A route through the mountains to Russia has existed since before the first century BCE but it had only existed as a bridleway until 1783 when 800 Russian soldiers converted it into a carriageway. Everyone has been along it – Gorky, Tolstoy, Chekhov… and now Wilby and Zukas. We chose to be driven rather than drive ourselves because of the well-deserved reputation for heavy lorries and crazy drivers.
We stopped first at a seventeenth century church – along with huge numbers of tourists – to admire the external carved decorations which included dragons, mustachiod angels and lions and vines being eaten by deer:
The site was complete bedlam, with flag photo opportunities, clambering tourists and horse-riders more interested in taking selfies than enjoying the experience:
We stopped for honey at a place where the woman selling it had, apparently, been a famous horse-rider twenty-five years ago – with a poster to this effect:
We trailed through a ski resort where trucks struggle to climb the steep pass. The Chinese are building a tunnel through the mountain which is nearly finished, bar a bit of the final bridge and that will make an enormous difference to the road:
The lorries and cars were from everywhere:
The Russian Georgian Friendship monument created in 1983 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of some treaty was an essential stop:
The Jivari pass had its own marker – apparently the road is often closed between November and May because of the snow:
A further stop involved a natural monument and some disgusting-tasting water:
We made it to the small village of Kazbegi where we spent the night. The view of Mount Kazbeg (5,047 metres) was phenomenal – especially this morning, as in the opening photo:
This morning, before making our way back to Tbilisi, our driver took us to a new monastery on the border with Russia (that’s the border you see in the third picture). Built twenty-five years ago, it makes quite a statement about Georgia’s right to the land.
A trip definitely worth doing but not for the nervous passenger or driver! At the end of our journey, we noticed a recruitment ad for the Georgian Army:
And we had the obligatory selfie with our driver who was terrific:
Clearly a good choice to hire a driver for those mountains even if it did mean some rather weird stops. I’m puzzled at the tourists crawling over the church site – given the numbers of old churches all around, why do you think this one was so special? Hope Sue recovered ok from that fountain stop.
Well, the carvings on this church were very beautiful but I think mostly it’s a mass tourism thing- people have tours up this highway and this is one of the first stops. And yes, thanks for asking – I’m fine after the mineral water – mainly tasted of rust… not that I eat a lot of rust..
You are both brave travellers…. Well done getting a driver. The mountains looks daunting but your photos of them are wonderful xx
It was a truly astonishing landscape – huge mountains where the scale made grazing cattle look like ants. We’d never have tried the trip without a driver – we’d never have got past a single truck!
I admire your lack of trepidation! Fantastic! As are the photos and the sites!
Thank you! We do our best to stay more or less courageous !