June 24 to July 5 2016  Beautiful Georgia Part III 

Lovers' Tower

As we drove through the valleys of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus mountains, we passed many fortresses and watch towers evidence of Georgia's key position as a major corridor for the Silk Road trade in times passed but also a reminder of invading forces. But still today it is a key land passage between Asia and Europe. More on that a little later for now I want to relive idyllic days travelling through wooded and craggy mountains where lives four species of bear, deer, martens, wild pig, jackals, squirrels, countless species of birds - and glorious wild flowers and herbs! Everywhere along those roads, and through large towns as well, sauntered cows some with bells tinkling as they grazed. If they bothered to look at us encased in our zappy 'jeep', it was but a casual glance as we maneuvered past them. No question of who had right of way!  We passed donkeys towing laden carts as well as bicycle carts. Sleek horses and grizzly hairy pigs chomped their way through lush grasses, herbs and flowers. Slightly more wary, but only just, than the laconic cows.

Ushguli in Svaneti

We were traveling to Ushguli in the Upper Svaneti region, the highest continuously inhabited settlement in Europe (2200m) famous for its medieval watchtowers. In fact Svaneti is the highest inhabited area in the Caucasus. The views were breath-taking - pristine mountains, deep gorges, gushing rivers… and roads which are definitely not for the nervous driver or passenger! Our trusty driver squeezed us past road washouts, collapses and land slides. All very exciting. I have a small river crystal to remind me of those valleys.

Svaneti has its own language and fierce traditions going way back to a time when they lived in those same watchtowers along with their cattle. Many of those watchtowers have survived thousands of years of the earthquakes that continue to shake this huge mountain range, and still dot the valleys and lower slopes. Distressingly there is a push to mine uranium in the region which will basically shut down the whole unique region of the Svans. They wait with baited breath the outcome from  'the powers that be'.
On a lighter note, we wolfed down succulent Khachapuri the traditional Georgian cheese-filled bread and Gebzhalia an ancient dish from this western region of Georgia. It is made from sulguni cheese a brined Georgian cheese, in warm sour cream or milk with mint. Yummy! No calories in any of this of course!

Our guide Nino with the leader of the Georgian Song and Dance Ensemble who had enterained the night before.

We left the Svaneti feeling rather sad but headed for other wonders including Primetheus grotto where we walked for a very long time through dripping caves of weird and wonderful shapes. That night we were entertained by some wonderful performers in nation costume playing traditional instruments, singing and dancing. Then we took in more ancient churches and wandered through a Saturday morning market where we were assailed by delicious smells and tastes - cheeses, honey and spices and even chachas remember that fiery grape vodka that cures every thing from toothache to ingrown toenails whophff! At 10 in the morning it gets your heart galloping and ready to take on the world which in this case was simply a stroll in a delightful city park nodding to the local Saturday morning crowd drinking coffee, reading paper, walking dogs and children. And then for something quite different the following day we journeyed to the magnificent 11th Century cave town of Vardzia and scaled the towering ragged cliff which was left after an earthquakes sheeted off the face of the mountain in  12th Century. It stretches over half a km along the river Mtkvari and has 19 tiers which contained ~3000 caves serving as refectories, wine cellars, pharmacy, dwellings and once housed thousands of troops. It was a huge defense point guarding the passage north as well as a defense against the Mongols. It has a church dark and almost other-worldly hewn out of rock with amazing frescoes. We climbed up to all this wonder from the valley floor and explored the whole thing. It will remain a reminder for me of what I can do if I really want to - it was a steep climb and descent but I made it albeit it very slowly!

Vardzia - an amazing climbing experience

Then we turned for Tbilisi and the end of our fantastic journey travelling back along the river that Jason and the Argonauts sailed in search of the Golden Fleece. Truly! We had traversed the few corridors that Georgia offers as passages between Asian to Europe, explored ancient sites of great religious and historic significance, clambered through shoulder high flowers and herbs to visit mountain villages and sample delicious wholesome foods, shared roads with cows horses and pigs as we crisscrossed this stunningly beautiful country, sat down to eat with delightful, welcoming Georgians - and guzzled it's delicious wine. What more could you ask for! Thanks Sundowners Overland for a wonder-filled experience.

Sadly our planned trip to Istanbul and the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the exotics of the souk, mosques and ancient laneways was thwarted by an 'incident' which left over 40 innocent people dead. It was a sad ending to our journey ..... but we will return once sanity returns to that old city. 
Thanks to Bev Edwards, our Personal Travel Manager, who managed so much of this wonderful trip for us so that our dreams came alive.  Contact her if you want to do something a little different but you have to have the dream! Email: bev.edwards@travelmanagers.com.au