Sup /trv/,
Last year, after I went to the Russian and Georgian Caucasus, I made a travel report thread on here, as some people had expressed interest in it before I left. As it was, /trv/ did like the thread - some of you may even remember it. And, truth be told, the travel report threads here are personal favourites of mine as well. Or, TL;DR travel report! I went back to the Georgian Caucasus, and made my first trip to Romania right before it.
First things first, Romania. Went with three friends, to hike and attend a festival. A festival we had gotten to know on a trip to Finland in January, where two of the four of us went to see a band and hike. Music's a good reason to travel and hike, as far as I'm concerned. For Romania, we - well, I - had picked the Făgăraș Mountains as our designated hiking location. Quite close to the festival, supposedly very nice, and it'd give us a shot a climbing Romania's highest peak, Moldoveanu.
We left early in the morning, and flew to Bucharest. Tickets to Cluj were absurdly expensive when we booked the trip a few months in advance - but, as a local later told me, it's far better to ignore Bucharest, buy your tickets to Cluj rather last minute, and save ~€100 because prices drop dramatically shortly before departure. Checked it later, and found it to be true, you may want to keep that in mind.
Pic is the Făgăraș, which indeed turned out the worth a visit.
>>1037496
Anyway, we arrived in Bucharest and found it to be quite hot, the temparature being well over 30°C. Only took one pic to be honest, as we were mostly busy figuring out public transport, buying food and finding an outdoor store to buy gas or fuel (which we ended up finding in a small store called Montrek). For those interested, bus 780 and 783 will get you from the airport to the city centre, to Piaţa Unirii and Gara de Nord respectively. The first one is where you'll want to be to buy whatever it is you fancy, as well as eat and drink, the second one is the main train station. If I recall correctly, bus 138 connects the two. So after we had all the shopping, eating and drinking done, we headed for Gara de Nord and got train tickets for the overnight train to Sibiu. I was, however, told there's no sleeping carriages on the train. Crap, and immediate regrets as we entered the train. While it was clean (and cheap) enough, and the seats weren't uncomfortable to sit in, the train was very noisy, extremely hot, and the seats weren't exactly suitable to sleep - over 7 hours of discomfort it was.
That said, the train did arrive in Sibiu on the exact fucking minute it was supposed to arrive there, at 7:22 am. Somehow, I managed to sleep quite well - as the only one of our group. We had a few hours to kill in Sibiu as our train to Ucea de Jos and Victoria, our entry point into the mountains, wouldn't depart before 11 something am.
>>1037501
Sibiu - also known as Hermannstadt in German - is one of the so-called Siebenbürgen, cities founded by Saxon Germans during the middle ages. The city centre consist almost entirely of Renaissance style buildings painted in pastel colours and, as a result, is a quite enjoyable place to stroll around. Would recommend, and what I've seen of the other Siebenbürgen, Sighișoara and Brașov, makes me thing all of them are worth a visit if you enjoy historical towns.
Amusingly, we encountered a (former) celebrity from our home country there.
>>1037503
Also, Ask Me Anything obviously, will answer to the best of my ability.
Anyway, after a hearty breakfast and playing the tourist for a while, we headed back to the train station and took the train to Ucea de Jos, from where there is a minibus to Victoria. The two connect fairly well, so we were told by local Daniel. As far as people and language goes, by the way, Romanians tend to be a rather friendly lot on the whole, and the younger generations usually speaks English fairly well. That said, I must say the Romanian I learned did come in handy when trying to communicate with older people, or in more rural areas. Romanian isn't all that hard if you've learned other Romance languages before - or if one of them is your native tongue.
Having arrived in Victoria, we set out for either Podragu or Turnuri cabana. Romania, having been isolated behind the Iron Curtain for decades, has developed an extensive system of internal tourism, which is still intact and functional. As a consequence, there's more waymarked hiking trails over the country than you can imagine, and the waymarking standard beats any I've seen, including more famous hiking destinations like New Zealand, Finland, Ireland and so on. There's also many mountain huts where one can buy food and accomodation for a very reasonable price (cabanas in Romanian) as well as unmanned huts.
Also, minutes after having started walking, our friend M got caught in a small tornado right after he'd applied sunscreen. Despite being caught in it as well - not nearly as bad as him, however - I did have a good laugh.
Pic's the view to the Făgăraș.
>>1037507
The trail was easy enough for the first two hours or so, leading through the forest along a roaring river. Quite lovely - pic related.
