Georgia - Day 3 | Kazbegi
Good Morning Kazbegi!
That view stole my heart and mind for a good amount of time
(I just kept staring at it). Gen was so gracious to offer me some coffee and
bread (mentally crying), when I told her id be heading out for breakfast. We
both were to go to the Gergeti Trinity church and planned on doing so together
(such good call).
We headed out and shared our information regarding the time
that we’d need to hike uphill to the church. It was hilarious as to how
incorrect we both were.
We discovered later on that there are 3 trails to reach Gergeti
(there might be many more). Two of those are hiking trails, and the other one
is by road. The one we chose was apparently the easiest hiking trail, according
to a group of guys we met on our way back. Me and gen exchanged looks and mentally recapped the effort we took to reach
uphill, and just politely smiled and nodded in unison (ROFL).
The route we took is the most common route (and it isn’t
EASY). Also, this is coming from a completely unfit person who does have breathing
difficulties (lol). So don’t take my word for it, may be the guys were right
about this being the easy way up.
We huffed and puffed our way uphill, following a track that
was already there. Towards the end, we decided to be more risky and just took
the shorter route (why didn’t we do this earlier). Reaching uphill was the most
amazing feeling. The view was one to die for and so worth the effort we took.
On one side we saw a group going to another part of the mountain, with their
camping gear. On another side was the Kazbegi mountain standing tall with
clouds kissing its peaks (so beautiful).
Gergeti is under construction, and is almost just a few
structures. However, the climb was so worth it. Especially the view, OMG. I’m
not sure how often am I going to run short of words to express how alluring the
view was in Georgia. Kazbegi had my heart. It’s one of the most beautiful
places that I still had to explore, but unfortunately I didn’t plan as well as
I thought I did.
We sat and soaked in the view, clicked a few pictures. But
more importantly felt amazing at having reached and not giving up on the trail
to the church. We had left the hostel at around 9:00 am, it was so good to have
left early on.
There were many others who had left earlier, as we did meet
a lot of people on our way uphill. On our way back, we saw a group of elderly people
who were hiking way better than us. Some had their walkers, some had their
walking sticks as well. That view was so encouraging, I’m not sure, if I’d have
that energy to hike or even travel at that age. But that group was so
inspiring.
We reached back with
much ease and sat down to have lunch with some Kachapuri and Natakhtari
(the latter was a favorite for my entire trip). Gen introduced me to the drink,
and it was amazing. The Kachapuri was warm and cheesy and filled us up very
fast, but was enough fuel to help us get back to the hostel.
I freshened up and was ready to go to Kutaisi. We bid
farewell, and I headed to the bus stop, only to realize that there was no
direct bus or transport to Kutaisi from Kazbegi and the only way to get there
was from Tbilisi. At this point in time, I wasn’t surprised and headed back to
Tbilisi.
Read Day 1 HERE
Read Day 2 HERE
Read Day 2 - to Kazbegi HERE
Much Love
xoxo
