Another valley in Georgia that many people tell us about (and - surprise, surprise - which is sometimes called the Switzerland of Georgia) is Svaneti. It would have been a dream to paraglide there, too, if it hadn't been for the accident (read more about it in the blog post about Gudauri). There is still a ban on paragliding in the whole country. Nevertheless, we set off. It is infinitely hot in the lowlands and we flee to the mountains.
Svaneti
Journey with a furry incident 🐱
On one of our overnight stops, a little kitten runs to us. We look after it for a night... only too glad to have a travel kitten. But we don't know if we can really make that decision. Not now. With heavy hearts we bring it back to the place where it was found. Fortunately, it is adopted by a Georgian woman. This is good for our conscience, but it also means that we are still missing a cat in our lives...
In Kutaisi, Georgia's third largest city, we make another stopover with a visit to the amusement park. It cannot be compared to the Prater in Vienna, but the "Ferris wheel" still triggers many emotions. First and foremost, fear of immediate collapse. Never before have I seen so much rust on something that was supposed to carry me safely upwards. But all went well once again. The ride back to the city in the gondola from 1961 is at least as exciting. Then we finally have some real Georgian vegan food: Aubergines stuffed with walnuts, spinach pkhali and lobiani (bread filled with bean paste). Super stuffed and satisfied, we move on and sleep at a dam. This is quite nice in general, but around 4am a slightly drunk security guard comes and wakes us up. We don't quite understand why he woke us up so forcefully. Presumably he just wanted to make sure we didn't take any drugs here? Anyway, he says goodbye again and lets us sleep on.
Off to the mountains
The next day we arrive in Mestia. We booked an Airbnb so that Bianca can continue writing her Master's thesis here. Luca takes the van and arranges to meet Kurt in a few days to go hiking together. But the hoped-for comfort of the Airbnb doesn't really work out. Already at check-in there are problems: our booking does not appear in their reservations. The communication in English is quite difficult, and only with the help of the neighbour we are able to communicate. There were many misunderstandings and the next few days were super stressful because I never knew when I would have to change rooms again. All I wanted was a quiet place with a kitchen and stable internet to work. But the electricity goes out regularly, so does the internet and I have to move 3 times in total. Frustration doesn't even begin to describe my mood at the time.
Luca enjoys a few quiet days on the Hatsvali plateau, where there must be a busy skiing scene in winter, but now there is nothing going on at all. When Kurt shows up in the area, they take the route to Ushguli. Apparently the highest settlement in Europe, inhabited all year round (2'200 m above sea level). Most of the access road is in quite good condition. Only the last five kilometres are full of very deep and large potholes. We barely make it to the village, only to turn around again as we cannot reach the wild parking area behind it without a 4×4. A few kilometres before Ushguli we find a place for the night. Kurt also sets up his travel cinema here. The next morning we start "early": after a hearty breakfast we start our two-day hike.
Along the Enguri River we come down to the Shkhara Glacier. Then we climb steeply up to a small mountain lake where we pitch our tent. After a starry night comes the second, more strenuous day. From now on, the path is no longer visible and the mobile phone reception is gone. Fortunately, a path is marked on the offline map (maps.me). We balance over the Chubedishi Crete, which is quite narrow in places and drops steeply. Kurt is a super hiking buddy and very patient photographer. He often waits a long time for the perfect moment, for example when for a brief moment the mountain peak of Shkhara (5,193 m) comes out of the clouds. The path - and the photography breaks - drag on longer than expected. So we make it back to Ushguli only after sunset. The bakery is still open and there is fresh bread even at that hour. Bianca's working week is coming to an end, so back to Mestia.
Svaneti for two
Reunited, we go to a quiet place outside. There we go for a walk and meet Kurt and Mirija again. Kurt is a big film fan, so he doesn't miss this opportunity to share his travel cinema with us. The two of them then go hiking for a couple of days, and we drive back to Mestia to watch the movie "Dede" It was filmed in 2017 in the village of Ushguli and tells of the patriarchal culture of the region, the difficulties of life in the mountains and the role of women. An absolutely recommendable film about a culture that was previously unknown to us.