However, that didn't quite last, as, the Făgăraș being the highest mountain chain in the country, the terrain did go up quite steep ere long. Despite being the designated pack mule on account of my experience and constitution, this didn't really bother me that much, and my best friend wasn't faring any worse as until recently his job involved walking most of the day. The other two guys, however, who work in an office evironment, quickly started to suffer - it was still quite hot too, even if it temperatures were less high than in Bucharest.
hi OP, heard about georgia and how lovely the nature is there, thinking about going there next summer, how many days do you recommend and how do you divide them? i'm planning on renting a car, should i rent a 4x4?
>>1037510
So, long story short, we only arrived at Turnuri cabana after dark, and I had to carry two extra bags because the office workers - incidentially also the ones without hiking poles - were exhausted. The cabana itself is located just at the treeline. We had a bunch of food and ordered a round of schnapps, which I ended up consuming mosts of, because the rest was too tired to handle strong alcohol. So we ordered a round of beers. Which I ALSO ended up drinking most of, because even beer was too much for my companions. Did some stargazing while I drank the beer, while the rest went to bed in our tents. All in all, I can't say I didn't enjoy it. Woke up to find the place looked like pic related.
>>1037515
Depends on how much time you have and what kind of nature you want to see - the variation within the country is insane, ranging from subtropical rainforests to high mountains, steppes, canyons, forests, and so on. For certain specific areas, you'll need a 4x4 vehicle, for others you can get by without. I'd avoid June and August however, usually too hot. Late May and June you'll find the place to be covered in flowers, from mid to late September onwards you'll find forests in autumn colours. Time required depends on how much of this actually interests you.
>>1037525
After breakfast - and having to down another beer I decided not to drink the previous night - we headed out for a relatively short hike compared to the day before, when we covered around 15km and 1000 altitude meters. This day, we aimed for Podragu cabana and its lakes, which would've been our goal for the first day if it hadn't been for the lack of daylight. Suffice to say that, once past the treeline, the views were sure worth it. Crappy pic related. Made it there without trouble, other than the still mildly scorching sun.
>>1037527
Arrived at the cabana, pitched our tents, and dove straight into the lake, which wasn't exactly warm. Still felt like heaven after a day of sweating, even if there was a cloud cover now. Returned to find our tents being swarmed by the local pack donkeys displaying inappropriate behaviour. They left the tents alone though, and they were quite docile, so we didn't really bother chasing them off.
Made some food, using my fancy MSR Whisperlite stove. Took me a while to set it up - I had only used it with gas before, but now I found myself dismantling the thing to allow it to burn fuel - and then lit almost the place on fire when I spilled fuel due to overpressure and lit it. Good times.
>>1037529
With some daylight left, and not having achieved much, we decided to climb the ridge next to the cabana around sunset. The view did blow our mind - a valley with its own lake, hemmed between sharp ridges, with ever more ridges looming behind - so we spent half an hour there. Pic related, as it the pic in the first post.
>>1037532
That's also the location where we met one of the denizens of the mountains, the local shepherd. He didn't speak a world of English, but I was able to sort of talk with him in my poor excuse for Romanian. Nice fellow. Then, as we descended, we almost got stomped by his herd of sheep which came pouring down the mountain. I filmed most of the passage, it took over 8 minutes for all the sheep to pass. He had a bunch - well, five - large dogs with him as well, one of which turned out the be extremely affectionate.
As for the rest of the evening, it pretty much ended like the previous one - nobody being able to finish their beers other than me, and me having to drink all of it again while stargazing. Good thing I like gazing at the galaxy. I did get a minor scare when the shepherd dogs suddenly went wild for some reason, and one of them passed close by me. Nothing happened though, as I wasn't the thing that set off the dogs in the first place.
>>1037535
And with that, it's time I went to bed. Dumping last pic for today, the general area around Podragu cabana. Will continue tomorrow, as well as answer any questions you may have.
Thanks, travel safe.
Back again.
Next day, we were hoping to do a day trip to Moldoveanu. The weather, however disagreed. Winds of over 100km/h, unceasing rain, the works. One of the tents - which are actually quite decent - didn't survive, and many people out walking were trapped on the exposed ridges which one regularly encounters in the Făgăraș, with no shelter. So we stayed inside the cabana and played cards with a couple of French guys all day, due to a lack of other options.
Pic related is when the weather 'cleared up' for a short while.
