We will go hiking in Stepanzminda and from Juta to Roshka (2-day hike).
This requires quite a bit of preparation:
Organize your backpack, store your bikes in a safe place, find transportation to the mountains, repack your equipment into your backpacks, and buy food for two days (without a stove).
Fortunately, we have already established a small network among Swiss in Georgia. We get the backpack from Rainer, who together with his girlfriend Tato runs the best pizzeria Farina in Tbilisi. We are allowed to store our bikes at Lisa & Dario’s place, who are also back in the capital.
So far so good, we march in an unfamiliar manner with our fully packed backpacks towards Didube bus station. It’s like a bazaar there, except that instead of food, they trade bus/taxi rides. Quite organized, the gigantic parking lot is divided by destinations. Once you have announced your desired destination, you will automatically be guided in the right direction.
Our taxi driver was a nice gentleman who had to drive back from Tbilisi to his home in Stepanzminda and offered us a ride at a fair price. It is a pity that this model is not also available in Switzerland. After 30 minutes the cab was full and the 2.5-hour drive along the historic Army Road, the main connecting road between Georgia and Russia, could begin. Hopefully this trip will be more relaxed than the last one, where we vowed never to get into a cab again 😏.
With a nausea tablet thrown in, the partly winding ride could be survived well, and the driving style was also appropriate.
Once we arrived in Stepanzminda, we had a mission to fulfill:
At the very beginning of our trip, we met Winfried, the district forester from Schellenberg in Germany. We told him then about our plan to cycle through Georgia, among other places. Excitingly, he had recently read an article about the Gergeti Church in Stepanzminda and was very excited about visiting it. Since this was also our plan, we promised him that if we actually made it there, we would send him a postcard with a picture of the church.
So we hiked up to Gergeti Church and were able to fulfill our promise. It is the most photographed church in Georgia, from which you have a breathtaking view of the third highest mountain in the country (5,047m.a.s.l.), named Kazbeg.
Since the journey to Stepanzminda is quite long, we decided to combine our visit to the church with a two-day hike.
The next morning, the owner of our accommodation drove us to Juta, the starting point of the hike over the Chaukhi Pass (3,341 m above sea level) to Roshka.
The route led steadily uphill along a beautiful valley. We met only a few other hikers and after every turn and every kilometer we covered, an amazing panorama opened up. We had a very special encounter with two Georgians who had a dog and a CAT with them on the hike. Our empathy ended when the black cat lurched beside us, panting, meowing, and looking for shade. We told the owners that it was probably not very pleasant for the cat and they should probably turn back, which they did a short time later (what people don’t do everything for Instagram 🙈).
For us it went over the very steep climb up to the pass. The air became thinner and thinner and breathing became increasingly difficult. But the strain paid off, it was insanely beautiful. After the summit photo and lunch, we began the very challenging descent into the valley.
As soon as the terrain finally became a little flatter, we pitched our tent. We placed it between small mountain streams and right next to a huge boulder, where we could enjoy the mountain panorama and our dinner.
The next day, we realized that we had the stamina, but the muscles used for hiking are definitely not the same as those used for cycling. We had the worst muscle ache. This was further reinforced by the additional 1,200 hm downhill.
Actually, we planned to end the hike in Roshka. From there, reports from others (probably before Corona) said that there should be options for transfer to Tbilisi or at least to a larger intersection. There we were, standing in an extremely remote village of about 10 houses. After a short time we were joined by three German globetrotters who also mastered the hike. All of us went in search of a ride in the village to no avail. After some time we decided to walk the distance to the next fork in the road. It was 2.5 hours downhill on a gravel road, which felt like an eternity. Fortunately, we were able to chat with our companions and share exciting experiences. One of the three Germans has been traveling through Georgia for more than 5 months and told beautiful as well as hair-raising stories he experienced. For example, he helped castrate bulls, pigs and goats and then came to enjoy the freshly prepared testicle stew 😱.
All in all, we waited at the crossroads for another 2 hours until someone was able to take us to a place just outside Tbilisi. From there we covered the rest of the distance by marshrutka (minibus).
This is already the third time we are at the hub of Georgia, in Tbilisi.
Still in the last blog we were sure that it goes on to Armenia. Now the following criteria speak against it:
- In order to get vaccinated in Georgia, we must stay in the country for at least 3 months. If we were to continue to Armenia, our previous ~2 months would expire.
- In Armenia, we could get vaccinated with AstraZeneca after 11 days, but this would not be approved in Switzerland. In Georgia, we would get Pfizer – BioNTech.
- At the moment, it does not look like eastern countries including Iran will open their borders.
- Dario & Lisa will also stay longer in Georgia, so hopefully there will be another chance to ride a part together.
Furthermore, we have now decided, if after the vaccination and before the onset of winter, it does not getting further, we would pause the trip and spend the winter in Switzerland. All other options, such as flying to Mexico or Africa, are currently out of the question for us. It doesn’t make sense for us to jet halfway around the world just for a few weeks.
We are still in good spirits and enjoying Georgia. So we plan to explore the east, which is still undiscovered for us, where we plan, among other things, to drive the most dangerous road in Europe – stay tuned 😉.