Two days in Kazbegi

Some people have been telling me, I need to come out more and work less. As I want to keep improving upon my projects (and throughly enjoy it too) I often don't take enough time to go outside. Keto decided to change that and impromptu invited me to visit Kazbegi. Honestly, I didn't need much convincing and it was so 100% worth every moment! Join me on an incredible two days in Kazbegi and the Caucasus mountain range! 😄

Nadibani

We took the mashutka from Tbilisi to Kazbegi, the further we go to more impressive the landscape gets. Along the way, basically everywhere in Georgia, it's common to see cows and to a lesser extend sheep along the roads. Manoeuvring through is a much needed driving skill here, haha! 😄

Kuro Cottages

After we arrived at our cottage we were greeted by an insanely beautiful sunset over Mt. Kazbek. The day after we planned a hike in that direction. But more on that later! The cottage itself was super lovely, build out of wood and with a lovely balcony where we spend quite a bit of time! 😄

My rating: 8/10

Gergeti Trinity Church (გერგეტის სამების ეკლესია)

Initially we had just planned on an easy hike to the church. This takes about one hour and a half from where we were. But with the weather taking a turn for the better, we decided to keep going! There is a glacier that you can walk up to, but it's usually advised you start hiking at 6 a.m. if you want to reach it, we left around 11:30 a.m.! Unsure of whether we could reach it still (you have to be careful of weather changing rapidly and unexpectedly for the worse in the mountains), we decided we'd hike as far as we felt was comfortable!

My rating: 8/10

Hike towards Gergeti Glacier

After another few hours we found ourselves at around 2700m of altitude (down from 1700m)! The views that were greeting us were absolutely spectacular when we found this small shrine on one of the hill tops.

My rating: 9/10

Altuhut 3014

Once we got close to the Altuhut, where alpine hikers overnight before trying to ascend up to Mt. Kazbek, we decided it was time to turn back. There was more and more snow along the way, it was getting later and we reached 3000m of altitude meaning we were both starting to feel somewhat tired! As you can see in these photos though, it was absolutely 100% worth it to hike all the way up. Unfortunately we didn't make it to the glacier (which was another hour or so)! But I'll be back for that for sure! 😄 We sat down to take a break and take in the view, whilst drinking some snow water!

My rating: 9/10

Hike back from Altuhut to Gergeti Church

On the way back we took a different trail that goes through the valley. We went down at high speed, and before we knew it we were back at the church. On the way we met a herder with a flock of sheep and goats. After 10 minutes of meeeee-eeeeh conversations we set onwards! 😅 On the last stretch from a clear blue sky, we ended up in the rain and mist, which I honestly enjoyed a lot. It gave the whole landscape a mystical vibe and made the hike suddenly have that edge of extreme-ness that I so often go looking for! 😄

My rating: 9/10

Gergeti Trinity Church (გერგეტის სამების ეკლესია)

Once back at the church we realized we still had some time to visit and take in the panoramic view from there! Suddenly the sun broke through the clouds again as well, making our last part of the hike back a walk through the park. 😄 P.s.: I made sure I was in the selfie, which led to this fairly hilarious photo! 😂

Kuro Cottages

Once back, we basically collapsed in our bed after munching on some pasta I had made the day before and smoking one more cigarette with the sunset! 😄 The morning after the weather looked great again, lucky us!

Building under construction

Before we left back for Tbilisi we wanted to hike up to another church which would have a good view. But half way there we found this building under construction (also all over Georgia really). As some of you might know I am a sucker for urban exploring, so of course we found a way in and went to the top floor. Five minutes after a mountain downpour started, so we sat and enjoyed the view over some sandwiches. A perfect way to end the trip! 😄 Afterwards we hitchhiked back to Tbilisi and got a ride within five minutes that took us all the way back (lucky us)! 😄

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