Like a parabola made of ice, Mount Kazbek rises above Kazbegi to more than 5000 m. In the foreground, no more spectacular site could be imagined for the small church that is enthroned on alpine mats. According to legend, Prometheus was chained to the mountain because he had brought fire to mankind. The descendants of the eagles that once feasted on his liver still circle the mountain. Unlike Hercules, I only go as far as the glacier tongue, dream a little of ice axes and crampons and descend back into the valley.
I explore the surrounding valleys on a mountain bike. There are mineral springs with sinter terraces, abandoned villages where slender fortified towers rise up. Gentian, orchids and the Caucasian dwarf rhododendron are in bloom. But this would not be the Caucasus if one did not suddenly find oneself in front of a barbed wire enclosure. Three soldiers are sitting in front of the two olive green tents, oiling their Kalashnikovs. Not surprising, because behind the snow-covered mountains on the right lies Russia, which is anything but a friend, and on the other side the breakaway province of South Ossetia, a quasi-state dependent on Russia and otherwise recognised by no one. Another soldier checks my passport, which takes some time, as he first has to guess what to write where in the table, as the passport is not in Georgian…
Kazbegi (Stepanzminda) is one of the easiest places to reach in the Caucasus and one would think that there would be a certain tourist infrastructure here. Instead, it is hardly possible to find anything to eat after 19:00 and before 10:00 and the water pipes are probably so rotten that water only comes out of the tap in droplets every now and then. Instead of doing something about this, a new prestigious church is being built a few kilometres away on the closed border with Russia…
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Backpacking trip Middle East and Caucasus 2008
The Formation of Mountains
Tbilisi and around
Gori
Svaneti
One more toast …
Start of war
Borjomi and Vardzia
Trekking in Tusheti
Trekking from Ushguli to Mestia