Day 10 - Friday - Driving north into the mountains: quite an adventure~

 Good by to the Lost Ridge Inn in Signaghi:

The Inn is also a craft brewery (on the right side of the building)

Lucy, the owner's dog, helping our guide take the luggage out

The bar and breakfast room

Roadside pit stop:

Yes, those are 1 litre beers!

Shot dog?

We passed through Tblisi, the capital, population 1.3 million. The population of the entire country is 3 million. We saw this road sign! I wonder why they like George W. Bush!

During the years of the Soviet occupation (1920-1991), they built many many low cost buildings of all types which they did very little to maintain. And then when Georgia became independent, they did not have the infrastructure to improve or rebuild, so these buildings remain all over the country, in the big cities and small villages alike. Some are still occupied, but many are abandoned. 

As we left Tblisi, we drove along a 20 km long "sea" which is a dammed river, which provides drinking water for Tblisi, as well as serves as irrigation and recreation (below the dam).

Ananuri Fortress - 12th fortress with two churches and a watchtower.

In the 19th C they cemented over the painted frescoes!!!

To scrape the cement off will scrape the paint off!

Just imagine what it might have looked like!

Saint Nino, who brought Christianity to Georgia in the 4th Century

A relief of grape tree!

 

St. Nino's Cross: Legend has it that she used grape vines tied them together with her hair and the cross branch dropped down. This cross is found all over Georgia.

As we went further north into the mountains, we entered ski country. We had lunch at a restaurant in a little ski town.

The bathroom looked like an interrogation room.

On the back of the stall doors, written in Russian, are all the countries Russia has invaded since 1918,

More sweet city dogs:

The yellow tags mean they've been vaccinated and neutered/spayed.

The drive up the windy mountain road was beautiful and sometimes hairy! Trucks were lined up on the side of the road 70 km from the Russian border. They will wait in line for weeks to cross!

The trucks on the right were parked, on the left were driving toward us as we were driving between them!

Diane and Marie Jo photographing!

A tunnel project: It will be a 10km long tunnel!

The while spot on the left side is travertine marble "in the wild"

Travertine up close

More travertine

Scenic Monument: This massive Soviet-era monument with its brightly colored mosaic artwork was built in 1983 to memorialize 200 years of "friendship" between Russia and Georgia since the 1783 Treaty when Georgia was made a protectorate of the Russian Empire. Though it's ironic since few say this friendship never existed, especially in this century of deadly conflicts and tensions. The monument is beautiful and we had a quick visit there as it was raining, which made for some interesting photos.

We arrived at our hotel at the foot of Mt. Kazbeghi, and I snapped this pic just before the clouds descended and we lost our view!