Svaneti - ancient towers and stupendous mountains

  Mestia, Georgia
Friday, June 6, 2008

Sunday 1st June  Goreme-bush camp
            Picked up at 6am for the balloon flight (265 YTL each). We are the second flight  of the day, and our driver is in contact with the balloon,  so he knows approximately where it is going to land.  The sky is full of

01. Mass balloons at Goreme

02. Balloons Goreme

brightly coloured balloons, though ours is a plain grey. After it lands, we hop in one at a time as one person hops out, so that it won't take off before we're ready. We have ten paying passengers plus two crew. Have to leave our bag behind, and end up in separate adjacent compartments. They have leather cushioned top edges, and lots of soft rope loops to hang onto.
   The takeoff is very smooth, although quite noisy with the roar of the burners, and quite hot on the top of the head. It feels very smooth and safe, but certainly not as exciting as a helicopter ride. We stay mainly fairly high, with the breeze taking us 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.

03. Fairy Chimneys from balloon, Goreme

04. Zelve open-air museum

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,

06. In the hot-air balloon-Goreme

05. Unusual land formations near Goreme

finally coming down on the road near the Fairy Chimneys. There isn't a lot of traffic, so are able to skim the road, physically guided by the ground crew, and off to the side to put down directly on the balloon trailer, towed behind a tired-looking Range Rover.
   Have our Champagne, but no breakfast, buy photos, then take photo of photos -have to explain that we have paid for them, we're just not sure they'll get home in one piece. Get our certificates, then back to the camp via a Fred Flintstone pension in Goreme to drop off the other balloonists,
   Breakfast at camp, and off in the truck to the East. Pass our first day tour viewpoint, and leave via Urgup, heading for Kayseri, and Sivas.
   Photos of snow-capped Mt Erciyes (3916 metres) and green fields on the way to Kayseri (population 603,700, elevation 1067 metres). Stop at a servo on the outskirts to get food for lunch,. Photo of interesting bread cart with very long Turkish loaves. Decide to have a go, and drive the truck into the city to find the Citadel, which was orginally constructed out of black basalt in the 6th century, and extensively repaired around 1224, and numerous times since. We find it, but find ourselves in a narrow street, with no hope of parking. A good Samaritan sees us, and offers to show us to a truck park before we get pinged by the police for being in an out-of bounds area. The truck park is in a pretty grim part of town, but he offers to guide us to the Citadel. Once he gets to the centre, half the group split off, the others are taken to a Caravanserai, where his uncle just happens to have

07. Caravansarai in Kayseri

08. Fortress in Kayseri

a carpet shop. Have excellent apple tea, then sit through a boring carpet session. Jerry is somewhat of an expert, and can see that our guide is less than honest. MP makes the first break, walks around, photographing the excellent old building. Others leave later, with the guide washing his hands of returning them to the truck. Fortunately, we were all keeping track, and managed to find and walk through the Citadel, which was pretty interesting, with the original structure now a vibrant market area. Follow our earlier truck course, and other landmarks, to find the truck. MP detours to photograph an unusual old domed structure in a truck park - welcomed by truckies, and has to photograph two Kurdish truckies before getting away.
     Rollng green grain fields and plowed fields to the horizon, large massif with snow to the east. Take a leg off the road up a steep hill to an old quarry bench for a lunch stop.

09. Truck lunch

Bread, cheese, tomato, cucumber and bananas for a good lunch, with views over green wheatfields.  After lunch, travel over a pass through steep, rocky country, then back out onto the plains before Sivas. Photos of the usual groups of new high rise apartment blocks. Drive right into the city centre, and find a quasi-legal parking spot for buses, and given about an hour till 6pm to look at the town.
   We are parked right across from an enormous mosque. Walk through an ancient market building, possibly another caravansarai, then to the main roundabout/square, with the ruins of the Cifte Minare Medrese, a 1271

