Mental Excursions

Georgia Diary - 3 Dizzy in Dashbashi L: Gorge in Dashbashi canyon R: View through glass floor of the bridge Last Saturday I had shared with you the details about our trip to Gudauri and Kazbegi. We decided to keep the next day’s outing short so that we had more time to rest our tired limbs and sort out the memories. So, our destination was Dashbashi Canyon (Tsalka Municipality),  also called Tsalka Canyon,  a deep mountain gorge about 100 kms from Tbilisi. We drove for two hours through mountainous roads and green valleys, dotted with grazing sheep and cows. Shepherds had erected small temporary tarpaulin shelters on the grassy land, to rest. Small shops in villages on the way had placards announcing ‘Halal’ meat. Preparing for winter, farmers had cut the grass and bales of hay lay in the sunlight to dry or were being loaded into trucks. Bottom L: Bales of hay R: The blue on the hay is because the photo was taken through the windshield   As we had done the pr...

Georgia Diary -2 Driving towards Russian border Ananuri Complex Last Saturday I had started writing about our visit to Georgia and told you about our first day in Tbilisi, the capital city. Now we planned to travel to see other places. We started for Gadauri and Kazbegi around 10.30 a.m. the next morning, to drive towards Georgia- Russia border, on the Georgian Military Highway up North. Jhinvali reservoir Our first stop after an hour or so, was Jhinvali Water reservoir, an artificial lake on Aragvi river. The Soviets had constructed the dam on this important trading route in the 1980s. Nestled amidst picturesque mountains, the still, clear blue waters of the reservoir fulfil the daily water needs of Tbilisi. The scenic Georgian Military Highway is a high-altitude road. There was a lot of construction going on. Beka, our driver, told that the new road would solely be for trucks supplying goods to the cities along the way or going further to cross the border into Russia. W...

Georgia Diary 1 Georgia- end of Asia, start of Europe For our vacation last week, the consideration besides the new place having some historical value, was around four-hour flight , no visa interview hassles and lower temperature than that in Lucknow.   After considering the short list, we zeroed in on Georgia for our five-day short visit. In the coming weeks, I will try to take you on that journey as I happily relive my time in this nation in the Caucasian region. I shall try to share what all I experienced first-hand, so that in case you wish to visit this trans-continental country with borders touching Russia, Turkiye, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and which despite repeated Soviet aggression and rule, has veered towards the west, you are prepared to some extent. We took an Indigo flight and landed in Tbilisi, the capital where we stayed the nights and took day trips to other places. A couple of other airlines also fly to Tbilisi from India but they are expensive and Indig...