Hotel Cheget Prielbrusye

... and 13th century there used to be a rich duchy called Torgwa Pankeli, named after a Georgian aristocrat. The duchy was surrounded with massive walls, fortifications as well as signal and fortified turrets. Within these fortifications the Georgians built many Christian churches, whose ruins are still visible in every corner of Pankisi.

Pankisi is a land of Sufi brethren, both male and female, a region inhabited by Muslims and Christians ...

... the old time (merely 1 or 2 hundred years ago), protection from government was non-exist so each family needed to have a defense tower to protect themselves against bandits, rival clans and what not. In the rest of the country one village may have one defense tower, but over here each family has one. So in each small village there is cluster of more than 10 towers, looking from afar they remind me of chimneys in an old fashion factory ...

We felt the famous Georgian hospitality right at the border: we got a lift to Tbilisi without asking. From there it was only 10 km and an easy bus ride to Mtskheta, the ancient capital of the country and still its spiritual one, where we planned to spend the night.

Despites its importance, Mtskheta is a quiet and small city. We found a great homestay/hotel in the old town, across the street from Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, an enormous building inside a ...

... rocks and holes or cut by mudslides. We also drove to the border with Russian before heading for Tbilisi, 3 to 4 hours away.

On the way to Tbilisi, we stopped by two view points, one of which is a large, round building with big mural made by colored tiles, and the much photographed Ananuri fortress (14th century) with its church, built in the 17th century.

After a night in Tbilisi our next stop would be the wine country of Georgia, located in the SE side of the country.

... two hundred years as a part of Russian and USSR, she is struggling to become a viable country. Entering Georgia struck me as returning to Ukraine, since both countries have been parts of Russia/USSR for more than 200 years, it is not surprising (but depressing) to find out that there are a lot of similarities between them: trash, ugly buildings sloppily built and even more sloppily maintained, lousy customer services (this is better in Georgia), expressionless ...

... so far! Its a very poor country though. Tis my birthday today & i'm having a bad taste party! All dressing up in clothes that we brought in the local market....Georgians don't have the best fashion sense! Having a big bonfire & lots of vodka! So its short & sweet but alls good & I now realise this is my life, this is what I do!!!!xxxxxx

... daring acts of British courage in the face of predatory adversity. But unfortunately my gallantry extended only to rushed mindnight forays into the bushes for several rather unenjoyable urination sessions. Jackals are (apparently) not dangerous to humans. This said Natias friend had to kill two Jackals when camping in the same place we had put ourselves in. If you want a picture here's Wikipedia's take: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_jackal. Had I ...

... bis er 15 war) und Stalins Eisenbahnwaggon... Alles in allem sind die Bewohner der Stadt stolz auf ihren bekanntesten Buerger... Die Stadt hat ausserdem einen kleinen Bazaar und eine Burg, die die Stadt auf einem Huegel im Zentrum dominiert. Gruss Ralf

... over the top of the rose-hued mesa away from Goreme and Uchisar. Spot a fox climbing the escarpment. Cross the mesa and come down over the Fairy Chimneys which we can recognise. From the balloon vantage point, we can see a lot of the first day's tour - Imagination Valley, the Zelve open air museum, Goreme, Uchisar and the village in the valley. Our hour is still not up, so do another loop over the mesa, finally coming down on ...

... I knew I should expect some statues and pictures of the dictator, but nothing has prepared me to what I discovered in my 6 hours visit to Iosef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili's hometown. The marshrutka entered Gori and arrived at the central bus station, which was located just under Gori fortress. Before going to Stalin's museum, (which is one of my interests - not Michal's), we wanted to visit the ancient settlement of Uplistsikhe ("god's fortress"), a few kilometers ...