Georgia Caucasus-Shatili 1st June 2009

6th to 12th century towers of Shatili, largely abandoned in the 1950s, painted by a local artist.

Pagan symbols? Please send me more information.

A recently renovated tower for tourists. Comfortable, romantic, affordable and you should book.

The sacred burial ground. No women allowed.




























Flowers of Shatili


















Hyoscyamus niger Henbane (poisonous)

















Cynaoglossum officinale Hounds-Tongue

















The new village built by Shevardnadze in 1950s (beautiful socialist architecture).


















And on the other side of the road their byres and bee hives.

A large ferocious Caucasian dog. They guard flocks and homesteads and if a snarling, barking pack bounds towards you are so glad when the owner calls them off. This one guards the whole village but we played together. They don't always like being nasty.



Ref 'Georgia Brandt Travel Guide' by Tim Burford

Georgia Caucasus - Barisakho to Shatili

Fantastic 6^th century tower blocks.

This was my destination, a few days walk from Barisakho but the road was still blocked by snow and it was still snowing at the Datvis-Jarvis Pass (2676m).

People said it was dangerous to attempt the road on foot and I waited a few days for the the road to be bull-dozed opened but it didn't happen so when I awoke to blue sky with high hopes I decided to go . Soon I met shepherds breakfasting in old Russian buildings and cheered by a horn of wine and a friendly welcome I was ready for anything.

Happy day! The road men had also set out to clear the road and gave me a lift up to their bull-dozer. This is our Russian van at at Gudani where we stopped for a smoke.

And this is the bull-dozer. I was told that you can self drive it if you are in trouble.

After a gentle trek up to the pass and fine mountain views I crossed into the next valley. The road had been cleared. Otherwise walking through deep drifts would have been very slow and difficult.

to be continued......