The Sunday Times September 15, 2019 9 Travel Caucasus

he clock on the Soon the table fills with ham, wall reads 5.30pm. cheese, wild onions and sour Irina sits chatting cream. Gia fills wineglasses Tat the large round and proposes the first of many table as her young toasts — to thank us for coming grandchildren, Giorgi and /ALAMY; YVONNE GORDON here. It’s typical Georgian Mariami, play beside her. hospitality, where guests are Outside, chickens and pigs seen as a “gift from God”. root around in the grass. The mines may be closed, Behind the house is forest but there are signs that the and a dramatic mountain fledgling tourist industry will backdrop, the green fields bring more people to the area. and trees fading away to grey, Irina proudly shows us a rocky summits lined with visitors’ book. Everyone is snow and ice. provided with just such a feast It’s a peaceful scene in and not charged a penny. Gona, in the Racha region of Earlier in the day, we’d western , 5,500ft hiked to the nearby Kirtisho above sea level in the Caucasus GLAMPING GEORGIA; PHOTOALIONA/GETTY; MARINA VOLODKO glacier through woods of Mountains. This was once a pine, chestnut, beech and thriving village, but the rich green ferns, and along a remaining scattered houses forestry trail filled with wild are mostly deserted after the roses, daisies and butterflies. molybdenum mines closed The distant mountain peaks in the 1950s; butterflies and looked grey and moody, wild flowers have claimed with pockets of snow and the gateways of abandoned ice between rocky ridges. properties. Irina and her Meltwater rushed from a family are the only full-time cave under the glacier to the residents, and even they river below. only spend eight months of That evening, at Sergo’s the year here, as the road is Guest House, in the village impassable from November of Ghebi, we gather at a to March due to snow. A few communal dining table for other families come for a week a feast of chicken, potatoes, or two of holidays. bread and wine. Fellow guests We’re here, just a few miles from Belarus join our from the Russian border, enthusiastic toasts, even to experience Georgia’s though they don’t understand less familiar areas, those them. After dinner, we watch untouched by tourism. We Sergo’s aunt making Racha had to get permits to hike in cheese. There are four shared the area and a local driver rooms — Sergo is adding to bring us here in a 4x4, more accommodation and a up a bumpy potholed road. dining room to meet growing The Racha highland region demand. After dinner, his promises endless hiking trails, builders, Giorgi and Zuriko, pristine mountains and play dominoes under the stars glaciers, amazing food, as the haze of the Milky Way wineries and a slow-travel stretches over the silent experience away from GLAMP IT UP mountains in the distance. better-known areas such as In the next few years, the and Svaneti. Even most Transcaucasian Trail, a of the Georgians I meet long-distance hiking route elsewhere haven’t been here. being developed in the When we visit Irina and her Caucasus, will connect to the family — her husband, Gia, region, linking Svaneti to their son David and his wife, IN GEORGIA Ghebi and bringing more Maka — they give us, a group hikers to the area. Indeed, of four slightly dishevelled the walking is the highlight hikers, a warm welcome. of our days. From the resort “They’re offering us cheese The remote republic is doing a roaring trade town of Shovi, a four-mile, bread,” says Zviad, our guide, 3½-hour (each way) trek takes who is translating. Mariami’s us up to the Buba glacier. crayons are cleared away and a in glamping sites, hiking trails and homestays. The trail starts steep and plate of khachapuri appears on muddy, through pine and the table. Next, a tomato and Yvonne Gordon warms to life in the mountains beech forest. After a couple of cucumber salad. Then fruit. hours, it opens up to subalpine meadows, with the long grass ESCAPE POD Clockwise full of pink and white daisies, from top, the view from buttercups and butterflies. the country’s first glamping At the top of the meadow, site; khachapuri; the at 8,000ft, we take in the space-age tents at Glamping scene — 360-degree views of Georgia; and an Orthodox jagged mountaintops. We fill church near Ambrolauri our water bottles with cool water from a stream and watch as puffy clouds slowly push shadows over the green hills. At the country’s first glamping site, Glamping Georgia, in Ambrolauri, six space-age-looking round white tent pods are set on a hill, overlooking a valley and slopes of dense pine forest. Inside the air-conditioned tents, there’s a bathroom and a kitchenette; outside, a private deck with wicker rocking chairs. Linden, oak and apple trees surround the Continued on page 10 → 10 September 15, 2019 The Sunday Times Travel Georgia