10. Cifte Minare Medrese, Sivas

11. Medrese, Sivas

seminary with two brick minarets which retain some of the original green/blue tiling . Across a lane is the Sifaiye Medreses (1217), with a similar grand, carved portal. We also looked at a 1580 mosque, and checked out the tea garden set up in the Buruciye Medresesi, reached through another grand portal, in the Iranian style. The tea garden looked totally appropriate for the space, so had a good look around at the building and crowd of clients. Unfortunately DP picked up a "friend", a young bloke who seemed a little short of all his marbles, who was determined to "help" us. Found him very hard to lose, even as we hurried back to the bus. A middle aged man saw our plight, and abused the friend. He hung back for a while, but still persisted
Back at the bus, we had most of the team, but were being hassled by two poilce on foot, and one in a car. The drivers tried to wheedle "just a few minutes more", but we had to leave Dan, and take a long loop down the road. On the way are tooted by a persistent taxi. Turns out to have Jerri aboard. On the way back, see that the rest of the team are there, being hassled by our "friend".
   On the way out of town, stop at a waste land which is used as a truck park and construction waste dump. Collect, for firewood, a store of left-over timber from formwork. Surprised that no one comes to give us a hard time, or charge us for the wood. 

12. Central Turkey landscape

13. Bush camping Turkey first night

Drive on through rolling hills of grain till we find our next camping spot. There is a turnoff from the main road, and a rough, steep gravel track leading up through cultivated land towards a high ridge. Dan ran ahead like a Kenyan marathon runner, found us a spot where the truck could turn around (just) with considerable difficulty, and a flat field which had been harvested, for the tents.
   It is our turn to set up the cooking gear, so learn on the job, setting up the two tables, two handwashing basins, three dishwashing basins, the cooker, bins of food, pots and pans, cutlery, utensils, chairs and stools.
   Our new tent seems to work OK (the old one had a broken zipper) though both pick up fibreglass splinters from the poles. The night is cold, and breezy, so glad of the fire. The first cook group does a good lamb risotto, with DP's watermelon for dessert.
   A few of us sit round the fire till late, and we are the last to bed. DP goes to loo, leaving her parka on the seat. When we come back, lucky to have it, as it has been blown into the fire pit. Cold night, light rain in the early morning.
Monday 2nd June  Bushcamp-Trabzon
            Pack up and into Zara, a small non-touristy town for breakfast.

14. Main street Zara

Must be the equivalent of pension day, as there are LOTS of old, wizened people, dressed in black, shuffling around. They've obviously had a hard life, and look completely different to the strong, tall younger people.

15. Dam on main road to Black Sea

16. Mountain village

          We're now heading in a North-Eastly direction towards the Black Sea. Come across an abandoned truck trailer with all that remained of its large load - broken beer bottles and the blue crates they were in.

17.The great beer catastrophe

Stop to take photos, and get one of the blue crates to use as a step on the truck.
Continue on to Susehri then

18. Sebinkurchisar castle

Sebinkarohisar, which has a castle on the hill. Climb over one pass.  
            Climb our second pass of the day - 2200 metres. On the way down, about 1pm, it becomes obvious the brakes are getting too hot - the repair at Goreme has not worked. Eventually decide it is too dangerous to continue downhill, so continue at a very slow pace till we find somewhere we can pull over and have lunch while Jim and Dan fix the brakes.  Just to make it more interesting it is freezing cold and there is light rain. This is just

19. Mineralised mountains

20. The fog sets in

21. Long-haired sheep

22. Mountain village

23. Lunch and repair stop

past Ikisu.  Don't get underway again till 2.45pm.  It's become obvious that we're not going to have time to go to Sumela Monestary today.  Just before Deneli we pass a contingent of policemen, and a tank with a soldier inside the turret, turning it to keep an eye on what is going on.  Have a good look at us, but don't make us stop.
            Finally reach the Black Sea at Giresun, but definitely not anything special.  Stop at a servo.  The man

