Thor's Outdoors!: Visit to the Caucasus

Latvian layover - July 6th

The trip to the Caucasus started early in the morning as my flight left Göteborg at 6:00 and the taxi came to get me at 4:30. Luckily I was in a superb mood as I had some inspiration to draw on in form of a quotation from the Dalai Lama! Yesterday I’d been to the Gothenburg Tibetan Buddhists Association celebration of the Dalai Lamas birthday (which was on Monday, so today) and they gave me a gift with the following quotation:

“Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.”

What great words to begin the day with! Landing in Riga I made my way to the tourist information office, picked up some brochures and bought a bus ticket to town. 25 minutes later I jumped off bus line number 22 by the central station. It was a beautiful morning and after wandering around a bit (the area by the station is a bit confusing, a large open air market right outside next to a big mall, plus lots of underground walkways under the large roads) I sat down at a cafe for breakfast and to plan my day. As I was sitting at the cafe a large group of young men and women dressed in traditional costumes gathered in the area in front of the station and sang folk songs! It was very beautiful, the music, the flower wreaths in the girls hair, and the morning sunlight on the entire scene. I decided that I would try to arrange a guided bicycle tour of the city! As it was Monday morning, there weren’t many other tourists around though, so it would only be me in the tour and instead I just rented a bike and would go exploring myself. The owner of the bike rental place was named Gustavs (it seems that all Latvian names end with S) and was very kind and excited to show me different possible routes. I headed northeast out of town on a hybrid/mountain bike with a bell that would ring with every bump. I quickly arrived at a long straight avenue that took me to Mezaparks, the large city park which also has concert venues. It was quiet and green and very big with trails and paths disappearing into the woods. Well on the other side I continued towards the coast but before that I saw a tragic sight! A large truck had overturned and its entire load of beer in glass bottles had smashed against the road and was ruined. The police were there seemingly not knowing what to do, and one could smell the beer in the air.

Cycing through Mezaparks

The sand only got deeper

Time to cry over spilt beer

As I approached the coast I took a shortcut through the Piejura national park there and ended up having to push the bike for about a kilometre through deep sand before popping out again near the pier that poked out into the baltic sea with a lighthouse at the end. It was interesting looking west towards Scandinavia! Although of course one can’t see across. As I headed back my butt was starting to hurt because the saddle and bike were less than optimal, and it was also starting to rain a bit. I pulled on my jacket and stopped also at a store to buy some juice and a pastry. In town I stopped at a park to look at a map and it started raining harder so I took cover and made use of the free wi-fi to chat with my sisters for a bit. There seems to be free public wi-fi all over town! After returning the bike I ventured into the old town and saw the main sites including St. Peters church and the statue of the Bremen musicians, also the House of Blackheads and the Sweden gate. I had a pizza and some local ‘Bear-ripper’ beer when it was raining at it’s worst and before long jumped back on the 22 to the airport. Almost fell asleep standing up in the bus… Finally made it to the gate to continue the trip to Tbilisi!

Made it to the lighthouse

Enjoying a 'bear ripper' beer while it rains in Riga

Day one, transfer to Shatili! - July 7th

Another super early morning! The flight to Tbilisi landed at about 4 in the morning and I was super tired, although not grumpy. Pappa, Amanda, and Maia were waiting for me at the arrivals, so good to see them again! We drove into town and passed many impressive modern buildings including the ministry of justice and the seat of government once we were close to downtown. The area by my fathers and Maias apartment building is a giant construction zone currently and quite chaotic and dusty. The actual apartment building I must say was quite dirty, with some trash on the floor and seemingly nobody taking care of it, but the interior of the apartment was paradise in comparison! They explained that nobody tends to the apartment building and even the elevator is coin-operated. Seems like the focus is on keeping the inside of apartments top-notch while the outside can be a little run-down. After a few hours of delicious sleep it was time to have some breakfast and re-pack for the mountains. Maia had arranged for a driver to take us in his toyota land cruiser to Shatili. Interestingly the car was hybrid gasoline and gas and we stopped both to fill up on both. Seems like a lot of cars (and especially in Armenia) use gas in Georgia. I was still sleepy so missed some of the drive but was awake for when we started climbing up to the main pass at 2680 meters we had to go through. The road got twistier as the mountain became steeper and the clouds were getting closer to us as it was cloudy and foggy and somewhat rainy. At the pass visibility was very limited and we saw some shepherds huddling in their coats looking over their sheep as the rain came down. The descent towards Shatili seemed not to take too long although the drive in total was about 5-6 hours. We passed some small villages and saw our first proper tower by Kistani! It was still raining as we arrived and Shatili looked quite menacing. The village is a series of rock and stone towers built together so that it became a fortress of sorts with no streets but rather paths and covered walkways between the buildings.