→ Continued from page 9 large clay pots that are buried many flora and fauna habitats. RUSSIA Sergo’s tents. The clean, fresh air is underground to keep the There are 12 marked trails Guest rich with birdsong and insects temperature constant. We for hiking, riding and LEVISON WOOD IT’S A FRONTIER House Shovi zip back and forth. The only also visit the area’s bakeries, snowshoeing, as well as tourist other sound is the Krikhula museums and churches. shelters and camping areas. LAND FIT FOR INDIANA JONES Gona GEORGIA River below. It’s the perfect We spend the final days of We hike the Nikoloz Glamping place to disconnect. A canopy our trip in central Georgia, at Romanov Trail from Likani I first travelled to Georgia way a cheese flatbread with an Georgia of stars opens up overhead Borjomi, a summer retreat for to Lomis mountain, where a back in 2004 as a backpacker. egg in the middle, plus Tbilisi YVONNE GORDON; JAB/SHUTTERSTOCK and Giorgi, the owner, drops the Romanovs, famous for its river valley leads up through I was immediately drawn in by barbecued meat and Likani by to give us a bottle of his mineral waters and sulphur forest to alpine meadows of the variety of the landscape veggies. So good. Borjomi- homemade wine. baths. Covering 210,000 tall grasses and wild flowers. and the raw beauty. The Go to the Caucasus Kharagauli Ambrolauri is famous for acres, the Borjomi-Kharagauli We pass only a handful of country is the gateway to the Mountains to see the huge National Park wine — at a winery, we learn National Park has one of other hikers. I know that the Silk Road and the frontier 13th-century Svaneti stone

50 miles how it is made in the the largest areas of pristine reward at 7,200ft will be the between Europe and Asia, towers, and don’t miss traditional way, using qvevri, virgin forest in Europe, and views. What I don’t expect to so you find this incredible Tbilisi’s hipster restaurants find at the top is free-roaming crossroads of different and bars. But the best place horses with glossy brown cultures, and a deep sense is in the far south, at Vardzia, coats, a tiny decorative church of history and diversity. where there is a medieval and carpets of wild blooms. Everywhere I went, people cave monastery concealed This is what we came for — were inviting me into their in the cliffs. Christian monks unspoilt nature and slow homes. They don’t want would hide there when the travel. It’s a few hours’ hike anything in return. I never Mongol hordes attacked. back down, but all I want to once felt in danger. It’s You can go in and do is lie down amid the such a welcoming place. explore it — in the flowers, close my eyes and has tunnels, there are all just breathe. a history dating back these frescoes on 8,000 years and is very the walls. It’s proper Yvonne Gordon was a guest of drinkable. There Indiana Jones stuff. the Georgian National Tourism are vineyards Administration (georgia.travel). everywhere. The Levison Wood’s Two-person tent pods at food, too, is a book Eastern Glamping Georgia start at £40 superb blend Horizons, on a night, B&B (glampingeorgia. of Persian his travels in com). A nine-day trip across and Turkish the Caucasus Racha and the Borjomi- influences. and beyond, Kharagauli National Park starts They have is published at £950pp, including full-board this national by Hodder guesthouse accommodation, dish called (£8; amazon. activities and transfers, but not khachapuri — co.uk) WILD NEIGHBOURHOOD Free-roaming horses in Racha flights (gobarefoot.travel)