Ushguli is a village community located at the foot of Mount Shkhara (5,268m) and the mouth of the rivers Enguri and Kvishiri at an altitude between 2,060 and 2,200 meters. It is considered the highest permanently inhabited place in Europe. Ushguli consists of the five villages Murkmeli...
Today we hired an off-road car (500 GEL/day) to reach remote villages hidden in Svaneti Mountains. Our first stop was the original and authentic village of Adishi, a small mountain village situated in the middle of the mountains of the Greater Caucasus – in Upper Svaneti between Ushguli...
The whole day we drove through breathtakingly wild and mysterious Svaneti, an ancient land locked in the Caucasus, so remote that any ruler never tamed it. We were passing uniquely picturesque villages and snow-covered, 4000m-plus peaks rising above flower-strewn alpine meadows (in the...
We drove through Adjara, an autonomous republic in Georgia, in the southwestern corner of that country, adjacent to the Black Sea and the Turkish frontier. Adjara was under Turkish rule from the 17th century until 1878 when it was annexed by Russia and attached to Georgia. From 1922 to...
We entered Georgia through Bavra / Ninotsminda border crossing. There was nobody on Friday afternoon, so we crossed the border fast, with easy procedures on both sides. We bought the compulsory insurance in a booth in front of Ninotsminda town. The next day we decided to continue to...
We woke up early to get a view of the twin peaks of Mount Ararat (Ağrı Daği). Mount Ararat is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in the extreme east of Turkey. It has figured in legends since time began, most notably as the supposed resting place of Noah’s ark. The western...
We took the main road from Goris and then turned on a dirt road about 3km before the town of Khndzoresk. The bumpy road brought us to a viewpoint and a cafe (closed), as well as a squeaky 160m suspension bridge over the gorge. Dug into volcanic sandstone on the slopes of Khor Dzor (Deep...
We spent a night in the valley of the Vararak River in the town of Goris. The main attraction are the cave shelters of Old Goris carved into the hillside on the east side of town. They were probably built and inhabited in the 5th century. Several trails lead up over a saddle with epic...
We took an impressive “flight” on the famous Wings of Tatev above the ravine of Vorotan River to the Tatev Monastery. It is the longest cableway (🎫7000 AMD/return) worldwide (5752 m), recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. It takes 12 minutes to reach a monastery built by...
Our last stop today was one of the most spectacular sites in Armenia, the Noravank Monastery. It was founded by Bishop Hovhannes in 1205 and sensitively renovated in the 1990s. We arrived right time at sunset, the reddish hues of the dramatic cliffs surrounding the monastery were...