Along the Military Highway

On Thursday 14th August, it was finally time to leave Sighnaghi and this time we were headed to Kazbegi (also known as Stepantsminda) about 243km away (which would be 6h without stopping). Once again following the advice from the Wanderlush blog, we booked a car with GoTrip (411 GEL, £112) with our lovely driver Konstantin. Following the Wanderlush itinerary we had stops at the Alaverdi Monastery, Tianeti, Ananuri, Pasanauri, the Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument and Stepantsminda.

The Georgian Military Highway is one of the region’s main freight routes and currently the only land link with Russia. It's a historic and strategic road that runs through the Caucasus Mountains, connecting Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, with Vladikavkaz in Russia. It is one of the most scenic and historically significant routes in the Caucasus region.

The 132 mile route has been used for centuries by traders, invaders, and armies and were we to carry on it would have taken us into Russia at the Kazbegi–Verkhni Lars border checkpoint, which is the this is the only legal land border crossing between Georgia and Russia. The FCO map above shows how the UK Foreign Office (FCDO) advises against all travel to the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the North West.

Our first top was at the Alaverdi Monastery, an Orthodox Monastery dating back to the 6th Century. It was undergoing significant restoration works with lots of scaffolding but it was very beautiful inside and it was also great to see the grapes and passion fruits being grown in the gardens. We bought lovely bracelets here and lit more candles for Robin, Great Granny and Jesus!

We drove through Tianeti and onwards to Ananuri via the Zhinvali Water Reservoir.

The Ananuri Fortress is a gorgeous scenic medieval castle complex by the Aragvi River. We went right inside church, inside the depths of the castle and marvelled at the view!

We drove through Pasanauri, which is a gorgeous river with lots of rafting opportunities (we'll save that for another day!) and our last stop before Kazegi was the Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument. This was truly amazing!

Needless to say, we didn't venture into Russia, but instead ended our journey by checking into the Red Stone Guest House for 2 nights (220 GEL, £59) where we had a standard triple room, with breakfast included. This was a charming little guesthouse just slightly outside and up the hill from the centre of Kazbegi.

After getting dropped off by Konstantin, we headed down into Kazbegi town itself to the supermarket to buy supplies before heading back and off to bed.

On Friday 15th August after a lovely guesthouse breakfast, we took a Bolt up (40 GEL) to the Gergeti Trinity Church (hiking up takes 2-3 hours) which had some stunning views from the top!

After that, our Bolt driver waited for us, brought us down and took us over to the Pansheti Mineral Pool and stone towers, located 2.5km south of Kazbegi centre on the western side of the river. This is an open-air ‘swimming pool’ is fed by natural mineral springs with freezing cold but crystal clear waters. There aren't any toilets or changing rooms but we changed in the back of the car (!) whilst the driver politely went for a walk and looked the other way! This was hilarious as it was so cold and I only I made it fully in. Still, very refreshing!

Our driver finally dropped us off at Rooms Kazegi for lunch which is Kazbegi's five star hotel with some lovely views of the town and valley. We walked back, did some shopping on the way down in some light drizzle, repacked our bags for our final journey home the following day and then had a final few hot chocolates in "Wine House" or "სახლი - House" which is just a few steps away from the Red Stone Guesthouse. A lovely few days!