Kazbegi: mountains, a church and adrenaline

After some ten days around, it is clear to us that Georgia is a great travel destination: fantastic landscapes and scenery, age-old history with loads of castles, churches and fortresses as a lasting testimony, great food and drink, and very welcoming and friendly people.

Our itinerary is quite straightforward: from Tbilisi, we went to Kazbegi (in the Kaukasus mountains, in Georgia's North), back to Tbilisi, then onwards to Gori and Kutaisi, with Poti as a last halting point.

Kazbegi is a rather secluded mountain town where cows and dogs roam the streets. The town is not particularly charming in itself, but the surrounding mountains present a wonderful scenery, with mount Kazbek towering over it all at 5047 m. We based ourselves in Kazbegi, from where we did two day walks: one to the church of Tsminda Sameba (Holy trinity) up a mountain, and another northwards through the Dariali gorge. On our first walk, we found ourselves accompanied by one (and later two) dogs, who kept on running in front of us and then waiting for us to catch up, thus effectively showing us the way.

The road to and from Kazbegi was again a bit of an adventure. On the way to Kazbegi, our minibus ploughed through wet snow and slippery sludge across the Jvari pass, scarily close to the edge of the road and to the steep cliffs beneath. Without winter tires, of course. On the way back, more heart-stopping moments were our share: now, the pass was effectively snowed over and visibility was minimal. Our fellow passengers were very, very quiet (as were we), with only an occasional "Oh my God" (in whatever language) being uttered. But we made it back safely to Tbilisi... those candles we lit in those Orthodox churches really did work!