>>1037624
We decided to wake up very early next day, hoping to be able to rush for Moldoveanu if the weather had improved - forecasts said it'd be clear until after noon. Staying inside did result in us being exposed to one of the most annoying yet fascinating snoring concerts I've ever heard - people were actually syncing up while snoring, and trying to outsnore one another. We woke up to find the weather was still subpar, and figured we'd better get back to bed. That's when a Romanian came into the cabana, explaining his friend had a serious diabetes attack - a hypo - and was basically throwing up all the sugary stuff they tried to feed him to recover. We volunteered to help, trudged to his tent - full of vomit - only to find his blood sugar was back up to 50, enough to be sure he'd probably be fine.
Anyway, back to bed. Woke up again around 8 or 9am, to find the weather had indeed cleared up. My friend and I decided we had just enough time to rush for the peak and probably be back before the bad weather hit, and so we set off...
>>1037628
...only to end up in thick fog within the hour, covering those somewhat scary ridge. There's a few sections where a misstep may very well kill you, as the Făgăraș has been formed by an orogenic uplift which, while leaving the southern slopes generally accessible by foot, the northern ones often end in a sheer drop towards a valley, a nasty fall - see pic. And then it started raining too, as the wind picked up and blew in the clouds. Fun. We still made for the peak, because the weather wasn't all that bad.
>>1037630
We made it to Viştea Mare, Moldoveanu's sister peak, without much trouble, even if the climb towards it was steep and exposed to the elements. Headed further to Moldoveanu itself, only to discover we had to cross a breach in the crest called Spintecătura Moldoveanului, pic related. Looked scary - it's a short but thin, earthen patch two steps wide with no holds at all, with the trademark steep drops on both sides, and it looked like it was potentially slippery in this wet and windy weather. It almost made me reconsider, but my buddy wasn't keen on backing down with our goal in sight, so that settled matters. We crossed the breach and a few more explosed but less scary scrambling sections and pushed on to the country's highest peak - which is still only 2544m above sea level, but hey.
>>1037632
So we made it there without further incident, but missed out completely on the supposedly magnificent views. Thanks, fog. Had lunch there and started making our way back. Met a only handful of other people all day - four, to be precise.
>>1037525
late may and early june seems like a good time for me, i don't mind the duration that much since i'd be free for like 2 months, and i'd like to see everything special the country has to offer
On the way back down, the weather improved significantly, resulting in a few nice shots.
>>1037637
In that case, having your own vehicle, you could easily spend a month there. I would consider a 4x4 vehicle if you want to see everything, because there's so much to see and do.
Anyway, running through some options. For starters, I'd suggest you visit the Geoland store in Tbilisi (opposite the Public Service Hall) for maps on most interesting regions, costing 10GEL each. They do prints on demand as well if I'm correct.
>Greater Caucasus, including Svaneti, Tusheti and Kazbegi regions: mountains and traditional ways of life. Excellent hiking all around, access through Mestia, Omalo and Stepantsminda respectively. The roads to the first two are long and sometimes tricky, but very rewarding. It's quite possible to hike from Omalu, Tusheti, to Stepantsminda, Kazbegi via Shatili. Only haven't seen Tusheti myself. Picturesque villages with defensive towers all over the place in Svaneti and Tusheti. Requires 4x4 for full access.
>Samthskhe-Javakheti: green highlands near the Armenian border. Hilly, vast and empty. Great lakes and Didi Abuli are nice but not absolutely spectacular.
>Coastline including Adjara and Samegrelo: subtropical climate and hilly hinterlands. Very nice region with a few national parks, including Mtirala and Kolkheti. Location of one of the 2nd biggest bird of prey migration route on earth, visit Sakharvasho for that.
>Tbilisi and Kakheti: dry steppes, getting nicer as you go east. Canyons and cool rock formations, home of the wine production. Vashlovani Steppe is supposed to be very nice but requires a 4x4 vehicle.
There's more, and nature and culture abound. Culture ranges from ancient Colchian sites, ancient curches and monasteries with frescoes to old fortresses, and so on. Can elaborate somewhat further.
>>1037645
Another nice shot. Walk back to the hut was nice and warm. Weather at the hut was similar. We set out back down a bit later, and were greeted by pouring rain for the rest of the day within 10 minutes.
>>1037647
We decided not to push past Turnuri cabana that day due to a lack of daylight and the downpour - even my GoreTex jacket didn't keep me entirely dry at this point. Had some homemade blueberry raki the cabana owner made himself. Nothing short of delicious.