24. Black Sea near Giresun

25. Hazelnuts growing

speaks English, so Dianne has a chance to find out what the bushes are that we've seen everywhere around here, including at the back of the servo.  Turns out they are hazelnuts, which is quite surprising, because we thought they would be growing on trees, rather than bushes similar to raspberries (which is what we thought they were).
Drive into Trabzon along the coast road.  Lots of high rise.
Have to drive a long way past the main town before we realise we've gone too far (or possibly because we missed the correct turns).  Because Jim and Dan haven't been there before takes a while to find the Anhil hotel. Going downhill, realise we've passed it, so have to do a very scary U-Turn  in the narrow, steep street, and approach it from below. Unload bags onto the sidewalk. The truck depart, leaving us to haul the bags up a long flight of steps. The room keys are ready, up the stairs, but can find every room but ours. Number is over the door, hidden in deep shadow. Find Natalya in our room, have to kick her and her bags out.
The room is surprisingly good, our own bathroom, lots of hot water, and cable TV, all in obscure languages, except the Hustler X-Rated TV channel, which doesn't need any language to understand what is going on.
Have arranged with Jerri to go out for a fish dinner. She has a recommendation from the hotel management, and directions. Almost miss it in the main square, as there is construction, and the place is less pretentious than we were expecting. Twigged it from the fish frying odours, then looked at the Murat name.

26. Fish dinner at Trabzon

27. A BIG beer!

28. Street market Trabzon

Fish were presented in a glass case, pick your fish, roughly 10TL for a plate-size bream lookalike sea bass, then they add grilled onion and tomato to make a meal. We opted for half a sea bass each, while Jerri had a full bass, a mullet, and anchovies, and managed them with no trouble. Our meal, with two cokes came to 17 YTL.
After, we walk the square, run into Paul and Rob, who were on their way to a Beer Time bar. At the bar, run into Dan and Jim, order a special 2.5 litre beer, which is a long glass tube set in a plastic base, with a tap on the side. Quite colourful, but a lot of beer. DP internets, then back to the hotel for a noisy night, and a tug-of-war over the very narrow bedsheet. End up topped and tailed to solve the problem. As we have an early morning start, take the phone off silent for the alarm, woken in the night by a phone call from a mystery number.
Tuesday 3rd June                                    Trabzon (Turkey)
Set the alarm to meet Jim at 8.45 for the run to the Georgian Consulate Discover, with 5 minutes to go, that there is breakfast included in the price - cheese, boiled eggs, jam, bread, coffee or tea. No sign of milk, but OK.
Jim has had the hotel line up a taxi, a small, new Skoda, with a full sunroof. Set off with Jim and Fulvio, who also is Australian, 
Seems a long way through the narrow streets, but get there by 9, to find opening time is 10. While Jim finds a bank, we walk to the nearby Attaturk Park, for photos of a museum mosque, and a traditional wooden elevated granary, then down along the old city walls. Loop around to the consulate and wait for the Consul to turn up in his CC Mercedes. Before entering, he finds we are Australians, and saya we don't need to apply in Trabzon. We follow him into the consulate, trying not to contradict him, but making sure he is right, as this is different to our recent information. Trying to work out how to get to talk to the woman secretary, but are reasured when a younger official confirms the advice.
   Have till 2pm to get back to the hotel, so decide to walk the 2km to the Aya Sofya Museum, which was built in

29. Asa Sofya Museum, Trabzon

the late Byzantine period between 1238 and 1263. Pass through interesting streets, and see an excellent street market near the stadium. Find that the museum is the unusual Italian-styled building seen from the highway yesterday.
   We are short on cash, but pay the 2TL each entry. It is well worthwhile, with pretty architecture, and interesting frescoes. Get a dolmus off the street nearby back to the main square for 1.5TL, Get bread at a ripoff price of 1TL, and lunch on bread and peanut butter and Vegemite. Because of the difficulty in getting the truck out of the tight hotel parking which caused minor damage to Daphne's bum on the way in, the drivers chartered a dolmus for 140TL for the 46km trip to Sumela Monastery, which was founded in Byzantine times. This turned out to be a good idea, as faster, and suitable for getting us to the top of the hill at the Monastery.
   The route inland up the river showed us a different side of the town, then good views of the gorge and tumbling river on the way up.
   We have an impasse at the National Park entrance, as there is a 16TL charge which Jim insists is in the price. Gate keeper appears to settle for 10, but our driver is not happy. We stop at the picnic area, but further insistence by Jim gets us all the way up the 3km climb to the top, past some spectacular gorge scenery, mostly obscured by low cloud. Daphne would have made hard work of this, even if permitted.
   We have forgotten umbrellas or raincoat, but DP has her NZ parka, so we cop it sweet, and climb the well-made path to the monastery, which, in the fog, looks nothing like the impressive photos we've seen. When we arrive, can see the massive arches of the aqueduct hard against the cliff face. Pay entrance, and up a long stairway to the portal into the monastery proper. Anthor long flight of steps down into the monastery courtyard, with rooms off to the side facing the abyss. All we can see is fog, with a fine drizzle blown in by the light breeze.These

