Today we drove the Georgia Military Highway with the Maka and her father driving his Lada. It was 160 km and took 3 hours and 45 minutes to get to the Russian border. The highway was built in the late 18th Century by Russian troops to connect Georgia with Russia across the main Caucasian Range. It runs from Tbilisi to Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia. During the days of the Georgian kingdom, it was heavily guarded with stone watchtowers, still everywhere.
The scenery was spectacular- green carpeted hills followed by huge snow capped mountains. We stopped at Ananuri Castle, a 16-17th C fortress and two churches. We went over Krestovy Pass, 2379 meters above sea level, through the towns of Pasanauri, Gudauri and Kazbegi. Gudauri is a famous Georgian ski resort – used primarily by heli-skiiers. It started when a Ukrainian mercenary pilot, taking a winter break from the war in Abkhazia offered people heli-skiing for $10/day.
We saw the Tsminda Sameba Church in Gergeti and went all the way through the Daridi Canyon to the Russian border.
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Photo courtesy of Flickr
Along the way, John stopped to buy a few local sheep hats.
We got more insight on life from Maka. She talked about life in Georgia, working 70 hours a week, making $120/month. She also had us howling talking about the James Brown concert (which we missed by a day). He was staying at the Sheraton and she said that when he arrived at the hotel, he walked in the door and screamed, “I feel good”. He then proceeded to clean out the mini-bar and walked out without paying. And, she said, “He looks like a monkey”.
Once back in Tbilisi, we stopped at the Hungarian Jazz café for a cold beer and listened to the Blues Brothers (and another song with great lyrics, “No matter how high I get, I’ll still be lookin’ up to you”)
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