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We left Borjomi this morning and are now in Stepantsminda, a town in the north of the country. The drive was beautiful and we saw some of the different landscapes of the country. The highway to Stepantsminda is called the Georgian Military Highway and it continues on to Russia. It's an important road for both the Georgian military and for cargo passing through the country to Russia. Normally there are tons of trucks on the road, it's only two lanes and climbs up into the mountains on crazy switchbacks so I think that would be nerve wracking! Due to the situation with sanctions, instead we saw miles and miles of trucks stopped by the side of the highway, there were even some close to Borjomi. The police and military will wave through a small number of trucks at a time. Our driver said sometimes they wait for days. We made a couple of stops. We stopped by a reservoir where Tbilisi gets its water. We also stopped where two different colored rivers meet. We had lunch in Pasanauri, which is the town where khinkali were invented. We stopped by a large monument overlooked a gorge in the Caucasus mountains. It is called the Georgian Russian Friendship Monument and was built several decades ago celebrating the friendship between the two countries. Of course it's viewed differently by Georgia now that two regions of the country are occupied by Russia. But it still has a lovely view over the mountains. We are now in a lovely cottage overlooking Mount Kazbegi. It finally rained and it's a little overcast. We are hoping for good weather tomorrow when we hike up to a church that looks out over the mountains. |
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