We then spend a few days around Mazeri, the valley northwest of Mestia. There we hike to the waterfalls and stay at beautiful nature spots. We also wait for Kurt and Mirja, who want to visit us again after their hike (Kurt had promised us his sleeping bag, which we gladly accepted). Apart from a few cows, we don't meet many other creatures at this time. It is relaxed, we can enjoy nature and work a little on various projects.
Very, very slowly, we want to fly again. And since it doesn't look like the situation in Georgia will change soon, we decide to take the road towards Armenia. We also applied for our Iran visa in these days. Now we get the confirmation that we can pick up the visa in Yerevan within the next two months.
Once again crossing Georgia
After six weeks in Georgia, we are more or less in the north-western tip and want to leave the country in the south-east - no route planning. But weather planning at the highest level. Because only now, after two months of constant heat in the lowlands, daytime temperatures below 35 degrees are forecast again in Tbilisi for the first time. So we plan our sightseeing in this time window and can check out a few more "attractions" on the way there.
We spend the first night with a view of the Kazchi Pillar. The rock looks rather displaced, but even more so the small monastery on top of it. Apparently a hermit monk has been living there since the 90s. Then we visit the mining town of Chiatura. Until 3 years ago, only the cable cars from that decade were in operation here. Today, they merely hang in the air, or in their former stations, and shape the image of the city as they did in the former Soviet Union. The huge Soviet buildings that rise into the air everywhere also contribute to this. To our Central European understanding, they look abandoned, decayed, on the verge of collapse. They have probably not been renovated since the fall of the Iron Curtain. But with the cable car we pass some of the high-rise buildings quite close, and what can we say: the laundry hangs out of the windows, they are sporadically repaired, the plaster is crumbling, but nevertheless people live and work here as they always have. In order not to appear quite so bleak, some buildings have been painted colourfully. From a distance, they look cheerful at best, even if out of place. On closer inspection, however, the decay becomes visible here too....
After a night at a small lake (it is still so infinitely hot everywhere), we drive to Gori and visit the Stalin Museum. His birthplace is in front of the museum, as is his old private train. After the visit, we can admit to ourselves that we have learned exactly nothing about Stalinism, only about Joseph himself... apart from his death mask, this is simply a collection of pictures and fragments from his life. What books did he read as a child, what schools did he attend, what articles did he write. There is no trace of criticism, nor of his relations with his comrades. More sobered than enlightened, we move on to a river and download podcasts on Stalinism in order to get at least a somewhat differentiated opinion on the subject.
Finally Tbilisi and once again Gipsy Village
We spend the next few days in Tbilisi. We can park on a hill in the middle of the city - together with about 10 other overlanders - from Switzerland, Germany, the UK... From here it is 15 minutes to the city centre, and so we explore it. The pro-Ukraine and anti-Putin propaganda is unmissable. Yellow-blue flags hang everywhere, or Putin's face with crosshairs adorns the walls... Besides small shopping streets full of vintage clothing, there are also very European-looking, hip cafés and bars. A huge casino stands at the end of the "Peace Bridge" and between old buildings and historical structures are clusters of new, architecturally interesting houses, towers and even a hot air balloon. Georgia is growing - economically. It looks to us as if the country wants to bury its past behind it and join the neoliberal competition. Personally, we think rather little of that. Not because we find culture romantic, or want to see the old Soviet buildings restored and everything remain cheap for us privileged travellers. But because we have a problem with the neoliberal system per se... But maybe more about that another time.
Before we venture across the next border into Armenia, we visit the Gipsy Village one last time. So our first stop in Georgia also becomes our last. We return to this place like a boomerang. Not so much has changed in the last six weeks, but (of course) almost all the volunteers are new. Most of those who are there right now also want to go to Iran, albeit on foot, or by public transport. Only Frank is still there, but he is also getting ready for his onward journey. We walk through the woods and collect blackberries. The farm fields are now full of tomatoes in all colours, melons, basil, red and blue cabbage, leeks, still an insane amount of courgettes and pumpkins. We can even harvest plums and apples freely. We use them to make "Zwetschgenröster" (stewed plums) and apple sauce and celebrate our new farewell with a huge portion of "Kaiserschmarren" (pancakes) for 25 people. Emi from Denmark, Clem and Adrien from France, Ali from Iran, Amira and Fred from Germany, Alan from Kazakhstan are travellers we might meet again somewhere. With Nikita and Anna we know that they will stay longer in Gipsy Village and maybe our paths will cross again with them.
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