Georgia - from Tbilisi to Mestia

Good morning! It's time for a sulfur bath! Neal and I visited the baths in Budapest. They were a complicated series of pools with different temperatures and unintelligible rules. Here, the reason that Tbilisi was originally built was that the king shot a deer, which fell into a sulfur bath and was cured. Okay, could be a myth, but we wanted to experience the Tbilisi sulfur baths. The first thing you have to know is that most of them are private rooms for couples. Hmmm. There are public ones, separate for men and women. That's where we went. Mine was only a single room with sulfur-smelling water coming from about 10 7-foot-high taps. Only old women with much evidence of gravity were in there. Neal's at least had a small pool in it. Definitely not the caliber of Budapest. The rest of the day, we explored Tbilisi via bus and metro. No one commented on our smell!

Museum day the 20th. I am including this picture of where the museums are for anyone who wants to follow our lead and visit. None of the tourist information maps had this.

 We visited the Azerbaijan Museum, all about an author; the National Gallery, with modern and last century artists; and the exhibit of the 1921 to 1991 Communist rule. We watched the huge Lenin statue be thrown down. The Communist reign was brutal, with hundreds of thousands of people killed.

In the afternoon, we headed for the funicular to the top of the mountain where the ferris wheel beckons. Neal's interactive map and the arrow on the street sign didn't match, so we followed the arrow. Wrong! We ended up hiking all the way up, 700 or more meters. But it was worth it. There was a huge amusement park up top.

The tree of life - all metal leaves in the fountain

We rode the funicular down

Our host took us to the train station for our overnight train to Zugdidi, west about 8 hours. We bought our tickets on www.railway.ge. We were in 2 bunks out of 4 in the compartment. We shared the cabin with a Georgian woman who spoke no English. We got a sheet, a pillow with case, and a towel. The toilet was awful. There was air conditioning when the train was moving. I felt like I slept pretty well. We got to Zugdidi at 6:25 am. The plan? Catch a marshrutka to Mestia. A marshrutka is what we call a maxi-taxi in Norway. They are inexpensive. They range in age, comfort, and driver quality. Be prepared to be squeezed in. And don't expect to leave until the van is full. It didn't take long to leave the train station and get on the road. We had a good driver. He stopped once on the side of the road so that those who needed could smoke or find a pink or blue tree. It took only 3 hours, even though we all expected twice that long. Neal kept asking when the dirt road would start, but it never did. Newly paved road, with tunnels!

The marshrutka we took from Zugdidi to Mestia

Roza's Guesthouse, our home for the next 5 nights

From Roza's down to the modern police station

Impressions of Tbilisi - cats everywhere! Impressions of Mestia - cows everywhere!

Mestia is at 1500 meters. The altitude plus the overnight trip led to huge afternoon naps for both of us. Roza's is big and airy, with 4 bedrooms, two new shower/toilets, and a nice common area for the guests. We had use of a refrigerator, but we bought our meals from Roza or went out. Roza was a communication engineer until they shut down her company. Times were rough for a while. They are better now, but she thinks the new president is a do-nothing. Several Georgians said the same.

Chacha: a Georgian drink that is around 50% alcohol, clear, and made from grape residue left after making wine. There was an old uncle at Roza's who shared home-made chacha with us. It reminded me a little of the schnapps that we had in Slovenia. It was good, and it was pleasant to sit around with him.

We set off for the toe of the glacier, but took one bridge too soon and ended up on a wonderful tramp through fields and forests. It was spring, there were wildflowers everywhere, and every step disturbed a poof of butterflies. Cows left trails for us to make sure we didn't know whether or not we were lost.

Svaneti towers, where people lived during attacks or invasions

Couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.

The 23rd of June, we set out for a day trip to Ushguli, part of the UNESCO world heritage Svaneti site 47 km southeast of Mestia. It took 3 hours over a very rough road. That calculates out to 8-1/2 miles an hour. We had 1 more person in the marshrutka than there were seats, so were very glad to get there. Ushguli, at 2410 meters or 7910 feet, is the highest year-round inhabited village in Europe. Neal teamed up with a Swiss guy named Steven to hike to Tamar's Tower, way up. Queen Tamar reigned from 1184 to 1213, and is revered in Georgia.

Neal and Steven, heading up. Up. Up.

Queen Tamar's tower is up there. She was supposed to come here for summer retreats.

Check it out - a camping group!

Svaneti towers, what's that about? Each family had one, dating from the 9th to 12th centuries. The list of invading armies is endless, and these towers served as living quarters, fortresses of defense, and personal treasuries. Svaneti towers are why this area is a UNESCO world heritage site.

This dog really let us know. Yes, yes, we are definitely on your land!

Here is a wonderful BBC special about Georgia's polyphonic singers. It shows a marshrutka ride, the road to Ushguli, the hats the men wear, and Ushguli itself. Video The hills are alive with the sound of music...

By the next day, the 24th, we were really starting to get acclimatized to the altitude, and we hiked up to the cross north of Mestia. Town is at 1420 meters, the cross is at 2220 meters, so it is a bigger ascent than Mt. Ulriken. The views kept getting more and more spectacular as we climbed. It took us 4-1/2 hours to get to the top, then Neal went another 100 meters up. There was an old farmer up there working on his house!

Nearing the cross

Mt. Ushba, the most dangerous ascent in the Caucasus.

The way back, we headed straight down through the forests. It was an 8 hour hike, with an hour at the cross. We were tired! We ate at Dael's for the second time, since they serve very good food.

Time to stop going on and on - break for this post. The next one starts with the 25th of June and the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece.