Return to Ushguli
I don't get the chance nearly often enough for my liking, so when it comes I tend to grab it and not let go. The last one was just over three years ago, but having one's own car, and the best one in one's life so far at that, does improve the possibilities.
Off to my former hosts, Dato and Nanuli Ratiani, in their expanding guest house in Ushguli, taking a pair of American women with me (Peace Corps Georgia veterans) who were paying the all too willing piper and thus calling the tune. This was actually the very first time I had driven the whole way, in my car, and an automatic transmission yet. And the first visit of my new very wide angle zoom lens, too.
The road, once you leave the smooth comfort of the cement road between Mulakhi and Ipari, remains as rough and potholed as ever. It's as easy as it can be in a big automatic car with high clearance, but there's only so much you can do when contact with the ground remains a requirement of the transport mode. So we lurched and swerved slowly along. Never mind staying on one's side of the road: that's only for the instants when you cross paths with another vehicle. Otherwise you choose only the best bits of the road, wherever they are.
(I just heard a rumor from my Etseri neighbor, also a driver, that the renovation of the road from Tetnuldi ski resort all the way to Ushguli, some 24 km, is being held up because... the local "Delica (minivan) mafia" wants a bad road so that their 4x4s will rule it... Scary if true, and not unthinkable either.)
The trees, the trees... full on gold, the bushes bright red, grass brilliant green, and a light upper snow level to complete the postcard scenes. Plus cloudless weather, achingly blue skies. My passengers and I were all delighted with the opportunity anytime anyone wanted to stop for a "photo op", instead of being bound to the whims of an unsympathetic marshroutka driver. Stop we did, many times; what was the rush?
Entering Ushguli shortly before sunset, another unique sight appeared: someone painting the second hamlet, sitting on a rock! He was from St Petersburg, Russia, where I also lived for most of the 1990s. When I introduced myself, he asked if I was from Canada: he had heard of me in Mestia...
Dato and Nanuli have been very busy in the three years since Imedi TV channel briefly reunited me with them. They have greatly enlarged the humble house I had a room in near the top of the village, and now Villa Lileo has three floors, the largest dining hall in the village, an indoor fireplace and much more. Spectacular, and I wish them every success. Nanuli also proudly displays an award certificate from Oxfam for "Promoting Healthy Eating in Georgia", well deserved. A No Smoking sign and a high-speed WiFi password completed the impression that we were in a happening place. https://www.facebook.com/Dato-RatianiS-Ushguli-Villa-LiLeo-160595187339077/
Next morning, after a sumptuous breakfast true to my memories, I took my guests to the Queen Tamar Summer Fortress. Up the steeper but shorter way from Chazhashi hamlet, mostly shaded by forest. Down, the longer, sunny but less steep route ending near Murqmeli hamlet. The view from the fortress, I told them a number of times en route, would really make up for the trudge, which was far from easy for pension-age people! They managed it, and had to agree with me.
Late lunch, and we returned to Etseri, met Lali and had supper. Then, after breakfast, I was the driver again. This time to the Tetnuldi ski resort, still under construction, although phase I is open for the upcoming winter season. This will definitely be the most spectacular ski resort in the whole Caucasus in terms of run choices, altitude and length. You drive up to 3.2 km above sea level, stare Tetnuldi's peak in the face, see Ushba in the distance, and can also spot the villages of Mulakhi, Adishi and Ipari, all in one view. Magnificent. Although it was rather cloudy, and indeed snowflakes threatened, we reveled in the gorgeous autumn landscapes on every side.
Mestia Museum and a climb inside the Margiani Tower on the way home. Having a 4x4 to use has made a huge difference in our available offerings to our guests, and this trip was a sample.
Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with over 1350 members, at www.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/
He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri:
www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti
Tony Hanmer