>>1037652
Next day, we walked back down to Victoria in the pouring rain and made our way to Sibiu from there. 15km downhill, much of it over steep terrain, while carrying close to 25kg to allow our two slower friends to travel lighter and walk faster made for a trying experience. I ended up being soaked above the waist - and a huge thanks for my rain pants and hiking boots for at least keeping those parts of me dry. And fuck you to myself for wearing new socks and getting this huge blister as a consequence.
Got some help from a simple local back down in Victoria to obtain food and drinks. He did beg for some money afterwards, but since he was not the brightest, unemployed, and used it to buy food right away instead of alcohol or sigarettes, I'm okay with that all in all. Got a hotel in Sibiu, and ate three huge pizzas in a local restaurant because I was so starved my limbs were positively trembling. Best pizza ever. Did some barhopping in town later, despite not being able to walk properly with the blister. Still had fun.
>>1037645
thanks, took down notes, saying i start in tbilisi obviously what would be the suggested route?
Any word of advice?
We headed to Alba Iulia for the festival from there on, a town with an intact citadel from the 18th century if I recall correctly. Festival was in a small wing of the citadel - very nice and cosy location. My friends got into drunken adventures and such. Good food, good drinks (but be wary of the stronger spirits), good company, good times. That sort of concludes it for Romania. Pic is changing of the guard at the citadel.
>>1037696
Tbilisi has somewhat chaotic traffic - Georgians are somewhat unruly drivers - but is a decent base of trips to most of the country, with the sole exception of Svaneti. Expect to drive half a day to get to Mestia - like, actually 10-12 hours or so.
I'd consider first going east to Kakheti and Vashlovani (and consider picking along Davit Gareji along the way), then head northwest for Tusheti, hike around there. Then hit up Kazbegi/Truso/Juta area if you feel so inclined (maybe hike from Omalo to Shatili, then Juta, if you feel like doing a long hike - but ditch the car in Tbilisi for that, and head for Omalo with a marshrutka to Telavi or Akhmeta, then share a cab to Omalo) back to Tbilisi, heading west to Borjomi NP for example, then further west to the Adjara/Batumi region, consider Mtirala NP there. Head north from there, pick along some nice stuff in Samegrelo/Kutaisi/Zugdidi - the latter two are cities, but not much is going on there. From Zugdidi head into Svaneti and spend some time there; then back to Tbilisi. There's probably loads more to do, but those are good places to start.
>>1037717
To conclude, a random display of traditional Romanian behaviour. This man, dressed in traditional garb, blundered into the festival around 2pm and started playing traditional Romanian songs on his traditional Romanian Tulnic horn and assorted contemporary pop songs. Because.
Will continue with Georgia if anyone's interested. Or maybe even if noone's interested.
Yes please! Continue!
I think I remember your thread, it were a few pictures of the kaukasus right ?
>>1037723
Thanks for the thread OP. Please continue.
>>1037740
Rather a lot, as I recall it. Will continue later, got to run now.
>>1037717
thanks alot for the info, am i going to be sleeping in the wild? because i've never done this kind of trip before, do i need to buy a tent and hiking gear? sorry for noob questions
Cool thread, keep up the good work.
>>1037823
Vashlovani I have little info on, can't say. Omalo-Shatili-Juta requires a few nights in a tent, but there's homestays for most nights. Borjomi may require a tent as well, but there's shelters there too. If you plan to sleep somewhere overnight and have to cook your own food, get an MSR (the better option) or Campingaz stove, you can buy gas in the Geoland store in Tbilisi. Decent walking shoes and proper equipment for a day walk are a must in any case. You can take the hiking as far as you like, honestly, be it doing simple day walks, or doing a hike close to two weeks long.
Pic is Ananuri fortress on the Tbilisi-Stepantsminda Military Highway. The adjacent lake is certainly nice, and has a peculiar blue-green colour.
>>1037863
Back for more!
Ananuri is on way to Kazbegi, as I said, and just like last year I was planning to try and summit Mt. Kazbek, a 5033 (or 5047m, depending on who you ask) peak. Technically easy obviously, I'm not that much of a mountaineer. Took the marshrutka from the Didube bus station to Stepantsminda to get there, costs 10-15 lari. Taxi from city centre to Didube should be 4-6 lari. Metro or bus is 0.50 lari.
>>1037973
Previous pic was a view towards the main Caucasus ridge from the Gudauri panorama. Quite the view you have there. Gudauri is also very decent for skiing, and dirt cheap by western standards.
