The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Hiking, Trekking, and Culture in the Caucasus, Part 2: Georgia

A short one-hour flight from Yerevan and I was in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, where I had rented an AirBnb apartment for the duration of my 12 day stay in the country. After KE Adventure cancelled the Georgia trip I had booked, online I found Trek Georgia, a company that leads some multi-day hikes and treks. I signed up for a four-day trip to the Greater Caucasus mountains in the Kazbegi region north of Tbilisi. Three others eventually signed up, making for some intelligent conversations with an eclectic group of clients.

Note: Due to a glitch, no e-mail notification of my previous post on Armenia was delayed. For a short background on the Caucasus region, including a map, you might want to skip down to read that post first.

Tbilisi’s National Museum Map of the Occupation (areas shown in red). While Armenians seem generally friendly towards Russians, such cannot be said for Georgians. Although their governing party is pro-Putin, nearly all Georgians despise him. The two bites he took out of the country in 2008 go a long way to understanding why.
View from the Ananuri Fortress Complex and Zhinvali Reservoir. We stopped briefly on our way north to the mountains.
A stream running through Khada gorge. Our first hike was a short one on the way to our guesthouse in Kazbegi. Sadly, road and tunnel construction made this hike the least enjoyable of the four, although the wildflowers compensated somewhat. . .
Thyme broomrape (Orobanche alba Stephan). To be honest, I couldn’t tell this parasitic plant apart from its relative, slender broomrape. My PlantNet app gave it a much higher likelihood of being Thyme broomrape, though.
Big betony (Betonica macrantha). This species has a much smaller range than common betony, which I also saw in Armenia.
Persian elephant flower (Rhynchocorys elephas). Although also native to Italy, I’d never seen this wildflower before. One of the botanical highlights of my trip.
Mt Kazbek from the Military Highway. Not a great photo as we were driving, but sadly the only sighting I had of this iconic Caucasian peak, 3rd highest in Georgia and by a long way the most popular with climbers.
The town of Kazbegi, in the district of the same name. This view is to the east from our guesthouse balcony where we spent three nights. This mountain town, now formally called Stepantsminda, is the last town before the border with Russia.
Juta Valley vista on our 2nd day hike. Many tourists were enjoying the good weather on a summer weekend in this beautiful valley.
Broad-leaved marsh orchid (Dactylorhiza majalis) in Juta Valley
Fragrant orchid (Gymnadenia conopsea). A slightly better photo than my one from Lago di Garda in June. Once again I forgot to smell it.
A Juta valley waterfall on our second hike, heading towards Chaukhi pass.
Gentian speedwell (Veronica gentianoides). It took many photo attempts, but I finally got a decent one of this miniature wildflower. The Juta Valley had an amazing variety of wildflowers; I’ve only included three here.
The Vagabond Hiker with our guide, Nugo, on the third day of hiking. Only one other client and I hiked up to Altihut on this misty day. Altihut is the first of two refuges used on the normal ascent route of Mount Kazbek.
A religious memorial located at a pass on the way to Altihut where we had lunch.
A panel from the Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument along the military highway. This monument was erected during Soviet times, but remains a popular tourist destination, in part for its dramatic location.
View northwest from the Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument
Our fourth and final hike was up to Lomisa Church, a medieval Christian shrine. We were accompanied by many pilgrims on the path to this holy site.
View south from Lomisa Church. Russian-occupied Georgia starts immediately below my feet on this ridge and continues into the far distance.

After four days of hiking in the mountains, I joined a cultural group tour for a day, focused on the wine and food of Georgia. The informative (and filling!) day was provided by EatThis!, an expat-led company offering a number of different food and wine tours in Georgia. Our trip was centered in the Kakheti region, the largest – though not the only – wine growing region in Georgia. It’s location to the east of Tbilisi made it doable as a single day trip, though the company also offers multi-day trips.

