Kazbegi is a small town up in the mountains of northern Georgia near the border with Russia. It's located about 1700m above sea level in the Greater Caucasus mountains and is very small with a population of less than 2000. It's scenic location makes it a popular destination for hikers and mountaineering enthusiasts and I'd already seen plenty of beautiful photos of the place long before I even arrived in Georgia so I was very excited about going there armed with my camera.
Kazbegi town nestled among the Caucasus mountains with its most famous landmark the Gergeti Trinity Church perched on the ridge above it.
The only thing that had us worried about going there were the horror stories we'd heard from other travellers about the 3 and a half hour death defying marshrutka (minibus) journey up there along the crumbling mountain roads. These terrifying tales always involved insane driving, stomach churning sheer drops and at least one person vomiting from fear or due to motion sickness from the awful condition of the track with its giant potholes and loose gravel. We heard these stories over and over again in our first week in Georgia but decided to not let them put us off going and we were so glad we went!
As usual, we started off the day with some khatchapuri for breakfast in Tbilisi and headed down to the main bus station called Didube to get the Kazbegi marshrutka. Despite feeling very nervous about the ride up there after all the scary stories we'd heard it wasn't as bad as we'd expected though still quite "extreme"! We travelled along the historic Georgian Military Highway to get to Kazbegi, a route that connects Georgia to Russia through the Caucasus mountains and has done since antiquity. The first part of the journey on the normal roads out of Tbilisi was ridiculously fast as usual because that's just the way that people seem to drive in Georgia unfortunately. Luckily our driver slowed down once we got to the mountain roads which was good as there were some nerve jangling sheer drops into abyss valleys hundreds of metres below with no fences or bollards to protect them.
The road was also filled with the biggest potholes I've ever seen and there was loose gravel and fallen boulders to contend with too! It was incredibly bouncy in the marshrutka which as usual was utterly lacking in any kind of suspension and whose tyres looked like they'd seen better days. I was quite pleased with myself though as I still managed to read my book (just about)! I remember looking up from the page I was on at one point and glanced out of the window to be greeted by the sight of us on the wrong side of the road with about an inch or two of gravel separating us from a dizzying drop into a valley far below. Our driver had swerved to the other side of the road to avoid an enormous pothole! I quickly went back to reading after that! We went through a long rough stone tunnel during the scariest part of the drive. It had open sides with columns holding it up and presented a welcome change from the gut wrenching open road with its multiple sharp switch-backs and unshielded death drops. The road into Kazbegi was actually in really good condition, better than the one from Tbilisi had been and lacking in any potholes.
Cool, cloudy mountain weather over the stretch of decent road leading into Kazbegi.
As we approached Kazbegi our marshrutka had to stop and wait for a sea of sheep, goats, donkeys and herding dogs that came straight for us down the road and passed all around our vehicle in continuos flow for several minutes. The driver sounded his horn once in frustration but then gave up and resigned himself to waiting. We noticed a large fluffy white dog among the sheep that seemed to be having an identity crisis as it was bouncing along happily with the sheep instead of staying at the back herding them with the rest of the dogs!
Moving woolly roadblock as seen through the front window of our marshrutka.
The herder in the background and his massive flock.
So many sheep crowding the road!
Spot the odd one out?
We got out of the marshrutka in the main town square such as it was and were met immediately by the cool mountain air and a hoard of local women trying to get us to come to their homestays. We turned them down as we wanted to look around a bit first and get our bearings but they were very persistent. We ended up staying in a well rated local homestay in the next village called Gergeti run by a lovely woman named Nazi - she was the nicest "nazi" I've ever met! We were staying there full board for 35 lari each a night (about 15 pounds) which wasn't the cheapest but the food was great!
The sign for Nazi's guesthouse. Thankfully there were no fascists in sight!
Clouds rolling in down the mountains around Kazbegi.
Suspension bridge over one of Kazbegi's main streams.
The mountains formed a beautiful diorama around Kazbegi and Gergeti and when the clouds pulled back we could see the snowcapped craggy peaks.
Some tumble down stone houses on the edge of town that had seen better days but looked very atmospheric.
There were lots of pretty alpine meadows around Kazbegi full of lovely flowers.
Cows grazing on the mountainsides.
The cemetery we walked to is in the foreground with Kazbegi laid out behind it.
We had our homemade Georgian dinner at Nazi's at 7pm and got to meet the other guests and hear their tales and advice for things to see and do in the area. There were a pair of EXTREME guys from Russia and the Ukraine staying there who were looking for places to set up a commercial paragliding operation in Kazbegi who were interesting to chat to. We rounded the evening off with a few beers on the verandah of the house looking out at the mountains and enjoying the "healthy air".
No comments:
Post a Comment