Arrived in Stepantsminda after noon despite taking the earliest marshrutka - the driver waited until it was full, causing a considerable delay. This basically meant I wouldn't be able to make it up to Bethlemi hut anymore, but I had my tent with me for exactly this reason. Walked from the village, past the famous Tsminda Sameba church, up to and over Sabertse pass. As it was around 6pm at that point, I decided to pitch my tent there because there were only 2 hours of daylight left, and it was still 4 hours to the hut, with a glacier crossing in between.
>>1037974
Previous pic was a view down from the pass. This one is the view up at sunset. Kazbek itself is hiding in the clouds on the right.
The rest of the evening was quite uneventful, the only remarkable things being my realizing the small streams I used for water last year had dried up due to the hot summer, which, combined with the fact that I left my filter in Tbilisi, meant that I was forced to improvize a filter with a bottle and a piece of cloth and drink very cloudy glacier water. And me using a rock wrapped in a towel as a pillow, which worked surprisingly well.
>>1037975
Now if I'd bothered to cross the stream I drank from that evening - I had to cross it either way - I would've found clean water from a pair of small sources I had completely forgotten about. I'm such a genius, but the cloudy glacial water wasn't bad honestly. I'd upload a video, but my laptop is being an asshole and refuses to even acknowlegde there's videos on the memory card. Bastard.
Anyway, next morning Kazbek was kind enough to show itself, and I made my way up rather leisurely - all I had to do that day was walk to the hut, only a four hour walk. Walked up, crossed the glacier without incident - which was far easier than last year, when it was covered in wet snow that hid all the crevasses and made for very slow going - took the wrong path up to the hut end slipped down almost more than I went up, found the right path, and arrived at Bethlemi hut - at 3563m - not long after noon. So far, so good.
>>1037980
Checked in with the management - 30 GEL/night inside, 10 GEL for camping, water and kitchen use included. The toilet has actually improved since last year. It's still only a hole in the floor, but at least now it's somewhat clean, and there's a roof and doors. So, checked in, paid, was shown my room, put my backpack down and tweaked my hip - badly. Tried to walk it off by going up to this small chapel behind the hut. Slogged it uphill instead of taking the path because I didn't feel like walking up to the path. Made it up without problem, back down, made dinner, sat down and realized I couldn't lift my leg anymore. Welp.
It's threads like these that make me want to kill myself or go traveling again immediately
>mfw this semester of school has only just only begun and I wont be able to travel for another 5 months
Hip had sort of improved by next morning, so I decided to set out on an acclimatisation hike anyway, to see how the conditions on the mountain were. Quite different from last year, with all the snow gone. Met Vladimir and his wife Natalia on the way up, and walked together. This also involved having to make our way through this field of crevasses and dirt, which proved to be slightly tricky. Made it up to 4000 meter without incidents.
>>1037992
I'd recommend against the former, sucking it up for five months, then do the latter.
>>1037863
for someone who has never done hiking and camping in a tent before what do you recommend? i'm most likely going alone as well
Champion work mate
We called it a day around 4000m because we were at the Khmaura Wall (pic related) which is very brittle, and has tons of rockfall from around noon. Saw one massive boulder, easily over 100kg, come down, hit a rock, split in two, and sail dozens of meters into the air. Enough to keep us from going up any further, as two people had gotten injured there in the past few days. Both had open fractures on their arms. There was a route across the glacier as well, but we didn't have the required equipment for a safe crossing.
>>1037998
Easiest thing would be to find a good base of operations and do day trips from there. Juta, near Kazbegi, for example, is home to Zeta Camp, a nice camping spot with decent facilities - also has cabins - and a small cafe that also serves decent food. Pitch your tent there and start doing some day walks, return in the evening and either cook something up or eat at the cafe. Maybe drive to Truso gorge, camp a night there to get a feel foot it. Repeat elsewhere. That'll allow you a good degree of flexibility, and lets you get accustomed to the whole camping thing. Once you get the hang of it, maybe do a 2-3 day loop hike in Borjomi for example. Just brainstorming here obviously, those are merely suggestions.
>>1038018
Thanks, this looks like it needs lots of training and planning, so it's ok to go camping alone there?
So back down it was, to the hut. Tried to find a group to maybe join for the push to the summit, but abandoned the idea in the light of my hip flaring up again, and being invited to drink by a random group of Georgians. There was much Georgian polyphonic singing, eating and homemade konyak. Nice evening - same thing happened last year as well.
