«High above the family of mountains, Kazbek» – wrote Alexander Pushkin, inspired by the unique landscape of Georgia. Several centuries have passed and the inspiration received in this place gives such a powerful charge of inspiration and creativity that the guests come to the foot of Kazbegi again and again.
We will devote our next day to the mountains and go to the foot of Kazbegi along the picturesque Georgian Military Road. We’ll track to mountain pass in the central part of the Greater Caucasus Range, that was the only one until the 20th century: Darial Gates. Georgian Military Road is laid along the canyons of the Aragvi and Terek. These two rivers have nagged mighty mountain ridges for million years. As a result they have created majestic rocky ravines. You can see the stratums of rock formations on their hillsides, as if it was a sawed tree. This is like if we were on the pages of an illustrated book about the geology of the Caucasus.
The higher we climb into the mountains, the more grandiose landscapes we’ll see.
We will look at the medieval residence, that belonged to the redoubtable rulers of the Aragvi canyon – Ananuri fortress. We’ll enjoy the wonderful views of Zhinvali mountain lake and the landscape view from high altitude observation platform «Arch of Friendship» near Cross Pass (2395 m). Also we’ll visit Gergeti monastery, that was built in 14th century (2170m) on a hillside of «Icy mountain» Kazbegi (5045m). Then we’ll taste authentic khinkali and return to Tbilisi.