Svaneti Mountains
9/23/2025 - 9/24/2025
We did a two-day tour from Kutaisi up to the Svaneti mountain region of northern Georgia which is very close to the Russian border and about five hours from where we are staying in Kutaisi. We made multiple stops on the way there and back and spent the night in Mestia. It was a very long, stressful, drive on narrow, winding roads often full of potholes or simply washed out entirely (the vehicle was 4 wheel drive!). We frequently rounded hairpin turns to find vehicles coming right at us or cows in the middle of the road! Emma’s voice kept ringing in my head telling me that this was not safe! Overall it was a really great experience! We traveled with a small group of very fun people who were MUCH younger than us (keeping up with them hiking wasn’t easy!). There was a couple from Melbourne Australia, a woman from the Netherlands, and, of course, our guide (Ana)
On the route, we made multiple stops to see random stuff along the way. We pulled over along the road briefly to see this yard with a GINORMOUS statue of Stalin in the front yard! Apparently, it was being removed from a museum and some whack-a-doodle loved Stalin so much that he wanted it for his front yard. Yes, there is a percentage of older Georgians who look up to Stalin. He is considered (by some) to have been a powerful leader that provided stability during his rule.
Another of our early stops after leaving Kutaisi was at a waterfall. It was absolutely beautiful! And that stop caused a bit of a different tour experience (especially for Ana - the guide!). When we arrived, we found three tiny (TINY) puppies that had been abandoned. They didn’t even have their little eyes open. We couldn’t just leave them! So we decided to take them with us and find a vet clinic along the way to drop them off at. Well, no luck! The clinic we found wouldn’t take them. So… we continued our two-day tour with our three tiny stow aways. We made a few unplanned stops to get baby formula, syringes to feed them with, and a box to build them a little bed. And off we went!
What we really needed was some die hard who would take in stray helpless pets… where is Colleen when I need her!!!
We continued on our way and stopped at several beautiful viewing points where we got photos of Mount Shkhara, the highest mountain peak in Georgia at 5193 meters.
We did an incredible hike out to Shkhara glacier right on the Russian border.
The hike wasn’t super long, but some of the terrain was pretty rocky/challenging (for me anyhow) and the altitude was a little higher than we are used to (that’s my excuse and I am sticking to it!). Of course, our much younger travel friends took off like it was nothing! The hike out was beautiful and we encountered random, unexpected animals along the way. We arrived at the glacier and it was pretty amazing! Basically a giant wall of ice. Unfortunately, the photos don’t do it justice because the ice is dirty… so it kind of just looks like we are in an enormous gravel pit!
We visited a really cool little village, Ushguli, not too far from the glacier (but because the roads are an absolute nightmare, even short distances take quite a while to get to). Ushguli is one of the highest villages in Europe at 2100 meters, where a few hundred people still live year round. It is SO cool. There are all these "tower houses" known as Svan towers, which were built from the 9th to 12th centuries. The towers were attached to homes and used for defense. When needed, they could head into the tower and up the ladders to the top to fight. There was space to live on the lower floors and a supply of food maintained in the tower. The “invasions” were between other similar villages and the weapons used were rocks (launched with slingshots I guess?). Sounds a bit like the Hatfield’s and McCoys! We visited the Lamaria church which was built in the 9th century (so really stinking old!) and wandered through the village. I loved it!
The final photo is a kind of random one we took in Ushguli for Dr. Saranga – who knows if he is even following!
Ana drove us to Mestia and dropped us each at our respective hotels. Our hotel was pretty basic, but we had a big balcony with an incredible view… and had no time to enjoy it. The puppies spent the night with Ana. By the next morning they had been upgraded to a baby bottle!
On day two we visited a museum in one of the tower houses. We got to see how they lived in the 12th century and climb all the crazy rickety ladders all the way to the tippy top (outside literally on the roof!). Great views from up there!
We later learned that there is a trek between these two towns (Mestia to Ushguli). You start in Mestia and there are two villages in between. You hike about 10 miles per day for 3 days. There are homestays in each of the villages to spend the night. Once you get to Ushguli, there are shuttles to take you back to Mestia. I want to do this with Emma and Dan!
After the tower house museum, we ventured out of Mestia to start the long trek “home”. We stopped at this cool outdoor café that had some of the most beautiful views of the trip. There was a huge amount of property with little guest houses and an area with swings. We hung out for a bit and enjoyed our coffee and views, then swung a little and walked around some.
We made multiple viewpoint stops along the route home.
Our final stop was at the Enguri dam, one of the world's tallest arch dams, standing at 271.5 meters high. It was constructed between 1961 and 1987 (during soviet era) and is a civil engineering feat that includes the arch dam, hydroelectric power stations, and over 400 tunnels and channels. It provides much of Georgia's electricity and creates the Gali-Jvari Reservoir, which holds about 1.1 billion tons of water.
We headed back to Kutaisi and said goodbye to the puppies and our new friends! It was quite an adventure and definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far!
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