Gia Togonidze, the proprietor of the eponymous winery we visited. The different wines were amazing and Gia’s wife cooked a delicious lunch for our group of five. Unlike in Armenia, I had no difficulty finding good vegetarian and vegan food in Georgia.
Qvevris drying in the sun. These large amphorae, buried in the ground, are used to age traditional Georgian wine.
Alaverdi monastery, where we stopped for a dose of history.
Gombori Pass sunset view on our return journey to Tbilisi after a very long day of eating and drinking.

I hope you have enjoyed the brief two part tour through the Caucasus. I’ll include some photos from Tbilisi (and Yerevan) later this autumn when I post some photos from the cities I visited in 2023.

My next adventure will be in Pakistan. In a few days I will leave the UK to Islamabad, and then north to Baltistan where our KE Adventures group will trek to K2 basecamp, a trip that’s long been on my bucket list. Until then, enjoy the rest of the summer.

The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, Trekking, and Culture in the Caucasus, Part 1: Armenia

Although most of the nine days I spent in Armenia were comprised of hiking (three shorter day hikes and a four-day trek), at all times I felt deeply immersed in the culture, history, and religion of Armenia as we traveled from the capital of Yerevan to all corners of this fascinating country. Indeed, since becoming the first country in the world in 301 CE to adopt Christianity as its official religion, religion has never been far from any discussion of Armenia’s history.

The Caucasus is a geographic region located between the Black Sea to the West and the Caspian Sea to the East, essentially connecting eastern Europe with northwest Asia. (As such I have categorized them as both Europe and Asia for these blog posts). As can be seen in the map below, the mountains can be divided into the Greater and Lesser Caucasus. The trek and hikes in Armenia were of course in the Lesser range whereas my next blog post, from Georgia, will be in the Greater Caucasus Mountains.

Caucasus topographic map
(Bourrichon – fr:Bourrichon with English translations, additions, and corrections by Ketone16 (partly following Yuri Koryakov), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Khor Virap Monastery. One of the most famous and religiously important sites in Armenia, is in the far west of this small country, close to the border with Turkey. It was our first stop on a long day of culture and hiking.
Mount Ararat in clouds from Khor Virap Monastery. Mount Ararat has a special place in every Armenian’s heart. Although located in Turkey, many refer to that area as “Western Armenia.” In fact, at 5137m, it is the highest mountain in Turkey. Note the cloud on the left of the photo that makes Little Ararat look like it’s erupting.
Smbataberd Fortress walls, seen during our first day hike, a hill traverse, in southern Armenia. Our slow pace and numerous stops during this hike were precursors of things to come.
Norovank Monastery in Gnishik gorge. This dramatically-sited monastery on our way to Lake Sevan was my favorite.
Orbelian’s caravanserai at the Selim Pass, from the 14th century. This lodging for travelers along the silk road is the best-preserved in Armenia.
Detail of Orbelian’s caravanserai entry with high reliefs of a winged animal to the left, and a bull to the right above the lintel.
Selim Pass vista near sunset. Much driving still remained, the first of three consecutive 5+ hour days of on often-decrepit roads.
Lake Sevan Best Western Hotel from pier in early AM. Lake Sevan is the largest in the Caucasus, located at 1900m above sea level. There was a wonderful heated outdoor pool; it was a shame we had no time to enjoy the facilities.
Haghpat Monastery, seen at the start of our second day’s hike, from there to Sanahin monastery. Both are on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
An unusual khachkar at Haghpat Monastery. Most of these Armenian carved cross stelæ have a variety of motifs, but do not depict Jesus.
View back towards Haghpat Monastery, showing well the landscape in the northeast of the country. According to World Atlas, Armenia is the 6th most mountainous country in the world.
Sanahin Monastery, the end of our 2nd day of hiking. It was a beautiful and peaceful location, less encumbered by tourists than many others. Afterwards, another long transfer to our lodging for the night, not aided by a road closure due to a landslide en route.
A khachkar near the start of our 3rd day of hiking, between Kobayr Monastery and Odzun Church.
Our group on the dramatic hillside traverse from the Kobayr to Odzun. This was for me the best of our day hikes, although slow hiking with many rests, a road closed from an accident, and horrendous traffic on our return to Yerevan in the evening made for another very long day.
Day 1 of our Geghama Mountains traverse trek: Sevaberd to Ajna Lake. Here a beautiful flowered meadow vista. The Geghama Mountains lie to the east of Yerevan. While they are not particularly dramatic, my enjoyment of the trek was greatly enhanced from the lack of other hikers.
Day 2 in the Geghama Mountains was the highlight of the entire trek. Here the view is back towards our camp on the far side of Ajna lake. More wonderful wildflowers! Note some snow on the left; the late winter snows had not yet completely melted.
View towards Azhdahak Peak in the middle ground, the high point of the mountain range, on Day 2. Its summit was our objective.
The Vagabond Hiker out in front of the other clients on Day 2. Our trek leader was fairly fast. Fortunately we had two guides for only 6 clients, enabling a range of hiking speeds.
Birds eye primrose (Primula farinosa)
Gerry and other clients crossing a modest snow field
Azhdahak Peak (3597m) summit crater
On the summit of Azhdahak Peak
Pyramid Bugle (Ajuga pyramidalis). Compare to Velvetbells from my Lago di Garda post last month.
One of many petroglyphs we saw in Day 3 of our trek. Unfortunately our guide wasn’t able to explain much about them.
A Lake Vank standing stone, at our Day 3 lunch stop. The lake wasn’t particularly photogenic, hence no photo.
Day 4 of our trek: a morning view from camp with a hot air balloon in the distance. Our camp was spectacularly situated on the edge of a high plateau.
A view towards the town of Garni, our destination, on Day 4. The ruins of the Havuts Tar Monastery complex are seen in the foreground.
Havuts Tar ruins
A khachkar at Havuts Tar

