Georgia, Tusheti is one of the most mystical places in Georgia where nature is still intact, the place which is open for tourists only 3-4 months and has about 30 permanent residents in the wintertime.
To get to Tusheti you must drive through Abano pass, which is the highest and dangerous local road (2,917 m), The road to Tusheti is quite tired, about 4 hours from Abano pass, the road is thin, bad and crooked, the car needs to drive slowly but views are so thrilling you can just watch it during the drive. Abano pass is close after the first snow of autumn,( sometimes it’s in the October and sometimes even in September) then in the late spring after the road works, it is open, but during the summer it needs to clean all the time, because of dropping the rocks and landslide.
This is the most isolated region of Georgia, where the tourism industry started just a few years ago, so here is still the least civilized. You can find a lot of beautiful panoramic views, which makes hiking even more wishful.
Tusheti protected area with a total of 122,050 hectares, about a quarter of this is protected landscape, and more than 83 hectares belong to the National park.
The place where Tusheti starts, we stopped the car to rest and enjoy the view, we were literally above the clouds, I don’t know what is high of this place but even it was august here was still freezing.
First of all, we came to the village Shenako, which is located on the southern side of the Caucasus, 2080M above the sea. In the center of Shenako, there is a church, built in the XIX century, and it is the only Christian church in the region. Relative to other regions of Georgia, Tusheti got Christianity at very last, and there believes are mixed with Christianity and local paganism, they have their own believes and rules, more common you will see places, the shrines, which are forbidden for women, or there are separated places for men and women.
The village was beautiful, with old wooden ornamented houses, locals were selling some herbal flowers and traditional knitted socks.
Next destination was Diklo castle, it was almost evening when we came there, Diklo fortress is near to the border checkpoint, so you need to have passports or ID cards to see Diko castle. Till we get to the castle, started sunset and mountains around became Emerald color, colors were changed with minutes, It seemed every shade of emerald, was a beautiful sunset.
On the second day, we saw so many villages I was confused, couldn’t remember all the names of them, one of forgettable for me was the village museum Dartlo which Is beautiful with The traditional fortress-houses. The most amazing is that you can feel how people lived years, centuries ago, this is the place where traditional architecture is the most preserved.
Also, the most impressive was the village Bochorna, which is the highest settlement in Europe, the view from this village was magnificent! It makes you speechless! I was impressed the beauty of the mountains, this was the moment when I was standing above all of them!
In the evening we made khinkali and tried some traditional dishes- Kotori (this is like a khachapuri but making technique is different) and khavitsi (ხავიწი) (is made from cottage cheese and fat) I loved all of them, Kotori and Khavitsi I tried the first time, khavitsi was a little bit fatty but delicious! Traditional drink for Tushi people is beer, which they make only on the traditional days, unfortunately, I couldn’t taste it because it wasn’t a day when they are boiling it. A world-recognized part of Tushetian culture is rare cheeses, typical to this region of Georgia is guda, It is prepared in a special bag of sheepskin, which is called “guda”. This cheese is very salty and fragrant. Also, it should be noted savory tea, which is very popular in Tusheti and also very healthy! That was how tasty ended our day!
Next day, was a day when we should leave Tusheti, so we got ready from the morning and went on the Omalo castle, so pleasant fact that some countries are financing rehabilitation process of castle and towers, one of them are Czech and The Netherlands, big thank you to them for doing such a great thing!
At last, we visited the Tusheti Protected areas administration and visitor centre, which is located in Akhmeta municipality, village lower Alvani, and summer administration in Tusheti, village Omalo. Here you can get a lot of interesting information about the culture, nature, and traditions of Tusheti. I would recommend visiting this place on the first day of your travel. This information might be helpful to plan your days better.
Tusheti is a great place for hiking, trekking tours, if you have time you can hike from village to village and enjoy nature as much as it possible because of I was there Jeep Tour, I had a sense of dissatisfaction, these 3 days were fly so fast, I couldn’t even realize it was already time to go home. Amazing place, I’ll definitely go there again and again, some people say in Tusheti mountains you can see all the nature and mountain beauty of all Georgia, expected glacier mountains of Svaneti, who knows…
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