Zigzagging to the Far North

Today we’re taking a whole day to leisurely drive from Martvilli to Mestia. It’s only 170km, but we mostly go in zigzags (see videos), there’s just too much happening on the roads. Cows with their droppings, horses, pigs, old men, potholes as deep as the Mariana Trench - there’s really nothing that doesn’t exist on these roads! Anyone who drives faster than 80km/h here is asking for trouble!

The many zigzag turns are tiring, and about halfway along the route, there’s a geocache hidden in an old tunnel system. We need to get that. We park our Gregor and, of course, have to cross a treacherous bridge again before we reach the tunnel entrance. The geocache comes with a map of the tunnel system, and naturally, we have no GPS signal inside. The atmosphere is absolutely eerie; we feel like we’re in a post-apocalyptic movie and a zombie could jump at us at any moment. We find the indicated spot, but unfortunately, there’s no trace of the treasure. We explore the systems a bit more, but when we stumble upon a large hall with no visible end, we’ve had enough - what if they’re storing nuclear waste here? I wouldn’t put anything past the Georgians at this point! We are relieved and take a deep breath when we finally reach the outdoors again after about an hour of darkness.

After 2 hours, we arrive in Mestia and enjoy a delicious and very affordable dinner at the Vichnashi guesthouse, a small family-run place, before heading to our next accommodation.