Mountains, Trucks and Tragedy - Stepatsminda.

Hello again!

We made our way back to Tbilisi. It seems that all roads to destinations in Georgia radiate out from Tbilisi and we would need to go in and out of the capital a few times in our trip. It was fun to return to our wonderful - and comfortable! - hotel there. We had to catch up with Vasili, the guy who runs a local wine-tasting place. We got on really well with him. We never saw any other customers in his little shop though so we tried hard to support him, hehe.

We explored a different part of town and, again, another local dog tagged along for the walk.

On our way past the old bathhouses a group were playing local music. They were great!

On our last night we went to one of Tbilisi's best restaurants for dinner. It was great but a bit strange. I was kept entertained by the waiters who tried to be very formal but they really weren't very good at it. In their ill-fitting suits we could see them whispering instructions to each other and there was clearly a hierarchy as to who did what job. The restaurant meals were based around a recipe book from the 1880's that the owner found in a flea market. It had hundreds of recipes in it and we were shown the book at the start of the meal.

It was our most expensive meal so far (almost Aussie prices - gasp!) but the food was delicious and the local musicians that played there were wonderful. 

We caught the local version of Uber there and back and one trip cost up about $2.50 for a 10-minute ride. I don't know how they can make money out of this.

We had worked out where we wanted to go for the rest of our time in Georgia and realised it was probably cheaper to hire a car than to keep paying for private taxis in remote areas where there's no other public transport. We talked to Luka, the manager of our hotel and general organiser of everything and in one afternoon he found a car for us at a time when they're difficult to get due to it being peak season. The mighty Jeep has seen better times but it'll do the job - hopefully!

We left Tbilisi and headed up what's called the Georgian Military Highway. This ancient route is now a very busy two-laned highway. Not long after we commenced the drive we started seeing trucks lined up along the side of the road. They stretched for kilometres at a time, then there would be a break, then the lines would start again. It's impossible to guess how many trucks there were.

We asked around as to what was happening and we got conflicting stories. What is clear is that this is the only road open between Georgia and Russia at the moment. Someone told us they're waiting for permits which sometimes take a month or two. Someone else said that they only let the trucks run one way at a time so the others have to wait. We don't know the truth.

I entertained myself trying to work out where the trucks were from. Most were Georgian, Russian or Armenian but they were also from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan with the odd Dutch truck in the mix. It was truly astonishing.

One problem with all these trucks though was that they often took up part of the space on the road. This was a busy highway and when they parked on part of the road it left very little room for two vehicles to pass. To add more challenge to the drive, cows roamed freely over the highway! They often just camped in the middle of the road and were so used to traffic that nothing would move them. You just had to deal with them as best you could. John drove the whole way and did an amazing job of dodging trucks on the side of the road, trucks and cars coming head on with not enough room to pass plus plenty of cows to avoid!

There were even occasional donkeys

We were told about the famous kinkhale (Georgian dumplings) that could be found at a town en-route. The place was clearly run by people who were forced off their land by Russians. This sign was on the door.

A video ran on a loop showing images like this.

Keeping with the kinkhale theme, I bought some kinkhale socks!

About half way to our destination, Stepantsminda, we approached a long tunnel. It was like those European ones that have an open side. They're really designed to keep rockfalls off the road. As we neared it we could see someone directing traffic and a few cars were parked at the entrance. John nudged his way forward and we were let through. About half way along the open sided tunnel, there were many people crowded around and looking over the edge. We slowed down and a young man raced up to our car and tried to open the back passenger door. The door was locked but in one of those moments where you have to make decision on the spot, we unlocked the door and let him in as he was clearly distressed. He said something quickly to us in Georgian but it was clear we needed to drive off. Once he realised we spoke English he kept saying, "Fast! Fast!" even though John was driving as fast as he safely could inside the tunnel. We asked what was going on and he said "parachute". The penny dropped - there are many paragliders in this area and they take people up tandem for joy rides. John asked "Parachute crashed?" He said yes. As soon as we got out of the tunnel he motioned for us to stop, jumped out of the car and ran to his van which was parked there. He didn't seem personally upset so we can only assume he worked for the paragliding company.

We later learned the full story - yes, a paraglider crashed with two people on board. We must have passed through not long after this. As the crash occurred part way up a cliff a rescue helicopter was then called in. The helicopter approached the wreckage and got too close to the cliff. The rear propeller caught on the cliff and got seriously damaged. The helicopter spun crazily around and around until it too crashed. In total, nine people died. Only one paraglider survived. It was such a tragedy. The reason we know the details is that people that we later met saw it all on YouTube and it was in the news. The next day was declared a day of national mourning. 

