Hiking. Medieval towers, grandiose mountains and vivid traditions ... Between Europe and Asia, this country of Cocagne redoubles authenticity.
A tourist climb
While our minibus faces landslides and torrential overflows, Giorgi, our guide, explains : "Former socialist republic, Georgia became independent in 1991. But the Rose revolution did not take place until 2004." Land of banditry, Svaneti, historical province located in the north-west of the country, " been pacified in favor of
these democratic reforms ".
These high valleys with rich cultural heritage are a paradise for hikers. Today, " the region relies on tourism to preserve its lifestyle," says Giorgi.
It does not matter the ten hours of road necessary to travel the 495 kilometers from the capital Tbilisi ... At the Russian border, the vision of the crown at 5,000 meters of altitude already puts us in legs!
The svane towers
Upon arrival in Mestia, a regional base camp, emblematic medieval towers set the stage. One can imagine how the fierce Svanes resisted the Arabs, the Persians or the Ottomans. "In troubled times, Georgians gave them icons and valuables," says Giorgi.
From flowering meadows to refreshing forests, from cheese pies ( khachapuri ) to home-made glasses of brandy ( chacha) , exploration culminates in the Unesco-classified hamlet of Ushguli. The highest place in Europe (2,200 meters above sea level) inhabited all year by seventy families, at the foot of the sparkling Mount Chkhara.
Touchétie National Park
Recluse behind the Gombori Pass, east of the Greater Caucasus, Touchétie seems even more at the end of the world. To reach these lands of transhumance, from June to October only, you have to brave 70 km of vertiginous tracks dotted with dry stone watchtowers. The adventure, pedestrian or equestrian, leads to the meeting of shepherds and their flocks, neighbors of wolves and bears.
On accordion tunes, home hospitality takes banqueting notes. As for the pagan customs that persist here, in a Christian Georgia since the fourth century, they seem very orthodox!