30. Sumela Monastery

31. Sumela Monastery in the mist

32. Path from monastery

rooms have fire places, and some frescoes. Down at the courtyard level is the main exhibit, the church which combines external stonework with a natural cave, and there are closed gates to other sections, There are dozens of tourists, with guides explaining the monastery and the frescoes in many languages.
   Get talking to a Sundowner tour group who have come through from Beijing, heading to Istanbul, in 39 days.Talk to a pleasant bloke from Wagga Wagga, also Americans. Can see we will not need 2 hours in the rain to see it, so look around, then back to meet Jim at the ticket office. Take external photos of the aqueduct through the mist, then back to the dolmus.

33. waterfall near monastery

Take some waterfall photos on the way down, then back to Trabzon without incident. Arrange for another fish dinner at 8pm. Find Paul and Nick at the cafe, which is quite small, with a table for 9 set up, and worrying that no-one is going to turn up. MP offers to go back and tell the girls, but Paul remembers that he was supposed to meet them in the lobby. Settle down with 7 of us, and we order the full sea bass fish each -just as good as last night. Incident when a fat, dark man uses the back of the cafe, where we are, as a refuge from some large, suited dangerous-looking types. He's on the phone, possibly calling in help.  Eventually all go out into the street, Paul follows them to see the action, and sees a number of police cars, and our friend being dragged off in one.
   DP goes to the internet, MP back to the hotel with Jerri to borrow a card reader. Finds DP has located one, and do short internet, then back to the hotel for a quieter night, probably just because it's the second night.
Wednesday 4th June                     Trabzon (Turkey) - Batumi (Georgia)
            We're now heading to Georgia. In classical times the two principal kingdoms were Colchisi in the west (legendary home of the Golden Fleece that Jason and the Argonauts crossed the Black Sea to find, and site of Greek colonies) and Kartli (also known as Iveria or Iberia) in the east and south, including some areas in modern Turkey and Armenia. In the early 4th century, Georgia became the second country to adopt the Christian faith, a quarter century after Armenia.
Russian troops crossed the Caucasus for the first time in 1770, and by the 19th century had annexed all the Georgian kingdoms and princedoms. Georgians had a brief period of independence from 1918 to 1921, in the wake of the Russian Revolution, but it wasn't till the USSR disintegration, that they again became independent in 1991. For the next 12 years there were a series of civil wars (South Ossetia, and Abkhazia, which declared themselves independent), crime waves, kidnappings, infrastructure collapse, corruption etc etc. In 2003 there was a bloodless coup, called the Rose Revolution after the flowers carried by the demonstrators. There was then four years of relative stability. A new political crisis erupted in late 2007, and they have just had an election, and it remains to be seen what the public's reaction to this will be. We know there have been a number of demonstrations,
For all these reasons we're very interested to see the country, but also going with some trepidation.
Leave Trabzon 7am.  Follow the coastline, which starts to improve. A lot of the way it looks like a construction site, with piles of dirt having been brought from somewhere else.

