Day 13 Mestia to Ushguli

As I write this I am still far behind where we actually are on our trip.  Tonight I am sitting in our apartment in Yerevan slowly filling bottles of water since the water went out, and it was 106 outside today.  There are have been lots of adventures on this trip so far, but we have learned that the 3 of us a really good travelers and can take all sorts of minor disasters and still have a good time!  More on that coming as I get to updating all the blog.

Day 13 was a day spent in the mountains in Svaneti.  We got as close to Russia as we have ever been.  We also saw some amazing scenery.  I wish we could have hiked, but between it being really hot and Zach leaving the kid backback in Tblisi we were content with our small walks in town.

The day started with breakfast and then Lincoln and Zach playing bubbles while we waited for George and our driver

George showed up on Georgian time (20 min late), but he came and we quickly got Lincoln buckled into the special "van" that could go into the mountains

The first road was pretty good and there were amazing views back toward Mestia and the surrounding communities

Small village with view of mountains.  This was also right around where the road got real interesting

Yep that is the road in front of us, with about 2 feet of water and a giagantic dump truck going through.  The road is still mostly dirt, but they are very very slowly putting in concrete.

Stop on the way to Ushguli.  This is the tower of love.  There is some legend about a guy and girl getting married and the townspeople disowned them so they moved out here all by themselves.

We actually could climb up.  Kate only made it up one story before turning around, Zach and I and George made it to the top where it was beautiful (although it seemed less than totally safe since it required climbing rickety ladders up and the floor was just these groups of logs.

And then we were off again.  Lincoln managed to finally fall asleep 20 min outside Ushguli

Cows everywhere!

First stop was the highest point in Ushguli which is a Georgian church with great views.

There were old frescos I think from something like the 12th century

It is still a working church and there was a priest making sure everybody was properly covered.

Dinky with a view back toward town

Lincoln wanted to walk down through the wildflowers

More cows, these are actually far away near the hike we would have done if it wasn't so hot and if we had a real baby backpack

Kate and Lincoln after we climbed up to get a better view

Sisters!

Family photo

As George kept saying the king of the family

Next stop was the village museum.  It was a traditional house packed full of all sorts of things from about 10 centuries of living in this village

On our walk through the village we saw lots of animals including this hot pig

Cows with a view!

View of medieval  tower

We stopped for lunch at the only real restaurant in town.  It was crowded when we got there because of a group of japanese tourists.  We ordered Georgian lemonade which honestly has nothing to do with lemons.  It is like cotton candy flavored bubbly water with different other flavors.  The actual lemon one tasted like sugary sprite.  Lincoln loves the stuff though

Our lunch was great.  All sorts of traditional food.

Lincoln made friends with the owners kid while we ate.  We gave the kid some stickers and then found stickers on other kids in town as we were leaving.  I guess they were a hit.

One more stop before leaving the area was a short climb up to Tamars tower and what was left of her complex.  She was the King of Georgia in the 12th century.  

View of the lower part of Ushguli

Flowers and a view!

I think these butterflies were hot.  Everywhere there was cool mud there were hundreds of these butterflies all sitting in the watery part

Zach and Lincoln found a cow to see up close

One last view of the bridge out of town

Lincoln learning to point at the camera

Lincoln with a mouth full of food.  He fell asleep shortly after this and slept for like 2 hours back

That narrow dirt path is the road

We got stopped for a while while they poured concrete for part of the road

Last stop was for mineral water not far from town.  I tried it, it smelled and tasted like rotten eggs

And then we were back for some ball playing while mom and dad had some coffee

Then Zach and Lincoln and I went for a walk through town for more views

A lady just walked up and gave Lincoln this ice cream cone.  This is actually pretty typical on the trip.  They think Lincoln is so cute they always give him something or try to hold him

And this is what Lincoln did with the ice cream

Last stop was at the market so mom and dad could get ice cream

Then before dinner a folk group staying at the hotel was practicing on the deck.

Lincoln loved it and kept joining in with the dancing

Dinner at the hotel.  One of the owners disappeared with Lincoln for like 30 min while we ate dinner.

And then sleeping was a disaster.  It was hot, the folk group would start practicing right about when Lincoln would fall asleep.  He screamed for like 2 hours before finally sleeping with me. Not his best night.  Probably too much excitement from the mountains.

The rest of us drank some Georgian wine while we waited for Lincoln to finally sleep.

And that was our full day in Svanti!