>>1038087
Don't hit up the really remote areas while lacking experience, and you'll be fine.
>>1038323
Decided to head back down after that night, because the weather was supposed to get worse, and my hip still wasn't up to the task of uphill walking. The walk back down was rather uneventful, found a guesthouse in town, a very nice one at that, and stayed there for the night. Decided to head to Juta gorge the next day.
Took some pictures
>>1038325
...at sunrise that day.
Got transport to Juta, and set up my tent in Zeta Camp. Went for a day hike to Chaukhi pass, but almost got lost in the fog. Took this picture on a clear moment, visibility was limited to 10m for much of the path - which was hard to find by itself higher up due to the ground consisting of loose shale rock shards. Found a bunch of Germans with a Georgian guide and walked along with them for a few hours to avoid getting lost.
I feel like you deserved more attention and responses for this, have a bump
>>1038792
Been busy the last few days, appreciated. Will continue later tonight/tomorrow.
Random pic from Georgia trip last year, Didi Abuli near Ninotsminda in Javakheti.
bumping for great thread
>>1040294
Sorry, still very busy, first time I'm home in four days. Thanks for the bump, I do intend to finish the thread.
>>1040899
do it feggit
>>1041632
On it - finally have some time.
>>1038330
Met a bunch of American/Iranian/Armenian climbers as well. Met up with them for the evening, and returned to my tent rather late, where I was greeted by a big shepherd dog whimpering and begging for cuddles. He even guarded my tent at night.
Yes, I did look rather unkempt, just like the dog - just gotten out of bed, and forgot my shaving equipment at home.
>>1041710
Went for another day way - one a guy I met had tried but failed to complete due absence of a path. Tackled it the hard way, too. First bit was lovely really, flat river valley along the Georgian-Ingushetian border. I did slightly fuck up and forget my international passport, despite knowing there would be border posts. So when I arrived there - they will motion for you to come over - and showed them my simply ID card, I was met with a frown. Luckily, a group of Polish mountainbikers who spoke Russian helped me out. I did catch some of what the border guards were saying to one another, the gist of it being "What's this idiot doing here without a passport?"
However, after showing them on my map what route I was planning to take, and some babbling into their walky-talky, I was waved off with a smile and a joke. Even managed to joke along in shitty Russian.
Border post barely visible in this pic. The mountain ridge on the left is already Ingushetia. You could easily sneak across the border actually. Not that I'd recommend it, you'd get in legal trouble if they caught you.
>>1041715
Random pic from along the way. The area's quite lovely. I do wonder how old these ice deposits are.
>>1041716
After some small river crossings and struggling to find a path - there were only cow trails for a while, I arrived at the valley where I planned to hike up to Chaukhi pass. This is the area where the guy who told me about it eventually abandoned the attempt due to a lack of path. True to his words, there was no path to be found - only a few very vague prints from hiking boots and trekking poles, most of them weeks old. The most recent tracks I've found must've been several days old.
So up I went. Took me an hour to make it to the top of waterfall. As I expected, that wasn't where the pass was - I had guessed the waterfall was about halfway to the pass. Boy, was I wrong.
>>1041717
As I arrived at the top of the waterfall - it had cut out a lovely small canyon through the rock by the way - I realized it was barely one third of the way up, across even steeper terrain. Pic very much related. Fuck me sideways.
To give you an idea of how steep the terrain was: I covered 3km and gained 1km of altitude. You figure out the rest; it took me 3 hours of continuous walking with only short snack and picture breaks to cover those 3 kilometers.
>>1041720
Got to say I was quite happy to finally reach the pass, the hike had been quite strenuous even for who's in very good shape like I am. Honestly, I'd recommend doing it the other way round - first walking up to Chaukhi pass, then descending to the border - if anyone's inclined to try it.
Arriving at the top of the pass, I got to see the Abudelauri lakes I was unable to see the previous day. They we quite small - much like most lakes that are promoted as tourist attractions in Georgia actually.
>>1041721
Fog was still rising up from that side of the valley in thick patches. I did make for a decent picture.
>>1041723
And the view of the Chaukhi range and its valley was quite staggering as well. To top it off, a light hail started falling down, which made a tinkling noise on the loose shale rock - as it the earth itself had become some sort of instrument. One of those moments you won't quickly forget.