After the four-day Geghama Mountains trek, one other client and I decided to leave the group and spend a night in Yerevan (which we were driving past anyway) rather than continue to a camp on Mount Aragats, the highest mountain in Armenia and a further 2 hours drive to the northwest. For several reasons, the two of us did not do that final hike, to Aragats’ South summit, the lowest and easiest of its four summits. Three of the other four clients did make the ascent the following day during a weather window. The photo below was taken by one from the South summit. Congrats to them, though I had no regrets at spending my final day in Armenia relaxing in Yerevan.

Mt Aragats South summit view towards the West and North (highest) summits

Stay tuned next week for the second installment of my Caucasus blogs, from Georgia.

The Vagabond Hiker

Flowers and Ferratas (and a few hikes) around Lago di Garda

Before you shake your head at another post from Northern Italy, this last month was the earliest in the season by far that I’d been hiking and climbing there. The wildflowers were stupendous and featured many I hadn’t seen before, at least in Italy. Add in some ferratas that I hadn’t done from my last visit to Lago di Garda in 2019 and I definitely thought it was worthy of another blog post. I hope you agree.

Torrente Barbarano, seen during my approach to Via Ferrata (VF) Spigola della Bandiera. This rather short and boring ferrata was the one I climbed while I was located on the southwest side of Lago di Garda for 2 days waiting for my Arco-area apartment to be ready. (The southern 2/3rds of the lake is in Lombardy and has completely different geology from the northern third, in Trentino. Definitely stay in the north if you’re visiting the area).
The Rifugio Pirlo allo Spino above VF Spigola della Bandiera. No decent photos of the ferrata were possible as it was highly vegetated. I was the only one here as the main access road was closed much of that day due to the Giro d’Italia bike race passing through.
Torrente Toscolano, Valle delle Cartiere, near my hotel. Paper mills from this valley flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries as the major supplier of paper to Venice.
Dark Columbine (Aquilegia atrata). Absolutely stunning.
Castello d’Arco. With some friends from St George, I visited the castle as part of a day of nearby ferratas and scrambles.
Poppy field, Castello d’Arco
Burning-bush (Dictamnus albus)
The amazing “Garda View” apartment in Gavazzo (Tenno), where I stayed for 5 weeks. The upper left balcony on the near house was mine.
Riva and Lago di Garda from my balcony in the morning light
Goats on Monte Misone. The hike to the summit of this nearby peak was one of four I did as warm ups for Mount Toubkal (see my previous post).
Coral peony (Paeonia mascula)
Trumpet gentian (Gentiana acaulus). One of my faves. I’ve shared photos of this species before.
Cave Alte, Troiana. A nearby marble quarry that supplied much statuary marble. It fascinated me how they dug out these galleries from which they hauled the marble down to the valley near Arco.
Cima d’Oro, Lago di Ledro vista. Another Toubkal warmup.
World War I trench on Cima d’Oro
Alpine pasque flower (Pulsitilla alpina). I finally saw the flower! Later in the season all I ever saw were the distinctive seed pods.
Early purple orchid (Orchis mascula). First of four orchids you’ll see in this post. . .
Balm-leaved archangel (Lamium orvale). I’ve seen another species of archangel in Hastings, England.