34. Tea plantations near Rize

35. Towards Georgian border

Stop at Rize, which is the centre of the tea-growing area, for half an hour.  Buy some great big, dark, juicy cherries for 3 YTL per kilo. Walk the streets, take photos of the old fortress, and old style wood frame houses which have lost their stucco finish. Good views back into the valleys, with slopes covered with tea plantations.
    Just after passing through a very long tunnel, we are pulled over by the police, who say we were going 7km over the speed limit, and want to fine us US$72.  Dan and Jim spend a long time trying to convince them that we weren't, even showing them the truck's tachograph, which confirms we weren't. They then say that the tachograph must be wrong, and they still have to pay the fine.
Get to the Turkish/Georgian border. Through the Turkish side quickly and with no problems. Everyone else has no problems on the Georgian side, but the three Australians have to get a visa.  Had been told in Trabzon that we could pay in US dollars, here they say we have to pay 60 GEL (Georgian lari)
                        1.43 lari   =  US$1
They keep our passports, and let us go through to the bank to change some US dollars, and then come back and finalise the visas.  They have a shiny new computer screen and fancy printer to print the visas. The equipment is supplied by the US Dept of Homeland Security. We speed up the process by filling in our own forms, meeting early disapproval, but part friends.
   The truck has problems, as the drivers put it through the bus lane. Takes customs a while to come to grips with this type of vehicle. It is actually a flatbed truck with a passenger compartment added.  Loaded it weighs 13.5 tonnes, and carries 700 litres of fuel and 200 litres of water. Before they left England they also filled it up with £340 (approx 60 kgs)worth of food   supplies.
No searches, board the bus and head out, picking up ZsaZsa, our 60-ish Georgian male guide, who will accompany us the whole time we are in Georgia. 

36. Black Sea improves after Georgian border

37. Real beach near Batumi, Georgia

38. Flood plains near Batumi

The Georgian coastline is more natural, looks better, but no fishing boats. Lots of gum trees. Not long to get into Batumi. Do a quick circuit of main street, then pull up outside Hotel Mercury, a 3ish star hotel. Quite reasonable when we check in, although the staff acted fairly Russian. Has an indoor pool and sauna, rooftop bar and terrace, good views over Batumi.
   After moving in, set out toward the port, find the waterfront eating area, the port, with a strange steel hull which has been gas-axed almost to the waterline. It has a weird underwater periscope unit just forward of the beam.

39. Some Batumi architecture

40. Fishermen, Batumi

41. Batumi seafront at its best

42. Batumi seafront at its worst

43. More Batumi seafront park

There is also a "pirate ship" moored at the end of the wharf. Walk to the sea beach proper, try the water and find it brisk, then walk along the coast toward the playground area, which looks pretty sad, definitely pre-season, with some preparation for the season under way. Large ship-theme restaurant, fun rides for kids, small cars, strange trikes, take photo. Walk back through town, the more upmarket area, looking for the reported food area, but don't find much. Cutting through the back streets, DP pings a local man with a large, hot, square pastry. Track his moves back to a hole in a wall with a counter and hotplate. Get the last two pastries, the local cheese filled khachapuri, which really hit the spot. At 1.2  Lari each, a cheap and filling lunch. Back to the hotel for a rest, then out to find the main square and the statue of

44. Statue of Medea, Golden Fleece and Argona

Medea and the golden fleece. Turns out we had been here earlier, just didn't recognise the elongated figure on a tall marble column. From here walked to the main church for external photos. There is a lot of action so have a look inside. Lots of seemingly devout

