Discover Georgia's Svaneti Towers and other hidden wonders in this beautiful region. I wrote this after walking along a narrow street between ancient stone houses in the town of Mestia. Towers built to resist the enemy rose around me. Not consecutively but scattered across the valley, each attached to a home built from the same worn blocks of stone. Time roughened their edges, rain nibbled their sandy grout and flashbacks of former raids hid between nooks and melted into shadows. Today, yellow flowers painted a tapestry at the foot of certain towers while white-blossomed trees soothed their memories, lifting troubles of past generations lightly in the breeze.
The towers stood for resilience. Resilience of the town’s ancestors and strength of community that still filters through neighbourly life. Koshkebi (“stone towers”) define the Svaneti region of northern Georgia, yet my eyes were transfixed by what lay lower to the ground.
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Thinking of travelling to the Caucasus? These places were some of my favourite destinations in Azerbaijan and worth adding to your itinerary.
As far as things to do, this nation offers a diverse mix. Stroll through restored archeological palaces or step back in time at a Zoroastrian fire temple. View petroglyphs thousands of years old or stretch your hiking legs in the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range. If you time it right, you can even catch the Formula One Grand Prix race through the streets of Baku. With all the tour packages and guide books available, it can be confusing to pick where to hike in the huge Patagonia. After travelling from north to south, these are my three favourite day hikes and travel tips to help plan your vacation.
“Stroll through a city where European comfort fuses with the medieval past to form a medley of arts, culture and contemporary urban venues", Searching for Unique
The Faroe Islands
“Like your moody aunt, the Faroe Islands display characteristics of cranky, wind-blown isolation in the most endearing manner, tempting visitors to chip away at her mysterious beauty” How can a region rise above a deadly turmoil that caused the relocation of millions of people when its border was drawn and pivot such negativity into a mock stand-off that draws two stadiums full of cheering visitors every night? The Attari - Wagah border between India and Pakistan has managed to do precisely this by diffusing tensions with a one-of-a-kind and purely entertaining production.
Our particular route via the Schiesser Ledges to the Alpine Club of Canada's Neil Colgan Hut - Canada's highest, permanent habitable structure - had turned from a scramble into a low-grade climb. And I was a novice mountaineer quickly flying past my zone of comfort.
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