Tbilisi morning along with Mais brother

Pit stop before we got to the mountains

Foggy and wet conditions up to the pass

Amanda and medieval village Shatili

Fortress village of Shatili

Our view across the river where a judo camp was being held

Our original plan was to start hiking that very afternoon, but with the late arrival, tired travellers, and the rain, we decided to stay here for the night. As we tried to find an available room we walked to the top of the hill to ‘new Shatili’ where the locals live. The old village with the towers is now all tourist accommodation. We found a tall big man who apparently was a friend of Maias father and ran most of the tourist hotel business in Shatili. He said he had no vacancy in the towers, that most make reservations months in advance and all he could offer was a small shack with no view and not as charming at all as the towers. We had our camping gear so we thought we’d just set up our tents and ask for a warm meal, but Maia went off to make a call and stumbled across a woman who ran a hotel in a different part of the towers. How fortunate! And the first proprietor had purposefully not told us about the other hotel although we had asked! Things turned out fantastically! We got two rooms, with nice beds and linens and towels and electric lights. Even bathrooms downstairs with hot water, showers and even washing machines! Crazy contrast given how these buildings were constructed and where we were. The woman running the hotel was only there for the summer, and had her daughter and son with her to help run the place. After resting for an hour or so we had a delicious dinner with soup, shashlik (grilled skewered meat) made with the meat we had brought, and salad with the juiciest reddest tomatoes you can imagine. Even had some delicious fresh milk for dessert! It was heated and naturally sweet, just perfect! I was glad that we had stayed here for the night as it was still raining, and we went to bed early to rest up.

Great start to the hiking! - July 8th

What wonders a proper nights sleep can do! Woke up to see my father looking out over the balcony across the river at a group of Georgian boys doing some kind of wrestling training. Turns out it was a Judo camp, and it was fun to watch these guys (aged about 8-16) do squats, walking squats, balance exercises etc in such an environment. Breakfast was delicious with eggs, cheese, bread and jam. It was still raining a bit, but much better than the day before. We packed up and after some well wishes from the family hosting us, set off on our first day of hiking! The first two kilometres went north along the river until valley opened up a bit as another river joined from the east. At this point (less than 1000m to the border with Chechnya / Russia) there was an abandoned village where about 100 years earlier some kind of plague hit the village and all the sick went off to live in smaller huts near the river to be separated from the rest. Nobody survived and now we could see the huts where the sick had lived, with lanterns and coins in the windows and human remains visible inside. Strangely, there were also dead mice scattered around the area, at least 6-8 and they were all severed in the middle with their guts poking out. Maybe a bird of prey brought them there but never ate them? We turned south-east into the next valley and by now the rain was gone and the sun was shining strongly on us making for terrific hiking weather. We passed some smaller huts with small vegetable gardens but did not see any people. After nearly 10km of total hiking we stopped by flat grassy area by the river to have lunch, and I also took advantage of the nice weather to jump in the river for a swim! It was mighty cold since the river is almost only glacial run-off, but it was refreshing with a quick dip. I should mention hear that all along the way there were soooo many flowers, and even more butterflies! I have never seen more butterflies anywhere than along this hike! Also, every so often along the road there’d be a memorial to people who had died in the area. The memorials would always contain some kind of stone with script and a water fountain with a cup. There was therefore also never any shortage of delicious fresh spring drinking water!

Amanda departing from Shatili

Can you read the Georgian alphabet?

Father and Son in Georgia

The road to Chechnya is closed

Collecting water along the way

Bringing out my inner Putin

More Putin style activities?

After another hour or so we reached Mutso! Another old abandoned village perched high above the river on a cliff. It was similar to Shatili, but looking more like a proper fortress with higher towers guarding it. I ventured up to see the village on my own as the others rested down by the river. Up there I met Benedict, Sabina, and Ihtar. Two Austrians and a Spaniard that we’d seen in their van passing us earlier. They were on a long driving holiday and this was their last stop before turning back to Austria. They said they’d seen marijuana growing amongst the ruins, but although I looked I didn’t see any of that. I continued up and up but had to stop because to reach the last tower was a 5m walkway with massive drops on each side, and only about 50-70 cm wide. I was okej with enjoying the view from there :) The views were amazing! The mountains green and lush with little creeks flowing down, and in the distance massive peaks of the even higher mountains. As I climbed down I passed a small modern building that they seem to be setting up as a staging area to receive tourists or hold events in, so there seems to be some activity there. We continued upstream and soon came to a military checkpoint where we had to register ourselves before continuing. The soldiers there gave us some advice, mostly that we should be careful and not venture on if we had any doubts or if the weather got worse. One of them had the same last name as Maia, so a long lost cousin! We continued on and soon had to cross the river on one of the craziest bridges I’ve used! It was just two long I-beams, one to stand on and one a bit higher up to hold as you crossed. Both secured with heavy rocks on each side, but both very wobbly and looking a bit scary. We managed across without any issue though and continued on. Soon we got to Ardoti, although the village was high high up on the mountain side and we saw an off-road jeep driving up the switchbacks to get there. This is where the road or track ended, and we continued now on footpaths only. A couple of kilometres further we reached the next valley where we intended to continue and the timing was perfect as this was the last good camp spot for a while and it was getting to be about 7pm so we decided to stop for the night. Someone had already trampled down some grass to make a spot for tents and we made it a bit larger to fit both. My fathers tent was a Scandinavian tunnel tent and a real pain in the neck. Crazy stupid design! You had to set up the fly first, and then crawl inside fastening the interior tent while lying on ones stomach! Imagine doing that in the rain. Anyhow, we soon also had a fire going and enjoyed dinner amongst some of the most spectacular scenery possible. The river roaring nearby while the sun was setting and sending golden light onto the green mountain tops all around. It had been a long day with about 21km of hiking, so we gladly turned in for the night falling asleep to the sound of the river.