45. Fashionable streets Batumi

46. Fervent worshippers, Batumi

47. Not all Batumi architecture is flash

worshippers. Ask permission for an internal photo from a disabled priest, who gives the OK. Cross the main drag, walk the back streets, looking at decaying housing, an immaculate sheet metal shop making wood stoves, with an elderly tradesman looking after it.   Walk the market streets, meet some of the team and arrange an 8pm meal. Decide not to walk the docks, as they have only wide roads and security fences.
   Back at the hotel, climb to the terrace, find the bar is not open, probably not the season yet, do diary and catch up on reading guide books.
   Leave about 8, head for the flash restaurant overlooking the port. Choose the top level, but can't get a table next to the rail. The waitress is particularly surly, a reminder of Russian attitudes, team decide she is "Svetlana" . Gives us only one menu among the 5 of us, grudgingly finds a second, with different prices on some items. The "old" menu has the lower prices. MP orders mullet, DP trout, others various dishes. Paul starts with caviar and something else flash, ends up with the local dish - a bread roll with, among other things, a very raw egg. Katherine also gets one of these, complains to the waitress that the egg is not cooked, gets no apologies- "that's the way they are supposed to be". K has to pour off the liquid egg and salvage what she can. DP orders a 12 Lari champagne, so MP cancels his beer order to help her. Not a bad drop.
   At the end of the meal get an itemised bill which seems to be out by 10 Lari, but can't be bothered sorting it out with our surly waitress, so all chip in to make up the exact amount.
  Set the alarm for an early start. Good nights sleep on separate beds
  Thursday 5th June Batumi-Mestia 
We are surprised when our guide says we are going to Svaneti in the Caucasus Mountains today, as the route is close to the border of the breakaway region of Abkhazia, and the old Lonely Planet says to avoid the area as there were lots of reports of armed robberies.  However we're reassured that it's safe, and the new Lonely Planet, which came out a month ago, says that the leader of the gang and his son had been shot dead, and others gaoled, in 2004, and since then things had improved.
Breakfast at the hotel bistro, fill in our Azerbaijan visa forms and hand in with our passports and US$20 each, to ZsaZsa the guide, On the road by 9am - north along the coastal plain. Coastal area has a lot of large derelict buildings, and smaller inhabited houses. The Black Sea looks good in the bright sunshine.
By 10.30am we can see high, snowy mountains to the east, and an unbroken snowy range to the north - the Caucasus.
Georgia has a much wider coastal plain, and large estuarine lakes at the mouth of a very large river, the flood plain of which extends back 20 or 30 km.
   Stop to buy provisions for several lunches, breakfast and dinner in Zugdidi, a regional centre with a large

48. Mountains from Zugdidi

49. Caucasus Mts getting closer

covered market and surrounding open air trading area. MP's team only has to cover one breakfast, decide to use stock cornflakes, and milk by other more serious shoppers.
   On his way back, looking for non-gaz water, MP puts his head in a liquor shop, finds half a dozen locals inside drinking toasts. Forced to drink a plastic cup of local white. Not too bad, buys a gaz water in return for 1.2.
   At the bus, recommends the shop for Jerri, who only has a token toast, but buys a bottle of the same champagne as we had last night.
            Dianne spends the whole time buying provisions for the lunch and dinner she has to prepare with Paul and Fulvio.  We've decided on pasta, and have a lot of trouble finding ingredients, and agreeing on what to buy with our allotted 40 lari, taken from the kitty we paid at the start of the trip.
   Our road out through the town passes through a derelict industrial area, and then through farms toward the serious mountains. Can't believe how beautiful the views are.
Couple of near misses from cars overtaking at dangerous spots. Cross a major river with a weird cat's cradle stayed/suspension bridge, and start a serious climb beside a deep, heavily forested gorge. Near the top of the

50. On way to Mestia

51. Mountain meadow lunchstop

climb, pull off into a very picturesque grassy meadow, with wild flowers and cows for a truck lunch of bread, sausage, tomato, onion, bananas. None of the crew has ever eaten banana sandwiches, and not keen to start. Photos of the gorge, snow capped mountains, and the hydro dam from just at the top of the meadow.
   Climb over a saddle and down into the valley with the dam. We are stopped at a UN check point with a gun

52. Dam on way to Mestia

emplacement, but allowed to proceed. Road is fairly rough, cut into the steep sides of the valley, with long drops to the water. The water is quite dirty with glacial silt, lots of floating timber, and the water level is quite low. There are old and new high tension transmission lines strung over the dam along the road. The old one is quite decrepit, with frayed wires and bent and rusted towers. There are places where the power is tapped off into transformers, and distributed locally, and the workmanship is as rough as guts. We follow a truck carrying an army tank converted for log recovery for a while. There are a few small settlements, mainly for timber getting.
   We come to the end of the lake to where a large, fast river enters, well below the top dam water level.  Once we get above this level, the river emerges from a tunnel in the hillside. There are extensive earthworks and abandoned civil structures here, including an oddly sloping concrete dam wall. We are told by ZsaZa that it is an abandoned Russian dam project. The river reappears later, but we don't get to see the coffer dam and diversion tunnel from the upstream side.
   From here the road climbs steadily along the river gorge, sometimes cut into the cliff walls, and hanging out over