So to answer your question Christine, yes there is lots of flying here and I think it would be spectacular. However, due to this accident, all paragliding has been suspended until a review has been undertaken.

There were places along this highway where man's intrusion on the stunning landscape was horrendous. Disused power pylons were left rusting in place along beautiful valleys. Ugly multi-story buildings littered the hillsides in a ski resort we drove through and abandoned concrete apartment buildings left over from the Soviet era squatted like piles of rubbish in small towns. This apartment building was still in use and stood in a small village where every other house was no more than two stories.

All along the river we followed, excavators pulled gravel out of the dry riverbed to sell but the worst culprit was a huge Chinese concrete plant that sat in the middle of the almost-dry river, crushing the rock and making concrete panels for a new tunnel. 

We finally reached Stepantsminda where we planned to stop for a week to walk and catch up on things. We realised with alarm though that the apartment we had booked was above a pizza shop that blared doof-doof music from noon til 11pm every day! Oh no!

There were spectacular mountains both in front and behind us but the view to the rear was marred by an abandoned chairlift station and general clutter.

Joh discovered coffee in cans which was good as it was hard to get a coffee early in the mornings. He bought this one for you Mark!

One night we had dinner at a local place where the lady just cooks a few things and you eat it in her overgrown garden. The food was wonderful and it cost us next to nothing.

On the way to our first walk, we saw this sign. We looked for Obiwan but couldn't find him!

We turned into the valley and were greeted by rusting abandoned equipment

However, the valley soon turned out to be beautiful.

We met up with a Russian couple, Dmitri and Yulya, and walked with them for a good chunk of the way. We made our way to a 'lake' (it was only tiny) where the water effervesces like lemonade. It was fascinating!

In several places, iron in the water turned the rocks and ground red.

We found ruined buildings and towers and heaps more wildflowers.

We left Dmitri and Yulya and crossed a broken bridge that had been added to to make it walkable. You couldn't drive across it though so this truck parked on one side and people carried supplies from the truck across the bridge and loaded them into a car on the other side.

We walked through a mostly abandoned village and saw this sign. The goat standing on the table was too tempting and we decided to stop for lunch!

 I saw these cheeses there. They were just sitting outside in the coolish air.

The owner (the cheesemaker) saw I was interested and, while John was checking out some horses nearby, I was taken into the dairy. Not very hygienic but you can't get much more handmade than this.

We had a few food options - we gave the fish a miss as they were just sitting at air temperature too but took up the super-fresh cheese and bread option. It was yum! We washed it down with a coke - something we rarely have. The goat wasn't overly friendly, fortunately.

On our way our we passed travertines, formations caused by limestone being deposited by flowing water onto rocks. It was like a miniature version of Pamakkale in Turkey. The water was catching the sun creating lovely sparkles.

Back in town, as much as we didn't like our apartment, the view was sensational!

On our next walk we met a young Georgian couple and walked with them for a while. Note the bottle of wine in his pack - Georgians can't go far without wine!

Again the wildflowers were amazing!

I don't know what the name of this plant is but it's huge!

Our last walk was from the famous church that stands above Stepantsminda. Our plan was to drive there, look at the church, then walk however the new road to the church had been washed away by a landslide and now a really rough track was the only option. Four-wheel-drive taxis (yes, the mighty Delicas again) waited to ferry people up but we thought we'd give it a go with the jeep. The road was really rough and it was probably at the limit of the Jeep's ability but we made it.

The church was lovely but its location was spectacular.

We then hiked almost to the far left of the green hill in this pic.

We saw another snake! Georgia has quite deadly snakes but all the ones we've seen so far have been very small.

We could have walked further but I was on day one of a mild upset tummy that reappeared on and off over the next week or two so we took it easy. The views from our high point were still sensational!

Nearly everywhere we walk, we are annoyed by huge biting flies. We don't know what they are - they're like a larger bot fly or March fly, however the impact on us is nothing compared to the impact on cows and horses. You never see a cow or horse just resting during the day. They're always being constantly bothered by these flies. It must be terrible for them. Horses and cows roam free across the wild meadows and we came across this group of brood mares and foals. Even the foals have to learn to deal with the flies at a young age. We watched as this one tried to kick at flies as it lay down then finally gave up.

John's dodgy toe problem flared up and we needed to do some doctoring. He can't walk if we can't keep his issue under control.

More fantastic views from our apartment. The church on the right is the one we walked from.

We keep seeing cars and vans missing panels at the front of the vehicles. It's really common. Weird!

We came to an arrangement with the owner of our apartment - we left three days early, she didn't charge us for the nights we didn't use and we didn't leave a review (which would have been bad for her). So we headed back down that amazing truck-lined highway again and moved on to our next destination.

Til next time....

Heather and John.