Cycling through the heart of Georgia
Returning from Caucasus, the walls of the mighty mountains and even male choir singing loom in your dreams for a while.
The local people go up to the highest mountain villages of Tusheti for the summer to herd sheep and cattle. In October they move back to the lower villages, because the upper roads will become impassable. Only a few families will remain in the mountains during the winter. In this pattern they have lived for two thousand years.
Tusheti is separated from the Kakheti wine region by an almost inaccessible 3000m wide gorge - it is possible to get there only by a jeep, on horseback or by bicycle. This powerful natural barrier means that the area is isolated from the outside world – people are living according to the commodity economy principles. For a tourist, this means that almost all the food - such as meat, vegetables and even raspberries for making jam, have been grown right there in the mountains. Its hardly possible to imagine more orcanic products. The local warehouse/shop offers soft drinks, beer, smokes, chocolate, coffee and salt.
There is no electricity in the villages. There are a few households that now have solar panels, which have made a huge improvement to the living standards – lighting, cell phone charging possibility and hot water in the two guesthouses in the region. Fridge, however, is still a bucket outside under the tap, from which runs the icy mountain water.
Old habits are alive here: in Tusheti there are no pigs grown or eaten despite the locals being Christians. Several villages have sacred mounds or trails, where women are not allowed to go - it's bad luck or poor weather. Respecting the local customs, it is also unsuitable to walk around in your bikinis.
Looking at the wild mountain cenery here, the Alps seem like a supermarket. The desire, that this beauty and lifestyle would remain and that the tourists would not consume it emty even after ten years, is almost painful.
There are few tourists in Tusheti yet, but they are noticeable. Good noses of the wealthy western travellers have brought them here to this unspoilt corner of the world. The locals can probably name the ethnicity of the tourists and places there are some strangers on the move, because over 800 square kilometers large Tusheti only has ten villages. In five days you will see the same foreign faces over and over again. They will become so familiar, that you will recognize and greet them later on the streets of Tbilisi.
While getting aquainted with the westerners, Estonians have the advantage acting as Russian interpreters ( you won't meet any other East Europeans there). However, there has been a huge change compared to the year 2003 - the last time I went to Georgia. People want to speak English, even though they can't. In 2003, English was useless. Now, however, although the Georgians know Russian better than any other foreign language, the refusal of using it is a manifesto. They have taken great offence by the Russian war in 2008. Even the little old lady in the mountain village initially tries to speak English, although she understands Russian so much better.
Our group, including Mirjam, who received the trip as a customer campaign gift from "Eesti Ekspress", decends from the mountain pass separating Tusheti from the rest of the world on bikes. Over the next five days, we will try to earn the wine and delicious dinners by cycling 20-25km daily through the thin mountain air. The plentiful Georgian dinner „Supra“ could be a topic of another breathtakingly adulatoy article. Not much difference either there’s sashlick, khinkali or vegetable dishes on the table, the most touching is the Georgian hospitality.
Although the roads in this distant corner of the world are almost non-existent and the rises murderous (up to 27 percent), most of our folks, including three women, could handle the cycling. Only two of the ladies cycled the drops on bikes and took the rises on a jeep or by foot. Thin mountain air means that for cycling on a gentle valley road one needs to have more endurance than average. We were in the high mountain camp and at the end of the trip we were in far more better shape than before.
Of course you could travel on your own, but on this trip, the existence of a tour operator was definitely an advantage. To ensure the best cycling experience, most suitable tracks were chosen and in case needed, we were driven by jeeps. Thanks to the support cars (which we did'nt necessarily have to use) even the ones not so certain of their abilities dared to take on this journey. At the same time, there were enough surcharge possibilities for the "sportsclub" members in the mountains.
For seven people of our group of ten, the bikes were rented in Tbilisi by our host, who also trasported the bikes to Tusheti in addition to the bikes that were flown in from Tallinn and belonged to the members of our "sportsclub" - Annika, Andrei and Arbo. On this journey the bikes went through quite an ordeal, so there is no point to bring your own bike unless it is a "Porsche" of the bikingworld.
It's common that tourists travel around with a Georgian guide, who usually is the driver too. To use a local guide is a sensible idea. Although the attitude towards Estonians is good and you will manage well by only speaking Russian, it seems that sometimes a bit of local relations managing is necessary. We were escorted by a support vehicle with two Levans.
We were the only bunch moving on bikes, which is understandable, because cycling in the sparse mountain air requires more than moderate athletic spirit. However, we saw three groups of tourists moving on horses, which are the most convenient and fastest means of getting around in this region.
Our experienced group leader Wend assessed the difficulty level of biking on this trip as follows: "The toughest are the Himalayas, Kashmir comes second, and then the Caucasus."
It's true, that in the means of trekking by foot, on a bike or on horseback - Nepal in the Himalayas is the most fashionable area in the world. People will fly in from all over the world to gobble on the wild nature and gaze upon the locals living in the ancient way like their ancestors.
For a considerably cheaper price you may enjoy a world-class hiking experience in Georgia.
10.09.2011 Text by Heidit Kaio, images by Arbo Rae.
Photos
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- Getting in shape in the mountains
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- Georgian flag
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- Bikes on jeep
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- Sportsclub - Annika, Andrei
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- Resting in the mountains
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- Mountain village
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- Defence tower
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- Caucasus mountains
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- High mountain village
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- Break in the mountains
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- Best way to get around - a horse
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- Goergian cuisine
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- Self made kinkhalis - dinner
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- Transferred by jeep
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- lunch in the mountains
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- Wine cellar;
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