Georgia

Continuing from Kharagauli the paved road ended and we experienced how interesting hard days can be. Hard because of temporary rain but mostly because of the "road" that required an MTB rather than what we are using. Interesting because slow travelling opens eyes for details that easily remain unnoticed. Following the railway line towards one of two passes that connect East and West between the Black Sea and the Caspian Basin we saw what rural life in Georgia is really like, talked to people and took tons of photos of the steeper and steeper valley.
The railway line disappears in a tunnel shortly before the pass while the main highway pass nearby is appr. 50 m higher.
Nightstay on the sports field of the school in Gomi.

Climbing towards the Rikoti Pass - conquering every meter

Swanetia, Kachetia, Imeretia - these are some names of the historical provinces of Georgia that has been a kingdom from very early times and adopted Christianity as state religion already in the fourth century. The ancient fortresses and churches are now lining up along our way towards the historical core region of Georgia about half-way between the Black and Caspian Seas.
The cycling today is considerably slowed down by a rather strong headwind with otherwise fine weather.
Nightstay on the river shore near the village of Kharagauli off the main road but near the East-West trunk railway line where passengers and plenty of Caspian Sea oil is carried.
In our attempt to get some restaurant food in the village we were exposed to the unfortunate downside of combined "hospitality" and rural backwardness. They really don`t let you go without a good amount of Vodka...
Campside discretely guarded by police during the night.

A long route, 127 kilometres and the first one with height metres after the flat coastal roads. Georgia is called the "Balcony of Europe" and today we have a good view the snow-covered summits of what is really only the foothills of the High Caucasus.
We are now in a different time zone with two hours ahead of Turkish (and in fact Finnish, but only one after start of daylight saving time) time which should give us longer evenings. But getting started in the morning is still difficult - Earth`s rotation! So I failed to visit the Gelati monastery near Kutaissi which plays an important role in Georgian religious and cultural history.
As a compensation for the missed monastery we got a foretaste of Georgian hospitality, where wine is served not from bottles but from huge canisters!

Last day on the Black Sea Coast. We had to spend quite a bit of time at the border checkpoint because after 31 days in Turkey the border guards didn`t let people out who bought a one-month visa upon entry (it turned to be valid for only 30 days) without a hefty fine for one extra day. The non-visa people (including me) didn`t have a problem.
The first impressions of Georgia are certainly mixed. On the one hand we entered a country that shares so much European heritage (besides the churches I mention especially the pigs on the street that are processed into so much more tasty sausage than any Turkish sausage...) but on the other hand is so much poorer. While in Turkey Internet Cafes were simply everywhere, in Georgia they are hard to find. A lot of this backwardness has of course to do with the Soviet past of this country, but neither do present Russian-Georgian relationships do much to improve the situation and Georgians are desperately looking to Europe for help. In Georgia we see UN vehicles reminding us of the unsolved questions in Souh Ossetia and Abchasia and people often mention the name Shakashvili, though rarely in a positive context.
Finally a chance to apply my little knowledge of Russian which proves extremely useful in the face of the Georgian script that tells us in its own way how far away from home we already are.
Nightstay in the railway station of Kobuleti - last Black Sea town on our route. We don`t make a fuzz of where we sleep - see entry on Diogenes.

Border crossing from Turkey to Georgia in Sarpi

Final view of the Black Sea