>>1041725
Met more Germans, hiked down the valley, made friends with some people there, met a few people from Kazbek, cuddled the dog some more, and decided drinking chacha and hot vodka with yet another German and a lesbian Russian was a decent way to spend the evening. Two nights, a few meals and some drinks there cost me 42 lari. Cheap as fuck, and had an excellent time.
Went back to Kazbegi the next day, took the marshrutka to Tbilisi, declined getting a taxi because they all wanted to overcharge me again, and walked to the hostel. A walk in which, much to the amazement of the workers and security, I did end up in a stone cutting plant, after I had decided to walk through what I think was Vere Park. The plant is barely visible in the lower right corner of the picture. By the way, if you're into such things, Vere Park is the place to be for drinking, drugs, defecation and public sex. Never saw so many beer bottles, dung, needles, toilet paper, tissues and used condoms in my life. Other than that, the walk was fairly uneventful.
>>1041729
>>1041729
Met up with a friend in Tbilisi, failed to catch the night train to Batumi because his flight was delayed, had a nice evening out, ate khinkali - Georgian dumplings - went to bed late and decided we'd take the 10-somethingAM train to Batumi instead of the 8-somethingAM one. Arrived in the train station and discovered there was no such thing as a train to Batumi between 10 and 11AM. Apparently the schedule on railway.ge isn't always up to date. With no other options left, we decided to take the marshrutka. Far less comfortable, and a tad more expensive and slower, sadly. We arrived at our homestay in Sakharvasho a few hours before this sunset.
>>1041732
Little known fact: because the lesser Caucasus and the Black Sea coast form a natural bottleneck, Batumi is the site of the second biggest bird of prey migration on our planet. Over a million birds are counted every trek. It's the main reason I went there. Was on one of the counting stations for a day, we counted ~30 000 birds that day. It's quite incredible to see a thousand raptors form a large group - named a kettle - and collectively soar up. Many different species, and we were very lucky to see Imperial Eagle and Saker Falcon that day.
>>1042032
The trek also means there's a lot of hunting - there's a few hills there that are covered in dead birds, and I'm not exaggerating - and falconeering.
Went to Kokheti national park the next day. Was hoping to be able to kayak there, but apparently funding ran out after they set up the kayak route, and there was no money left to purchase the kayaks. Took a boat trip instead. Spent some time on the beach waiting for the boat to depart. Beaches further away from the resort towns are often covered in trash. And shoes. Georgians seem to love throwing shoes in the sea for some reason. We did see bottlenose dolphins there.
>>1042035
Random Kolkheti pic. It consists of a large lake, surrounded by smaller canals bordered by trees - full of kingfishers. On the lake, the greater Caucasus makes for a very nice backdrop, but my camera isn't really good enough to really capture that properly.
>>1042738
Returned to the homestay and got a massive diarrhea attack that ended up nerfing some of my travel plans. Managed to catch a train to Tbilisi the next day - couldn't buy tickets online anymore, but they were still available at the station. There's a new train station in Batumi by the way, opened in August, so you don't have to go to the Makhinjauri station north of Batumi anymore.
Pic is Tbilisi old town. Nice place to just stroll around. Lots of balconies. Pictureque and so on.
>>1042740
The old town is being renovated nowadays - mostly around the Nariqala fortress - and it's paying off.
>>1042742
And the botanical garden, right behind the fortress, is one of the nicest I've seen so far. It's in a gorge cut out by a stream, so there's a lot of relief and some waterfalls. While you're at it, consider paying a visit to a bathhouse. They're built around the warm water springs, with public and private rooms available for a very reasonable price.
>>1042743
Bumping, had an extremely busy weekend yet again.
Enjoying this thread a lot OP. I plan on going within the year.
Bumping this thread for OP. Would love to hear more about this trip.
>>1037496
Holy shit
Got any more images of Tbilisi or any old Georgian towns?
Also, what month was all this?
>>1037503
Geez, that's a cute street. Nice picture!
>Amusingly, we encountered a (former) celebrity from our home country there.
Who was it?
>>1044509 Thanks!
>>1044803 pic related, Nariqala fortress.
>>1044816 Sabine De Vos - used to be on TV and radio here until she got cancer, from which she clearly recovered
Also, apologies again, my laptop died, hence the lack of updates. Had to go to my parents to be able to make this post.
>>1045619
Also, I went in September. Warm and stable weather, little rain, but the land is fairly dry at that point. Last year I went in June, and while the weather was somewhat less predictable, everything was green, vibrant and covered in flowers.