53. Road on way to Mestia

54. Riding on top of the truck

55. Valley floor village on way to Mestia

56. Mountains near Mestia

the river on steel cantilever structures which have seen better days. The river gorge is steep and heavily timbered with both pine and deciduous trees, and there are now snow-capped mountains to front and rear. Unfortunately, MP has a seat on the left side of the truck, and almost all the view are out the right side, so has to balance in the aisle and shoot through other people's windows. The Chinese camera battery is also playing hard to get, will only shoot a couple of photos before needing a rest. Towards the top of the climb there is a wonderful flat floor on the valley 500 metres below, with a large village and patchwork fields, and a snowy mountain backdrop.
  While slowly negotiating a bump in the road, we hear a loud crack from below the truck. Dan jumps out and looks under, finds we have broken the back of one of the helper springs on the left front axle. Looks like the axle is still firmly located, so we can proceed slowly till we get to somewhere we can fit one of the spares we carry.
  As we can't travel fast, might as well get the passengers up in the roof seats. DP is first up the back, then sees that the front is also available, so walks the roof, convinces MP to do the same, set up over the driver's cab, on a hard seat, with a roller-coaster bar across to hang onto. It is hard on the back, so get Jim to retrieve DP's pillow to cushion her back. Just as well, as it is a rough ride, even at low speed.
   The 360 degree views are superb, and the photography is better up here, with no dirty window, but have to do a lot of shots one handed, holding on with the other. We proceed slowly all the way to our Mestia, our destination village (population 2500). Now coming on dark, so miss out on good photos of the defensive stone towers the area is famous for.
   Check out the village, and all the way through to the soccer field on the far side, where we will camp, It is now past 9pm, and lightly raining, and no-one is looking forward to putting up tents and cooking dinner , so when the

57. Mountains beyond Mestia

58. Dinner at homestay in Mestia

drivers make an executive decision, and book us all into Nino Ratiani's homestay, we're all very pleased. Most end up 3 to a room, some on sofas, but we get our own double. All twelve of us, plus the family, have to share the one combined toilet/shower room.
   We have bought provisions for our evening meal, and consider getting the guesthouse to cook for us, but they are able to rustle up a magnificent meal of soup, stew, pastries, and a sour yoghurt, which comes good with a bit of sugar, plus an unlimited supply of a pale, and thankfully weak local rose wine. Lots of toasts all round, particularly Dan and Jim, plus Paul, and MP in a minor role. Discussion of relative merits of rugby and soccer, and supporting the nation turns heated, but no harm done. Proposition to charter a minibus for 180L tomorrow declined in favour of a walk tomorrow. Midnight by the time we get to bed. Fairly good sleep under a heavy doona.
   Friday 6th June Mestia
  Dan and Jim both late starters.  They are to spend the day fixing the spring, which they think will probably take about six hours. Have a good breakfast - cooked egg, brawn, bread, coffee and yoghurt, then wait for instructions. By the time we have sorted that we will walk to the glacier rather than climb to the viewpoint, which may be obscured, as the day is very overcast, Jim fronts, and  loads bags into the bus. We all set off walking

59. Mestia at start of walk

60. Towers Mestia

61. Looking up valley from Mestia

62. Mestia with towers

through the village, across the bridge, past our camp site and the airport, and around a bend in the river, approaching the gorge. There is an old vertical shaft impulse wheel mill, now disused, but the cabin is still locked. Pass a number of disused buildings, including a large, long, multistory one, with a circular annex which could have been a restaurant. There is a ski lift opposite the town, but no sign of runs. The walkers have strung out, with ZsaZa, Rob, Paul and Katherine as the sprinters, Nick and Fulvio in the middle, Natalya and us as the plodders. It is a long way, probably 10km in all, one way, with much of it on reasonable gravel road, used by timber getters and

63. Cow with piston cowbell

64. Bridge on walk at Mestia

dairy herds, which feature diesel engine piston cow bells, surprisingly musical. The scenery gets more  alpine as we climb, get to a fork in the valley, which has a suspension bridge, and what looks like a toll-collector's cottage, complete with savage guard dog, but we pass unmolested.
   Beyond the bridge, ZsaZsa is talking to two ranger types, tells us to follow the red and white GR type markers, some of which are yellow or orange. There is a separate track, don't know where to. The climb starts in earnest here, up through pine woods, then traversing to the river. There are a number of what look like deliberate obstacles, which we ignore, find ourselves on the moraine slope below the glacier, which has an impressive ice-fall higher up, and a long slope of rock strewn ice below.
   We see some of the others high up the slope, across an old avalanche, where the track indicators lead, but when we get up there, find the rocks very unstable, even the big ones. Climb gingerly down, find markers across grassy flats, and stop part way up the ice slope. Rob, Paul and ZsaZa climb high up to toast the glacier with

