On the Georgian Military Road

An apiary (honey bee farm) on the Georgian Military Highway, south of Sioni village, near Stepantsminda. So sez Google Maps. (All the location names in this post are picked from Google Maps. If not for Google Maps, you think I’d know the names???)

It’s the summer break. School has ended, and UAE residents are heading out, in droves, to wherever they’re allowed to go, COVID or none. Georgia, Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Russia, you name it. As for us, we (or more appropriately, the missus) have decided to be conscientious (to our suffering fellow humans in other parts of the world) and do our part to stop the spread of pesky COVID. Meaning we’d be taking a break from taking a break, sob, sob…

So, with our holiday plans down the drain, for another summer, here’s the next best thing… daydreaming about our past adventures… Here’s a continuation of our Georgia trip of 2018.

Continuing from where I stopped, from Shiomghvime we headed for the Georgian Military Road, going back past Mtskhetha. Our destination for the night was Stepantsminda (or Kazbegi as most people call it) at the northern end of the Military Road before it crosses into Russia. Here’s our trip in pictures.


Ananuri Fort – this was our first stop on the Military Road after we left Shiomghvime – Pictures in the internet shows the fort at a point where two rivers meet, like a wedge jutting out between two rivers. But when we visited, one side of the river was bone dry… What a let down


There, the bone dry side of Ananuri Fort – Heck, there’s a car, some cattle and even a shed there… Must have been dry for some time now…


Anu in carnival mood – on the banks of the Aragvi River, north of Buchaani village – there’s something like a watch tower on the hill across the river if you look closely, and some people picnicking


At a grocery shop at Kvesheti – to stock up on supplies (…and more importantly, to empty our bladders. Whew, what a relief. Thanks for the toilet, mate. Madloba)




The Aragvi River at Kvesheti village

Finally, Kazbegi – we reached at dusk. Amidst the increasing darkness, we could see the faint outline of a majestic snow-capped mountain to the left, Mount Kazbek (aka Mt Kazbegi). I figured we’d see it clearer the next morning. (Yeah, my foot, the next morning, the entire mountain was shrouded in clouds… We left without ever seeing Mount Kazbek in its actual glory)


A Georgian dinner at Stepantsminda / Kazbegi


The next day – Stepantsminda with the Gergeti Trinity Church on top of the hill. Behind the hillocks would be Mount Kazbegi, if it wasn’t for the clouds… Did we go up to the Gergeti Church? Of course we did, but that’s another adventure altogether which I’ll post another time, hehe


Bye-bye Kazbegi! – View of Stepantsminda from the south on the Military Road


On the Georgian Military Road – Looking north, just south of Sioni village. The little church on top of the hill on the right is the Sioni Basilica according to Google Maps


What a gorgeous valley! The Terek River valley, south of Sioni


A village on the other side of the Terek River. Google Maps labels it as Kaboni


And this is a photo of the famous Georgian ski resort, Gudauri – this is the Peace Monument, taken from the car. We passed Gudauri to and from Stepantsminda but did not stop both times

From here, we headed south back to Ananuri, and then took a left turn going east towards Tianeti, Akhmeta and finally Telavi. And that exciting story I’ve covered earlier – check out this old post. Ciao!