View to the north from Croce (cross) di Ceniga, taken on another hike nearby Arco, to the summit of Monte Colt.
Pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis). Aptly named.
Monte Stivo summit view towards the Brenta Dolomites, with globe flowers and buttercups. Monte Stivo, northeast of Lago Garda, is a very popular hike. Even on a weekday I saw many people on my descent.
Cima di Rocca. This ferrata I did was an extended version of one my my favorites, Cima Capi, documented in my 2019 Lago di Garda post.
Part of an extensive WWI tunnel complex in Cima Rocca
Chiese di San Giovanni, on the descent from Cima Rocca. I’m not sure this church holds many services anymore.
Dane’s Blood bell-flower (Campanula glomerata). I saw many species of bell-flower this past month, but I’ve posted photos of most before, but not I think this one.
Cascata di Ballino, at the start of VF Signora delle Acque. This ferrata essentially climbs the waterfall. How cool is that?
Looking down the Cascata di Ballino, VF Signora delle Acque. Yes, I am attached to ferrata cables!
Giro di tre Cime, Monte Bondone. The three peaks are all visible here; right to left: Cornetto, dos Abramos, and Verde. The wildflowers were amazing on this hike, which started at a much higher elevation (about 1500m) than most, a wise choice on this hot day.
Fragrant orchid (Gymnadenia conopsea)
Orange lily (Lilium bulbiferum)
Paradise lily (Paradisea liliastrum). I also saw Bruno’s and St. Bernard’s lilies this past month, but they all look similar so I’m posting only this one.
Monte Cornetto on the Giro di tre Cime hike. Cornetto is Italian for croissant. I also saw signs saying “Cornet,” which is French for horn. It resembles neither a croissant nor a horn to me.
Velvetbells (Bartsia alpina)
Dos Abramos, seen from the col between that peak and Cima Verde. It transpired that to reach the summit and descend the other side required following a path with cables (i.e., a Via Ferrata). I had no gear with me, but fortunately those two short sections were not too difficult or exposed.
Globe orchid (Traunsteinera globosa). Another aptly-named orchid.
Monte Casale at dawn, from the Pietramurata parking lot where I started the VF Che Guevara. While only technically moderate, this ferrata is very long and gains about 1400m in elevation. The dawn start was essential to beat the heat as the wall faces southeast.
A view northeast towards Lago Toblino on the ascent of VF Che Guevara. I mentioned in a previous post that around Lago Toblino are found the northern-most olive trees in the world.
Monte Casale summit plateau, end point of VF Che Guevara. The vertical world I’s spent the last four hours in suddenly changed to an alpine meadow!
Cima Tosa (3,136m) and the Brenta Dolomites from Monte Casale summit plateau. I previously posted on a ferrata trip I took in the Brenta Group in 2018. This fantastic day in the mountains was a fitting culmination to my month in Italy.

Although I’m back in Windsor, England, settled into my cozy (read: small) casita, tomorrow I depart for the Causasus for three weeks, split about equally between Armenia and Georgia. One piece of luggage still hasn’t arrived from Italy, so yesterday I spent about $700 buying replacement gear. Oh, well, the price of traveling. In a month or so I’ll post some photos from hikes and treks in those two countries, long on my bucket list.

Enjoy your summer!

The Vagabond Hiker

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