June 29th 2022
Kinchkha waterfall – Kutaissi, Georgia
Miles: 40 (60km)
Miles total: 10’510 (16’920km)
The lush green area forces us again for a short walk before we definitely go back to the flatlands. It's a foggy morning, the mood is mystical, with the waterfall and the forested hills all around it almost feels like in the rainforest.
There are only a few houses left. As almost everywhere in Georgia, every property is fenced in and the entrance is typically provided with a forged gate. Here we discover a very unusual, artistically made fence, woven from branches, a great design! Since there is still a lot on the schedule today, we say goodbye to the beautiful area and make our way to the Prometheus Cave. Unfortunately, the planned visit falls through because the cave is flooded due to heavy rains and is therefore closed. The next stop is the town of Zqaltubo, which was one of the most important spa towns in the Soviet Union during the Soviet era. Over 30 bathhouses, spas, sanatoriums and hotels operated during its heyday, most of which are now abandoned and vegetating.
We visit individual vacant buildings, some of which are already quite overgrown, nature spreads out on balconies and around and on the buildings.
Nevertheless, it is exciting and a bit scary to explore the sometimes-huge buildings. Built in 1952, the largest and most impressive building in Zqaltubo, the Shakhtiori Sanatorium, was bought by a private investor. It is fenced and actually not open to the public. As already heard from other travellers, the security guard does a small side business here and for 20 GEL (7$) we get a small tour of the huge building.
The highlight here is clearly the high theater hall and the adjoining room with tall marble columns, both with remarkably well-preserved murals. But not all ruins are empty. During the Abkhazian War, over 10,000 refugees were accommodated in the abandoned sanatoriums (as in Borjomi). Actually, intended more as temporary accommodation, a generation later many are still waiting for the promised permanent accommodation and are still living under questionable conditions in the desolate buildings. Our journey continues to the campsite near Kutaisi.
June 30th – July 3rd 2022
Kutaisi, Georgia
4 days in the third largest city (150'000 inhabitants) of Georgia, Kutaisi. Laundry needs to be done, so day one is dedicated to this project.
We spend the second day in the cozy city, enjoying great Thai food and visiting the fantastic market and the 1,000-year-old Bagrati Cathedral, which has been largely rebuilt and renovated.
According to our taste, this has lost its charm due to steel elements and mostly new stone walls.
On July 2nd, actually our last day at the campsite, there is an unpleasant event. A storm is approaching! The river next to the campsite rises and rises. It's raining like cats and dogs, the dark gray river spreads out and rips wood and smaller tree trunks with it with thunderous violence and menacing speed. And then the time has come, the river overflows its banks and all camping vehicles leave and park on the main road in front of the camping building. What a shame because the same thing happened 10 days ago and the owners had only just finished cleaning and tidying up!
The next morning has dawned. The solidarity of the camping guests is great and so it is that a motley group of 9 people take shovels and wheelbarrows in their hands and start cleaning up the mess! In the evening, a large part was done and we decide to stay another night. The whole group is invited to a great dinner at the campsite, to our amazement the owner sings good karaoke and there is a bit of a disco feeling in the air :-).
July 4th 2022
Kutaissi – Rikoti Pass, Georgia
Miles: 60 (100km)
Miles total: 10’570 (17’020km)
Although there is still a lot of work to be done at the campsite, we slowly have to start thinking about moving on. Actually, helping out was almost fun for us, since we haven't done any “real” work for over a year :-). The blisters on our hands speak volumes ;-). We say goodbye to the interesting acquaintances and drive to the nearby Gelati monastery.
The monastery is one of the most important works of Georgian art. The main church is currently being restored, so unfortunately, we can only see the famous colorful frescoes inside the church from the entrance and through the erected scaffolding. But impressive frescoes can also be admired in the two smaller churches next to it.
What we like a lot, apart from the size of the church, the beautiful shapes and the delicate ornaments, are the roofs of the churches, which are covered with green ceramic tiles and shine wonderfully in the sun. The view from the monastery complex over the green hills is also great!
Now the journey continues for us via the main traffic axis in the direction of Tbilisi. It's not exactly a comfortable route. A winding and hilly main road with a lot of traffic and construction sites. We almost prefer the off-road routes ;-). However, there will soon be a solution, because a huge road project, financed by the Chinese, is in full swing. Countless tunnels connecting to roads on high concrete pillars are under construction.
What makes the route varied for us are the many stalls along the road, which, depending on the village, specialize in wood, basket or pottery goods, knotted goods as well as berries, mushrooms and much more that we could not define while driving. The openly laid out fruits etc. always look very good, but somehow the dust and exhaust fumes from the heavy traffic keep us from buying them. We find a quiet place to spend the night on a short old pass route.
July 5th 2022
Rikoti Pass – Uplisziche Cave City, Georgia
Miles: 50 (80km)
Miles total: 10’620 (17’100km)
A few minutes after driving off, we end up back on the busy road and later on the highway and head for Gori, an inconspicuous town. However, Gori is the birthplace of Josef Stalin. To improve our history knowledge, we visit the Stalin Museum, which in hindsight was a waste of money and time. Instead of a history lesson, the museum is a glorification of a ruthless mass murderer where you can buy Stalin t-shirts or take a picture next to his statue. Unbelievable!
