So, we headed out early afternoon for our little adventure. After walking through a village and getting stared at we, gasp, took a right. While it didn’t take us to South Ossetia, it did put us out on a highway outside of the city. With nothing really to do, we just kept walking. About 15 minutes later, we spied these two old ladies hiking up a hill off the highway. How they managed it, I’ll never know. Georgian babyshki are like Russian babyshki – they’re crazy fierce and you best not mess with them. Figuring that if they could do it, so could we, Corrie and I followed them up. About 10 minutes later, we were at the top, gasping for breath.
Like I said, never take on a babyshka…Anyways, we ended up in this old village at the top of the hill. It appears to have no electricity or running water, with women washing clothes in a big basin in the street. There are haystacks everywhere with donkeys and cows roaming the streets. A massive tank of kvas (a Russian soda) was the only sign of modernity. Of course.
We wandered around the village and found a small path that looked like it led up to this church at the top of the mountain we were trying to get to. We started up the path and spent about an hour hiking to the top. By the end, my legs were shaking and I was out of breath, but it was totally worth the view. Nobody was at the church, so we were able to walk around freely. From the top, we looked out over all of Gori and the surrounding villages, farms, mountains and rivers. What a view. This country is absolutely stunning. We spent about half and hour at the top and vowed to come back with a picnic one day. We set off back down and saw this lovely little road that apparently led down to the highway. 15 minutes later, we were back at the village. I’m still taking the small path next time; it’s part of the experience.
After that, we walked back home, bought some plums from the villagers, and took a much needed 10 hour nap.
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