan Lonely Planet it is the Gergeti Trinity Church that graces the cover.  Its isolated location on top of a steep mountain surrounded by the vastness of nature has made it a symbol for Georgia.  Back down the hill again by various routes, a relaxed afternoon was spent at camp or in town.  Some natural bubbling mineral springs a few hundred metres away helped a few of the group to cool off and freshen up after a good hike.

Roadblock enroute to Kazbeki

Rowan

Tunnels enroute to Kazbeki

Mosaic monument

Laura's new hairdo?

And one for Rogs too?

Kazbeki bushcamp

Chris the mountain man

Cindy reaches the snow

Look how much weight we've lost!  Hels, Di and Jody

Rogs, Hels, Di and Jody with skirts on for the church

Inside the Tsminda Sameba church

Mountain man Ryan

Tsminda Sameba Church

Spot the camp in amongst the cows

Plenty of space for throwing a frisbee - Rowan, Betsy & Jody 

The next morning we headed back down the mountain for the capital, Tbilisi.  Stopping for lunch in Georgia’s old capital Mtskheta and a quick tour of the 11^th Century Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, which still plays an important part in the Georgian Orthodox Church and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We are now enjoying a couple of nights in Tbilisi in the comfort of a hotel before heading off into the wilderness of Armenia for the next stage of the adventure.