Gori had also suffered in the 2008 Russian occupation war. At that time, Gori was under Russian control for a short time and the troops were only 40 miles (60km) from Tbilisi! The bullet holes in the house (see picture) walls are witnesses of this terrible event.
But now we continue to the cave town of Uplistsikhe, a few miles away.
The cave town began to develop in the 6th century and had up to 20,000 inhabitants in its heyday. It was also considered an important trading post on the Asia-Europe route and was finally destroyed by the Mongols 800 years ago! In addition to the usual habitats, the steep rock escape tunnel stands out.
We scramble around in the terrain for a relaxing 2 hours and enjoy watching the countless lizards in addition to the caves.
A few minutes’ drive later we spend the night by the beautiful river.
July 6th 2022
Uplisziche Cave City – Tbilisi, Georgia
Miles: 50 (80km)
Miles total: 10’670 (17’180km)
Off to the capital Tbilisi. First stop: Iveco shop. Oil change is a must. We also discuss a few other problems there (brakes, clutch). However, they don't want to know anything about these in the state-of-the-art shop. On the one hand, because they don't (want to?) have anything to do with such old Iveco vehicles and, on the other hand, because there are no spare parts anyway. Because of the Ukraine war, there are weeks of delivery times for spare parts!
Well then, at least fresh oil and filter, as well as lubrication points and all gear oils are checked.
We got a tip from other travelers to stay overnight in the capital. So, we head for it and end up next to the Armenian Cemetery. But we are by no means the only ones and join the other five European vehicles.
July 7th – 8th 2022
Tiflis, Georgia
Of course, we spend the two days in the capital visiting some well-known sights. We stroll through the winding streets of the old town, which with its many unrestored houses and the characteristic balconies as well as the old stone churches comes across as very authentic and we like it a lot.
Of course, there are also many wonderfully restored houses, Soviet architecture and other impressive buildings.
We take a gondola high above the city to the Narikala Fort, where one of the symbols of Tbilisi, the 65 feet (20m) tall aluminum statue "Mother Georgia", towers over the city. The woman in national dress symbolizes the national character of Georgia: in her left hand, she holds a wine glass to greet friends, in her right a sword for those who come as enemies. The view over the city is great, the conical church roofs protrude from the sea of houses, the modern buildings represent a strong contrast to them.
One of the modern buildings stands out in particular: the concert and exhibition center, two tubular metal constructions from the era of the former President Sakashvili and unfortunately remain unfinished to this day. Directly behind it on a cliff is another prestige object of Sakashvili: the presidential palace, architecturally not a pearl, is now only used for ceremonial purposes. The river Mtkvari flows through the middle of the city, on the banks of which high cliffs rise. The houses built on it are frighteningly close to the abyss and it seems as if they have merged with the cliffs.
Another recent landmark that cannot be overlooked is the huge Tsminda Sameba Cathedral, completed in 2004, whose gold-topped dome gleams in the sun. Also a pleasure of the modern kind is the illusion museum, which we pay a visit to.
We spend a cozy evening with the Swiss Lisa and Dario, who travel around the world by bicycle (erfahrung-der-welt.ch). Lisa and Stefan met each other during a language stay in Costa Rica and have now met again here in Tbilisi :-). And of course, there is also the big, colorful flea market, where all sorts of antiques, crockery, souvenirs and other stuff are on sale. What is also very striking in Tbilisi are the many Ukrainian flags hanging on the balconies everywhere and the hatred of the Russians is also expressed quite visibly in some cases!
As is so often the case, we allow ourselves to be spoiled with culinary delights and enjoy eating something non-Georgian when we're eating out! We would actually like to explore the city longer, but temperatures of over 95°F (35°C) are expected for the next few days. We'd rather flee to the mountains!
July 9th 2022
Tbilisi – Sioni Reservoir, Georgia
Miles: 60 (90km)
Miles total: 10’730 (17’270km)
Out of the capital, back into nature. We cross the Tbilisi National Park and spend the night somewhere in the beautiful forest, off the main road.
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July 10th 2022
Sioni Reservoir – Lechuri, Georgia
Miles: 50 (80km)
Miles total: 10’780 (17’350km)
We move only 50 miles (80km). But at least we are getting closer to our desired goal, Tusheti. On the way, we meet a lovely young German family with the VW bus, whom we met in Turkey four months ago (you always have a good idea of who is where via websites and social media). A little later we stop at a spring in the afternoon to refill water and are immediately invited to a beer and dried fish by the picnickers there. The four middle-aged gentlemen shouldn't be sitting behind the wheel anymore because of the countless empty beer bottles... We drive on with fresh spring water in the tank. In the last village, before we tackle the notorious Abano Pass tomorrow, we stock up on groceries. Since we will definitely be staying in remote Tusheti for a week, we want to have enough food with us, as there are said to be hardly any shops in the remote mountain area.
Now we meet again a couple we know. Florian and Sahra (diesel300.ch) from Bern, Switzerland. We know them through funny circumstances, because the two almost wanted to buy our old Landrover for their current trip, but decided on a van at the last moment. We knew in advance that they also want to drive to the Tusheti area, but that we just see them driving past a gas station is really funny :-). We drive together to a beautiful river and enjoy a pleasant and relaxing evening!
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