Ushguli - the highest permanently inhabited village in Europe

From Mestia, a surprisingly well-developed mountain road takes about 1:30 to reach Ushguli. A sign tells us a bit about the village and mentions that it is situated at over 2200m, making it the highest village in Europe. How cool is that!!!

We stroll through the little village, eat very very spicy but delicious food at one of the small family restaurants, and then decide to hike to the Shkhara Glacier. After all, we are already here!

You can already see the Shkhara from Ushguli; at 5201 m, it is the highest mountain in Georgia and the third highest in the Greater Caucasus.

We want to experience this magnificent mountain as closely as possible, so Gregor has to show how resilient he really is, and we drive along a bumpy gravel road from Ushguli for about 30 minutes until we decide to continue on foot.

Always with the impressive mountain in front of us, we hike motivated through the valley, the mountain stream rushing beside us, it is wonderful. Occasionally, a taxi excursion struggles past us, but that’s not a problem.

We actually reach the first mountain hut of our Georgia trip, powered by loud generators. We must support this and first take a break to drink. Refreshed, we continue and stick to the left side, heading upwards. We are rewarded with magnificent views of two glacier tongues, take a break, and then happily return to our car.