First Impressions of Georgia and Svaneti

Ben Corwin
3/18/2013
Georgia blog info
Getting to Svaneti and First Impressions
Georgia is a bit challenging from anywhere, but especially America. I started out with a several hour bus ride, then a bit of time in the airport. Left Newark around 9 PM on 3/16 after eating dinner, chatting with another person decked out in winter gear who was headed to Svalbard. Long flight overnight sitting next to a bioengineer from Penn, with a decent dinner- so are for airlines- served by Lufthansa. Landed in Munich around 10:30 AM on St. Patrick's day, spent 22 euro on a regional train ticket, and took off to downtown. Watched a massive St. Patty's day parade, wondered around Munich and Deutsch Museum, then went south to the lake. Georgeous view over the mountains, and skiing only 1.5 hours away in the alps. But I had a plane to catch, so grabbed some Gravlox in the convenient airport grocery store (sells lots of beer and chocolate, but fully stocked) and checked in. After the dreaded removal of luggage after checked in traveler doesn't show, we took off. Arrived in Tbilisi at 4:15 AM, paid a few dozen Lari (1.65 per US dollar at time of writing) for a fast ride to the bus station. Met Ralph, the Norwegian I'll be staying with in a few days. We negotiated to get our ski bags- 3 total with a dozen plus pairs- onto the Marshrutka, and took off towards Zugdidi and Mestia. The minibus serves as the main form of transportation now that flights in Mestia are (temporarily) canceled, and was full by 5:45 AM.
On the roa, we stopped twice to pick up flowers and store-bought laundry detergent. In Georgia, it is normal to pass at high speeds and the ever-present police do not seem to enforce speed limits, so we arrived in Mestia by 5:00 PM. Fresh snow, deep gorges, one-lane tunnels, cows and pigs graced the route. After not too much trouble upon arrival, I found Vittorio Sella, where
Roza lives. Roza's husband Vitia met me near the police station, and we began to walk up to their guesthouse, complete with Svan tower and several guest rooms. Roza and her daughter speak English and charge a very good price (about $25 US) per night including meals. Roza's website is roza-mestia.com, phone # is +995 599641455 and she'll answer texts in English.
After a delicious dinner with a French/ Russian couple traveling around the the Caucasus and Central Asia, I headed to bed after 48 hours of travel. Woke up to a wonderful breakfast of homegrown eggs, cheese, and fresh bread with jam and honey. Left around 10:30 for Hatsvali, the local ski resort. More to come about Hatsvali soon.