Our big trip
A few thoughts and photos from our travels
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Day 27 – Nothing springs to mind
22nd September: Akhaltsikhe, Georgia I struggled to think of a title for this one, so apologies for the meta / cheesy effort! Borjomi is famous across Georgia for its water. Most bottled water either bares the Borjomi or Bakuriani brands – the latter being a mountain town nearby. The claimed healing properties of the town’s…
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Day 26 – Vardzia, the village in the sky
21st September: Akhaltsikhe, Georgia Our plan for today was to visit the caves and monasteries at Vardzia, as the weather forecast was better than for tomorrow. The helpful couple running the hotel had told us there was a marshrutka to Vardzia at 10:30, so we were having a slow morning doing washing when we had…
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Day 25 – Onto the plateau
20th September: Batumi, Georgia to Akhaltsikhe, Georgia We awoke to torrential rain. The casino lights opposite were twice as dazzling as usual as they reflected off huge puddles. The bus station was only a 15-minute walk, but sitting on a marshrutka for 6 hours with soaking wet trousers wasn’t really either of our ideas of…
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Day 24 – Backstreet Batumi
19th September: Batumi, Georgia Our plan in Batumi is very much to chill, eat good food, and wander the streets. First objective today was a vegan place that Kaja found and was very excited to try for breakfast. We both had smoothies, and shared some tofu scramble with pumpernickel bread and a heavenly tofu syrniki…
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Day 23 – Snow to the subtropics
18th September: Mestia, Georgia to Batumi, Georgia We were at the marshrutka station at 7:30, expecting to be some of the first there for the 8:00 to Batumi. That was misplaced as the square thronged with more activity than we’d seen at any other point in the past 4 days! It was a good job…
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Day 22 – The cold bites, as do the dogs!
17th September: Mestia, Georgia Today was our final full day in Mestia. We’d planned to have an extra day here, given how unlikely it was that we’d get three good days of weather, assuming we’d have a rest day on the day with the worst conditions. As it was, today started sunny again and the…
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Day 21 – A glacier in retreat
16th September: Mestia, Georgia The weather is due to turn later today, with the heatwave which has been afflicting this part of the world finally set to break. We’re pleased with our decision to put the effort in to some long travel days to make sure we got to the mountains a few days earlier.…
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Day 20 – The Svan towers of Ushguli
15th September: Mestia, Georgia Today began on the 10am marshrutka – well, a tourist version of one – to Ushguli. This is a place I’ve wanted to visit for at least 15 years, having seen a magical photo on a now long forgotten adventure travel forum. The bus was soon full, and we were off.…
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Day 19 – Into the mountains of Upper Svaneti
14th September: Kutaisi, Georgia to Mestia, Georgia Up early to get the marshrutka. First we had to get across town, but the ‘every 10 minute’ buses were showing 26 minutes. Just like being in Devon! The taxi wasn’t much, so a friendly driver took us across town, playing music from as many different countries as…
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Day 18 – Gelati and Motsameta
13th September: Kutaisi, Georgia Snacks purchased from the bakery, we saw a marshrutka with a monastery symbol and jumped on. The driver confirmed we were heading to Gelati. The winding road out of the city allowed glimpses of the clouds still in front of mountains from the early morning storms. We realised before we reached…