65. Glacier at Mestia

66. Alpine forest and alpine weather

67. Alpine scenery Mestia

vodka, come back to insist we toast also. A pretty savage drop, but it does warm the cockles.
   After sharing bread and biscuits, head down. Have trouble finding the path for a while, then it starts to rain fairly heavily at first, then lightens to a persistent drizzle. Much faster on the way down. Natalya takes a hard bump on the head from the badly designed stairway off the bridge, so we wait for her to cross the danger zone of the savage dog, but he is smart enough to stay indoors out of the rain.
    We take it easy on the way back, others take off. We hang back to walk with ZsaZsa, but he is on the phone a lot, and tells us to go ahead. Swap boots on the way back, but both end up with sore feet, MP with a blister on the ball of his foot. DP stop to lay out the poncho and take it easy at our camp, MP trudges on all the way to the village square, where the drivers are just finishing the spring repairs.  Finds DP already there, having caught a ride on the local bus for the last kilometre. Both Jim and Dan look totally exhausted, and are covered in grease.  As we're free-camping, they can't even have a shower. They have both been fantastic during the trip. Nothing is too much trouble, and they are willing to fit in with what the majority want.  Having a local guide in Georgia has meant there are no disadvantages from the fact that they haven't be here before. They also have the notes from previous trips, plus the GPS, which enables them to find the free-camping spots without any trouble.

68. Defensive towers Mestia

69. More defensive towers Mestia

70. Successful repair team

           We don't have the energy, or time, to explore the town or some of the 175 towers, most originally built between the 9th and 13th centuries.  With hindsight, we would have preferred to explore the town, as the walk, though nice, was nothing special, and the glacier paled somewhat when compared to our experience three months ago of landing on Franz Josef Glacier, and spending two hours exploring ice caves, tunnels etc.
   There is a disagreement about whether the meat left in the fridge at the Minimart Guest House should be recovered and if so by whom. DP has to bear the brunt as the person who made the suggestion that the meat be put in the fridge rather than spending the day unrefrigerated in the truck,  so she and Nick make the long walk (well, it wasn't long, but it felt like it after our previous 20 kms). The truck is about to go to the camping ground, and it is not all that sure they will pick them up, or at least wait for them, but they turn up in the nick of time, so the question doesn't arise.
    At the camping area MP nearly takes a swim getting a bucket of cold water for DP's recently acquired bottle of 5Lari sparkling wine. As it turns out, not worth the effort, as it wasn't drinkable. Wonderful view of the mountains from our tent door. Very tough and over-spiced beef, mashed potato and baked bean meal. Fulvio went and recovered a stack of fire wood, put a fair bit of it on, then went to bed. MP last up, looking after the fire. Finally took out the biggest log and doused it with the champagne bucket water. Cold, with a lot of cow noises in the night, one hard up against the tent in the morning.
            Svaneti has always been isolated.  The road wasn't put in till the 1930's.  During the communist era there were plenty of tourists from other communist countries, but there haven't been many in the last few years, particularly when people read the Lonely Planet comments.  The guides only come out every few years, and the problems can have been solved long before the guides are updated.  We've been surprised just how beautiful (if treacherous) the drive up is, and the valley is truly spectacular.  No doubt the word will get out, and the tourists will come.
            However, tours like Dragoman don't give much benefit to the village.  We've been surprised to find that we are free-camping not because it's a necessity, but to save money.  If it weren't for the unusual circumstances of the late arrival and rain, we would have camped for free on the football field.  We would have eaten food bought from larger towns to the South, or even in England, and we used fuel bought in England.  The only input to the local economy would have been the odd drink, chocolate etc.  Staying in a local homestay brings money into the community, as well as giving us a chance to talk to the locals, and try  the local food.