Great Journey 🏍 Day 352
We take the Georgian Army Road - which leads from the Caucasus in Russia to Tbilisi - under our wheels. Originally, it ran along a millennia-old caravan route that led from the north of the Great Caucasus to the lands of the Orient.
When I first hear about this 200-kilometre-long military road, I imagine a cobbled, hairpin mountain road with Russian tanks coming towards us, mothers selling fresh fruit and honey, and rusty wrecks of trucks at the side of the road.
Pushkin, Dumas and other poets also described the Heerstraße in adventurous-romantic terms: they admired the rugged mountain slopes, feared and longed for the encounter with the famous Caucasian brigands. Essad Bey describes it thus: immeasurable is the beauty of the vast snow masses, indescribable the clarity of the mountain air.
Okay, and now us: tarred country road in best "Georgian" condition, a few trucks, which we overtake. No robbers, no cobblestones and the only Russian thing we notice is the increasing number of vehicles with Russian licence plates. One bend follows the next, the view becomes more exhilarating after each turn. Slowly we climb our way up. We pass the Shinvali reservoir with the Ananuri fortress nestled against its steep walls.
Here we take a break and treat ourselves to two mugs of Jacobs-Krönung instant coffee, or as a dear colleague likes to say: Pipe cleaner.
Here we also have our first really warm contact with a Georgian. He chats away, when he notices that a few Russian words reach me, it continues at double speed. "Thank you for being our guests!", "From so far away, my compliments!", "My daughter lives in Stuttgart." And then still, laughing to Gerd, pointing at me (I was very happy to translate that): "Pretty girl!"
The further we drive into the great Caucasus, the more we feel: we are not really city people after all. The rocks, the mountains, the altitude here and above all the peace and quiet suit us once more!
#georgianHeerstrasse 1TP6PastRomanticism
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