Late March The road from Mestia to Ushguli was long. I waited 5 days before being able to take it, because it was cut off by an avalanche. But what a reward it was to arrive in Ushguli! This is an unbelievable, incredible place! At the top of a valley perched in the Grand Caucasus, with Shkhara and its eternal snow as a backdrop, at an altitude of 7200 feet, was I on the human rooftop of Europe and Western Asia? The border isn't really clear, or doesn't even exist...
In the last two hamlets that make up the mountain community of Ushguli, a stone tower is adjacent to each house. In the Middle Ages, they served a defensive purpose, and since then it has been the Svans' duty to preserve them out of respect for the memory of ancestors. Grouped like mini castles over the Inguri River, they form a very photogenic scene.
The icing on the cake is Lamara Church, which stands above Tchvibiani, the last hamlet. This 9th century basilica, the last human achievement at Georgia's rooftop, reminds us that in the Middle Ages, Upper Svaneti was a major cultural and religious focal point...
Late March The road from Mestia to Ushguli was long. I waited 5 days before being able to take it, because it was cut off by an avalanche. But what a reward it was to arrive in Ushguli! This is an unbelievable, incredible place! At the top of a valley perched in the Grand Caucasus, with Shkhara and its eternal snow as a backdrop, at an altitude of 7200 feet, was I on the human rooftop of Europe and Western Asia? The border isn't really clear, or doesn't even exist...
In the last two hamlets that make up the mountain community of Ushguli, a stone tower is adjacent to each house. In the Middle Ages, they served a defensive purpose, and since then it has been the Svans' duty to preserve them out of respect for the memory of ancestors. Grouped like mini castles over the Inguri River, they form a very photogenic scene.
The icing on the cake is Lamara Church, which stands above Tchvibiani, the last hamlet. This 9th century basilica, the last human achievement at Georgia's rooftop, reminds us that in the Middle Ages, Upper Svaneti was a major cultural and religious focal point...