We left early in the morning from Kutaisi because we had a long drive ahead of us today. We fueled up the car before joining the main highway heading east. The drive was nice as we passed the Georgian countryside. As we got close to Mtskheta the exits from the highway were tricky and after some to and fro we finally joined the Georgian Military Road.
We stopped at a small roadside eatery for a quick breakfast. It had been a couple of hours that we were driving and everyone was hungry. We had three types of khachapuri they had on offer and some coffee (which was from a machine and not great).
Our first stop was the Monument of 300 Aragvians which was just off the main road and had a place to park.
We then drove along the Zhinvali Reservoir. There were multiple spots with small souvenir shops along the way where we could stop and take in the views of the hills and the water.
Our next stop was the Ananuri Fortress Complex. There was a parking lot here which cost 3/5 GEL. We headed inside to see the complex. There were many places where we could walk along the walls or up the stairs in the towers which had some nice photo opportunities. We could also see the end of the backwaters of the Zhinvali Reservoir.
We drove further and stopped at the confluence of the black and white Aragvi rivers. The distinct colour of the water from the two rivers was evident and interesting to see.
We stopped for lunch at Qavtaradze Khinkali. As we were leaving a small scuffle broke out on the opposite side of the road between two men presumably about some improper overtaking before.
We drove further north and saw the Statue of Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani and the stopped to see the Spring Water Nadibani. Another driver before us had taken his vehicle down there and drank the water from the spring before hopping back in and waving and driving past us. Seeing him do it, we took a sip of the water as well. From the taste, it was definitely rich in minerals, possibly iron and maybe sulphur. But the most interesting part was that it was mildly carbonated. This is something none of us had seen or experienced before.
Our next stop was the Georgia-Russia Friendship Monument. It was a large semi-circular structure with murals on the inward facing walls and overlooking the valley and the mountains behind that. The boys saw snow for the first time there and we walked to a patch nearby so they could see it up close. It wasn’t very clean and pristine but it was snow nonetheless. There was also an option for paragliding there but we didn’t have enough time so didn’t go for it.
As we drove further towards Stepantsminda we saw a long line of trucks waiting on the opposite side heading towards Tbilisi. They were probably coming in from the Russian border which was not far away and were waiting for paperwork/clearance or traffic curfew restrictions.
We reached Stepantsminda late evening and checked into the hotel and parked our van there. The walk into the town center was all downhill. We quickly realized that it was going to be uphill all the way back later after dinner at night. So to avoid it at that time I walked back and fetched the van while the rest waited in the town center and shortlisted a place for dinner.
We went to Restaurant Cozy Corner and it had a nice outdoor garden seating area with a small stream and tables on the grass. But it was getting cold outside so we chose to be seated indoors. One interesting thing there was that they had currency notes from all over the world stapled to the walls. One strange thing was that we were not allowed to consume water from the water bottles we had bought at the town center earlier. This seemed really weird to me. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and called it a day ready for our last day of the trip tomorrow.
๐ฝ๏ธ แแแขแแฎแขแ แแก แจ แ แฃ แ แ แ
๐ฝ๏ธ Restaurant Qavtaradze Khinkali
๐ฝ๏ธ Cozy Corner Restaurant
๐๏ธ Kushashvili Seven Sisters