Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Mestia

 All it took was a mere 8+ hour drive over some of the worst roads this side of Bolivia or the Silk Road in Georgia s cheapest rental car to get here but I made it more or less one piece.  Haven’t seen that many cattle in the road since I was in South Africa. It was like Georgia meets Texas  (ok a bit of a pun). 

Situated in the far northwest of the country hard up against the highest mountains in Europe and in the Caucasus, Mestia is kind of a cool town. Sort of a (very) poor  man’s Chamomix or Aspen or maybe Bariloche without the lake. Clearly a hiking Mecca as everyone has the gear except for the restaurant waiters.  Not sure what’s up with them.  

As a little compensation for the endless bumps, potholes, landslides and super aggressive Georgia drivers, the scenery  particularly towards the end of the drive, had its rewards -




The Svaneti region is famous for these small medieval towers which dot the hillside here-(more about them later)


My Guest house looked pretty rustic but was actually quite nice inside.   however I have discovered that Georgians generally don’t believe in sheets at least top ones


I had the Svaneti national dish for dinner which seemed like pizza without the cheese or tomato sauce-


A dream come true for my cheese hating friend Craze Adams but a little too spicy for my taste  

4 days of trekking ahead  






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