Mt. Kazbeg, Chechnya, and Prometheus

Trip Start May 15, 2007
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Trip End Aug 29, 2007


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Flag of Georgia  ,
Wednesday, July 25, 2007

On a clear day you can see the beautiful snow-capped Mt. Kazbeg, 5033 m, from the mineral springs.  Today was such a day and the view was amazing!  The mineral springs resemble Pamukkale in Turkey except that they are orange rather than white as Pamukkale was calcium in the water and these springs have iron and sulphur.  I tasted the water and found that it was naturally fizzy!  The water had a distinctive taste and, if I did not know any better, I would have that that it was carbonated. 

Walking up to the Church of the Holy Trinity from Kaxbegi village was a pleasent walk.  Unfortunately, the clear skies did not last long enough as clouds had rolled in to obscure Mt. Kazbeg by the time I made it to the church which is sited majestically on a hilltop below the peak of the mountain.  Mt. Kazbeg is the mountain in Greek mythology that Prometheus was chained to after giving humans fire.  He would later be released by Herakles (Hercules).  It was fromthis vantage point that I gazed into Russia and Chechnya as we could not go any further north as the border between Georgia and Russia is closed for everyone.  Grozny and Beslam were so close!
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