After having recovered from the diarrhea - which threw off my plans to attempt Kazbek again as well as visiting Svaneti right before that - I headed off to Mestia. Best way to get there from Tbilisi is to take the night train to Zugdidi (18-25GEL/2nd-1st class) and there hop on a marshrutka to Mestia, there'll be a few waiting at the train station. Or fly from Batumi for 65-75GEL. Coming from Batumi, your best bet are still those early morning marshrutki.
Pic is Mestia. Svaneti, as you can see, is littered with defensive towers named koshkebi. There's supposed to be 175 of them in Svaneti. There's also a bunch in Kazbegi and Tusheti (and Chechnya and Ingushetia - both sides of the main Caucasus ridge basically), each with their own typical style.
>>1045628
Met up with a few random people at my guesthouse - Nino Ratiani, full board for 45 or 50GEL, meals 10GEL, tent 5GEL - and went for a walk up to the Koruldi Lakes. Again, like most of these small likes in Georgia, not very spectacular. The scenery around them however, also as per usual in Georgia, was well worth it. These are the twin peaks of Usha, the most badass mountain (read: extremely challenging to climb) in Georgia as seen from the cross above Mestia. Cab ride to the cross is 100GEL including waiting time, but that price will get you a Mitsubishi Delica which can take 7 people all the way up.
Wow man, not every Russian have balls to travel through Caucasus. I mean there are a bunch of tourists who have been there, but things they're telling on the Internet differs a lot.
Somebody says, that Caucasus is a land of very hospitable and open people. Others telling cool stories how they were gangbanged and hardly got out alive.
So I think it depends from the area. I would suggest you not to leave the main trail. If you dont want to find adventures on your yankee ass.
Anyway, for russians (yes, I am russian, dont ask me how I got there. And yes, sorry for grammar in advance) Caucasus is a wild land of anarchy and crazy people.
>>1045641
>So I think it depends from the area.
Basically this. Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan still seem to be the dodgy areas, along with South Ossetia. Still, as far as I know, one can travel there in relative safety. Was in Kabardino-Balkaria last year, seemed safe enough. Definitely exploring more of the Caucasus if it calms down.
>>1045635
Wanted to bike to Ushguli and back the next day - 90km, but I've done quite a bit more in a single day over more less rough but more hilly terrain in the past - but when I saw the available bikes I decided against it, the gears weren't functioning properly. Took a marshrutka along with the rest of the group (200GEL there and back, 2h drive, can be done even without a 4x4 if the road conditions are normal and you know how to drive). Ushguli is riddled with towers, and is very picturesque. The location, with Shkhara, Georgia's highest mountain, as a backdrop, only adds to this.
>>1046495
>if it calms down
LOL. It's never gonna happen. Futhermore, situation nowadays safer than it should really be, beacuse of shitload of money wich Cremlin dotates to the Chachnya. Wat is not over, its just in stasis for now. When the policy of government will change, Caucasus will ignite again.
>>1046495
From Ushguli, we walked all the way to the foot of the mountains in the back. Quite nice, easy flat walk with one river crossing and farmers bringing in the hay for winter.
Walked up the glacier a bit. Went back to Mestia. Ate something.
Then, one of the highlights of the trip: partycrashed a Georgian wedding with my new friends. Failed to keep my glass empty for more than one minute, despite my best efforts. Long story short, the Georgians kept feeding me cha-cha, and I kept drinking at a breakneck pace. Probably downed close to a bottle of homebrewn cha-cha in three hours. There was dancing, drinking, eating, traditional chanting, drinking, many conversations in broken Russian, and more drinking. Realizing I'd probably end up with an alcohol poisoning if I didn't head off, I left to go to sleep. Only now, more than a month later, I've managed to piece together the evening, because I had the first blackout of my life the day after. Quite jarring, because I have a notoriously good memory. No real hangover however - only a vague headache - which was brilliant.
>>1047694
I'm thinking across the span of several decades here - I'm relatively familiar with the current situation in Chechnya, and have been reading up on the local history since the Russian conquest until now. So I know it's Kadyrov keeping things in check with his private militia and Kremlin support, a situation that's still not stable in the long term. I'll see how it evolves in the coming years and decades - might actually be able to travel along with Chechen friends who migrated to my country due to the war
>>1047713
So, woke up without hangover on my last day in Svaneti and set out for a walk to Chaladi glacier - 25km both ways. Pic is still Ushguli, these towers date from the 11the century or so. The oldest ones in the village are well over a 1000 years old.
Bumping for when OP has Internet again
