While researching Georgia there was one place that kept popping up on my searches: Kazbegi. A little town in the very north of the country, near the border with Russia, its official name is Stepantsminda, though most of the country still knows it by its name from Soviet times. The town itself isn’t actually that exciting, and it is the surrounding mountains that people tend to go there for.
To get there you need to drive up the Georgian military highway, a rather scenic route. A marshrutka, or public transport minivan, costs 15 lari and gets you there in around three hours. I’d read that there are some interesting places along the way though so I got in touch with one of the day trip organisers and asked if I could bring my luggage and just have them leave me behind at the other end – they seemed ok with that! We stopped at several places along the way, including Ananuri, Gudauri, and the Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument.
The first stop was at the Ananuri Fortified Castle Complex. It looks out over Zhinvali Reservoir, which was created by damming the Aragvi River in order to provide drinking water to Tbilisi. The castle is named after a woman who was captured during one of the battles in the area and refused to give up knowledge of the secret tunnel into and out of the fortified area, instead dying as she was tortured for the information.
Our next stop was an odd one. It was at the convergence of two rivers of different colours, which is apparently a tourist attraction. We didn’t actually see the different water colours – something to do with the recent rain – so instead we just stood on the side of the road and looked at a pretty unremarkable river for 10 minutes.
In Gudauri we had a chacha and honey tasting experience. Chacha is a Georgian spirit made from the grape byproducts from wine-making, and is commonly homemade. I tried it, but I wouldn’t say it’s something I’d happy sit and drink like some people here do! The honey was nice, and was made up in the mountains. I don’t think I’m enough of a honey expert to notice much difference, but it was tasty!
We then briefly visited the Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument, a round mosaic covered structure, that you could hardly see flee the fog, before arriving in Kazbegi. The weather was pretty miserable by this stage and the tour guide did his best to convince me that I’d probably be happier going back to Tbilisi, but I had made my decision and I was going to see it through!
We made it to Kazbegi and made one final stop at the church that the town is quite famous for and then I was dropped in the middle of town with a final chance offered to change my mind. I declined, of course, and set off to find my hostel. Google maps took me along a rather interesting route to get there, as you can see in the photo, and I also encountered a number of apparently free range cows along the way. The hostel was essentially just someone’s home with a whole lot of beds in each room, but it was warm and cozy, and I felt very welcome.
In a very uncharacteristic decision making process, my main motivation for visiting Kazbegi was walking up to the church on the hill. Yep, that’s right, the one I already visited on the day trip that got me to Kazbegi in the first place. I’d read though that the walk was lovely, and so I was determined to do it. The night I arrived, I checked the weather for the next day: cold, between 2-6°C, cloudy in the morning, raining in the afternoon. Not ideal, but I could make it work. I woke up the next morning to rain. Checking the weather forecast again, it was still supposed to be just cloudy, with rain in the afternoon, and I figured I may as well still go now, as it would only be worse later.
I waited until the rain was only light, and I set out, up the road towards the mountains. It started well! I found the trail, the rain wasn’t too bad, the scenery was mostly blocked by clouds, but what I could see was pretty. I was joined by some stray dogs for part of the walk. And then it started raining harder. And harder. And I started walking faster and faster, but the path was getting steeper and steeper!
By the time I got to the top, I was very wet and although I was hot from walking, it was still only 3°C and I found myself cooling down quickly. I found some shelter, took off my very wet rain jacket, put on the extra layers I had very sensibly brought with me, and had a snack before heading inside the church. There was a service on, so I stood at the back and observed for a while as I warmed up. It was interesting being in there during a service – a big tour group of tourists came in at one point, and I imagine it must be quite challenging still running your normal church proceedings while obnoxious, oblivious, and loud tourists are constantly streaming in and out. I actually signaled to a couple of them to be quiet while I was there haha, and then a man must have thought I belonged because he came and asked me if he was allowed to take photos. I just shrugged.
The previous night in the hostel kitchen, I received a recommendation to keep walking a little past the church where there was a glacier you could get to, but I was wet and cold and didn’t think a glacier trip was the best choice at that moment in time! I had dried out significantly after some time in the church, so I headed off back to town. The walk down was dry, but a bit slippery after the earlier rain. I passed by one of my roommates from the hostel who was on her was up, and not looking to be enjoying the climb at all!
That afternoon, of course, the weather was lovely. Cold, yes, it never did get above 6°C, but sunny, with hardly even a cloud in the sky. I have no idea where the weather forecast came from, but it couldn’t have been more wrong!
Anyways, I enjoyed my little detour to Kazbegi, despite the weather. It was an adventure. The next morning I took a marshrutka back to Tbilisi, from where I caught the train through to Kutaisi, my next destination.
emilyonearth 
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