The Long and Winding Road
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
On our way to Sumela Monestary Ned met the Turkish Army, they exchanged e-mail addresses and facebook details so they can follow him on the rest ofhis travels, never thinking he'd ever see them again. However later that night Barry and Pauline discovered their laptop had been stolen so the police were called and the arym turned up. The person they asked for was Ned Kelly whilst creating a perimeter around the campsite. The army then told the owners of the campsite to return the laptop which miraculously turned up the next morning! Ned saved the day!
We left for the Georgian border on Saturday morning which was a surprisingly easy border where the only problem was the locals trying to barge their way in. Once accross the border we met Zaza our local guide who will be with us for the next few weeks. We headed for Batumi, which we'd describe as a bit of a building site, and checked into our "luxury yacht" for the evening. Zaza oerganised a Georgian evening for the group that night which involved lots of great food, dodgy dancing and numerous toasts, a great night was had by all.. even if Mike doesn't remember!
An early start the next morning for Mestia, a small town in the Caucasus mountains. Supposidly motorways lead us to the town but you could harldy describe them as dirt tracks! As we winded up through the mountains the roof seats were occupied which gave us amazing views throughout the valleys, we were later joined by the police who "escorted" us until they discovered we were driving too slow. We checked into our first homestay, which is really a house which the owners move out of whenenever they have guests. They have been extremely generous and have stuffed us full of amazing food for 2 days, in fact the trip could be renamed "Obesity Overland" with the amount of food we have all eaten. In attempt to burn some calories some of the group headed out for hikes. We headed for a glacier with Mike, Heather, Lesley, Jim, Neill, Kylie and Zaza which started with a bumpy journey to the snowline in an old soviet landrover. The views were incredible and our skiining skills (without skis) were tested. One our way down Zaza took us to a local bar to taste the Georgian signature dish.. meat bread. Others went for a hike up another mountain and the rest of the group headed for Ushguli - the highest permanently inhabited village in Europe (that's if you can say Georgia is in Europe).
We left for the Georgian border on Saturday morning which was a surprisingly easy border where the only problem was the locals trying to barge their way in. Once accross the border we met Zaza our local guide who will be with us for the next few weeks. We headed for Batumi, which we'd describe as a bit of a building site, and checked into our "luxury yacht" for the evening. Zaza oerganised a Georgian evening for the group that night which involved lots of great food, dodgy dancing and numerous toasts, a great night was had by all.. even if Mike doesn't remember!
An early start the next morning for Mestia, a small town in the Caucasus mountains. Supposidly motorways lead us to the town but you could harldy describe them as dirt tracks! As we winded up through the mountains the roof seats were occupied which gave us amazing views throughout the valleys, we were later joined by the police who "escorted" us until they discovered we were driving too slow. We checked into our first homestay, which is really a house which the owners move out of whenenever they have guests. They have been extremely generous and have stuffed us full of amazing food for 2 days, in fact the trip could be renamed "Obesity Overland" with the amount of food we have all eaten. In attempt to burn some calories some of the group headed out for hikes. We headed for a glacier with Mike, Heather, Lesley, Jim, Neill, Kylie and Zaza which started with a bumpy journey to the snowline in an old soviet landrover. The views were incredible and our skiining skills (without skis) were tested. One our way down Zaza took us to a local bar to taste the Georgian signature dish.. meat bread. Others went for a hike up another mountain and the rest of the group headed for Ushguli - the highest permanently inhabited village in Europe (that's if you can say Georgia is in Europe).
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