Georgia - Mountains

Fri 10th Oct

There are few major roads in Georgia, we take the one which goes in the direction of Tbilisi. Along the way we see crops of bamboo, citrus fruits and tea. The sun is shining and the sky is blue. We have left autumn in Turkey it seems and go back to shorts and T shirts. In the distance are the snow capped Caucuses.

Driving in Georgia is a style of its own. Overtaking appears to be something which is only done on blind corners! The roads are two lane, except when it comes to blind corners when the cars behind you overtake two abreast head on into two more cars doing exactly the same thing in the other direction! Somehow it works but it is hair raising. This, along with avoiding the inevitable wandering cows, donkeys, horses, dogs and for the first time since before Turkey, pigs.

Pulling off the road for the night, we drive down to a river bed. It is pleasant and out of sight but above us to the right is the main road and above to the left is a railway line. Neither stop all night, still we could certainly be in worse places!

Sat 11th Oct

Today we reach the town of Gori, famous for being the birth place of Stalin. In a modern motorway service station we manage not only to try our first cheese pie, a Georgian speciality, but also hook up to some internet. After much searching we purchase a phrase book and some tourist maps. Home for the night is beside a lake, up a long dirt road; found not by the newly acquired paper maps Richard was so desperate for but via my map.me app on the iPad! The paper maps do give us chance to plan a route taking in the three things that are must sees in Georgia: mountains, monasteries and wineries.

Sun 12th Oct

We follow the Georgian Military Road into the Caucuses. Here Autumn is in its full bronzen glory, it is spectacular. En route we stop at what we thought was going to be a fort but was actually a church, then on and on up the military road, which ends at the Russian boarder.

As we start to look for places to stop, Richard spots the Gergeti Trinity Church. It is at a height of 2,170m! Poor Fay! This time their are no cars or taxis, every vehicle is a 4 x 4. If I am totally grey by the time we return home, please google this place and the track to it! I might of been tempted to enter the church for a quick thank you but it's orthodox and they have as strange a view on women as the strict Moslems we encountered in Pakistan.

From the warmth and sunshine of this morning, we end the day with snow around us. We have had all four seasons today, thankfully all of them dry.