"The beautiful country of Stalin" a Georgia Travel Page by josephescu

Georgia may be small country after most standards (5,6 mil), but is the largest and the most ethnically coloured state in Caucasus, whose history is amazingly complex and bloody. T’bilisi, the capital, has been destroyed a dozen times.

The Georgians are an ancient people who know themselves as Karthians, tracing their origins to Noah’s great grandson Karthols. Historically, Georgia (aka Sakartvelo in Georgian) was a jigsaw puzzle of small kingdoms including Colchis (legendary land of the Argonauts and their Golden Fleece) on the Black Sea, Abkhazia to the north and Iveria to the east.

Various events described by ancient Greek mythology took place in the region: Prometheus was chained on a rock “on the Caucasus mountain”, being punished by Zeus because he brought the gift of fire to mankind, the Argonauts in the search of the golden fleece originated form the kingdom of Colchis in western Georgia.

Exploiting the extended marshrutka (minivan) routes and the LP resources, I managed to grasp a piece of Georgia to myself and get a plentiful of fine days, despite the high August temperatures.

In chronological order, I did the following in a little more than one week: Sighnaghi, Davit Gareja, Kutaisi, Motsameta, Gelati, Kazbegi, Ananuri, Mtskheta and, of course, Tbilisi.

And there will surely be a next time……as I missed at least Svanetia, Ushetia, Batumi and Adjara.