I woke up early, at 5:30 am, showered, packed, and moved out. In the shop, I bought a few things for breakfast 15 GEL=5 €. A German couple picked me up with Subaru-Forester we rented together a day before.
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We moved towards Stepantsminda, and on our way, we stopped many times for some views and pics. The first stop was at the 6th-century Jvari monastery, UNESCO. It was still closed this early but there was a nice view of Mcheta. Few horses and dogs were around
We continued and the road got worse as we went further up north. There were many trucks on the side, that probably couldn’t pass the Russian border. That made driving more difficult. We picked up one old lady that was hitchhiking and drop her off 20 km later.
At the highest point (2200m), Gudauri View Point we were in the snow, nice view from an interesting place, and paid parking for less than 1 €.
Path to Stepantsminda (1700 m) was getting more challenging, on arrival we parked, walk around, not much to see, and ate one lobiani for 4 GEL=1.5 €. Short ride uphill to 14th-century Gergeti Trinity Church (2170m), for an iconic view of Kazbegi mountain in the back. It started raining and we run to the car. Tim drove fast downhill.
When we came to the normal road I took over and drove to Gori. There we walked around, stopped at the Stalin Museum from outside, I bought a souvenir 5 GEL=2 €. We searched for a place to eat, nothing was satisfying so we went shopping, 15 GEL= 5.5 €.
Some more driving, this time to Mcheta, a city that was the Georgian capital in the 4th century BC and is also important as a religious center. It was a nice town, we walked around, I ate Churchkhela, local sweets, 2 GEL less than 1 €.
Tim took over again and coupled with driving through a Tbilisi traffic jam. This night I stayed in the same place as the Germans, so we started together in the morning, at Backpackers hostel, 18 GEL=6.5 €. I had a nice chat with people there, someone even made me tea. I asked about the train to Armenia, but nobody had useful information. Before I turned in I went to the shop, beer, and cigarettes 15 GEL=5.5 €.
