Travel in Georgia, first part west Georgia

Two weeks in Georgia, Kutaisi and and the Svaneti region, four days hike.

Travel in Georgia

First I want to say that this is about the country in the Caucasus region, on the Black Sea, near Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia, so if you were looking for a state in the USA you are in the wrong place, but I invite you to continue because you can see fantastic nature and read about an excellent adventure.

I travelled to Georgia for two weeks in September visiting a big part of the country, this month is the end of the main touristic season there. Moving from one place to another can be time-consuming if you use public transportation (marshrutka) or hitchhiking, but it can be authentic and interesting. 

After my experience in Kyrgyzstan in 2021, I wanted to visit another ex-soviet country, I am interested in the background, culture and history of these countries and Georgia is the second of a long list.

In this post I will talk about the western part of the country, the city of Kutaisi, and the western Caucasian mountains: the Svaneti region, I didn't visit Batumi and the Black Sea.

Kutaisi and surroundings

From Budapest, there is a direct flight to Kutaisi, so for the first, I visited this city, which is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the third most populous city in Georgia, second in importance after the capital Tbilisi. From October 2012 and December 2018, it was the seat of the Georgian parliament.

The city itself is small, there is not much to do or to see, but it has a friendly vibe and it is worth it to visit, there are nice bars and restaurants, a cable car that passes over the river and the central market is big and very interesting. The landmark of the city is the ruined Bagrati cathedral built in the 11th century, in the below picture.

Near Kutaisi, there are several beautiful places to visit, monuments, villages, parks, and a lot of nature; I went to Satapalia natural reserve, the Gelati monastery and the city of Tsakaltubo, hereafter some news about them. 

Satapalia natural reserve

The natural reserve is reachable with public transportation, bus number 1 goes to the border of the city near the skate dome and from there, a marshrutka goes 3 km to the reserve, yes you have to walk this distance, the alternative is hitchhiking or calls a taxi. The reserve has a cave to visit, it is around a kilometre long, a small museum, and a glass observation deck built above a cliff.

The name Satapalia can be translated as "honey place" bees used to live in small holes and caves and honey was harvested by the local population. The reserve is also famous for dinosaurs' rest and footprints and in the park is possible to see dinosaurs models. The reservation features a crater of an extinct volcano, the site of a human of the stone age. 

Gelati monastery

The monastery is 20 minutes from the city by Marshrutka, so very close. It is a medieval (1106) monastic complex founded by King David IV of Georgia. The monastery was built to celebrate the Orthodox Christian faith in Georgia. It is a UNESCO world heritage site since 1994. The monastery was designed to be visible over much of the country, there are archways throughout the monastery, including the bell tower.

Tsakaltubo

I have a passion for abandoned places, I visited some also in Kyrgyzstan and Budapest. This city is close to Kutaisi so I spent one day visiting some buildings but I talked about it here.

Svaneti region, Mestia - Ushguli hike

It is possible to hike from Mestia to Ushguli, it is well known four days hike in the Caucasian mountains, every day is possible to stop by one village and find accommodation in a guesthouse and the kilometres to walk are between 10 and 17 per day.

Mestia is a tourist city in the mountains, is easy to reach from Kutaisi or Tbilisi by marshrutka but be aware that the trip is long and the streets are not comfortable. Before starting the hike, a suggestion is to withdraw cash in Mestia because in the villages there are no ATMs and the guesthouses need to be paid by cash, and also to buy some food from the supermarket for the hike, not much because in the accommodations is possible to have breakfast, dinner and lunch boxes.

Mestia is at 1500 m (4921 ft) altitude and it has a population of 9000, the hike leads to a maximum of 2700 m (8858 ft) altitude at the end of the second day and beginning of the third near the village of Adishi. The end is in Ushguli at 2100 m (6900 ft) altitude, which is one of the highest continuously inhabited settlements in Europe, compared to Mestia, which is a developed town, Ushguli is not an accessible location, about 70 families live in the area, that is snow-covered for 6 months of the year, and often the road to Mestia is impassable.

I wasn’t able to finish the hike because on the night of the second day, it started to rain, and thunderstorms and I didn't have time to wait for the weather to get better, I passed two nights in Adishi, where I found good hospitality and eat nice food, I used that time to rest because there wasn't much to do, the village is small, 20 families live there, and sometimes electricity was missing. From Adishi I went back to Mestia, and from there to Kutaisi. 

Svaneti is a historic province in the northwestern part of Georgia, it is inhabited by the Svans, an ethnic subgroup of Georgians. Svans are bilingual, they use both Georgian and their own, unwritten Svan language. Svaneti is known for its architectural treasures and beautiful landscapes, the Svanetian tower houses were erected mainly in the 9th-12th centuries, and as you can see from the pictures they make the region's villages more attractive. These tower houses were functional for the hard winter of the region, the families were living in the upper part, the animals in the bottom and in the middle there was storage, with the high quality of these unique houses and exceptional preservation, the community of Ushguli in upper Svaneti was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1996.

I suggest watching Dede, a movie in the Svan language, where the director and majority of the actors are from Ushguli and other actors are from the Svaneti region, it was in a lot of film festivals like Sundance and Cannes and got a lot of prices. 

In the next post, I will write about Tbilisi, Kazbegi in the east Caucasian mountains and the wine region of Kakheti.