Russia – Only my footprints

Abandoned towers and villages in Ingushetia and Dagestan (Breakaway Russian Republics part 3)

The stunning towers of Ingushetia and the Georgian Military Highway

After an astounding breakfast buffet – astounding both in its profusion of choices, but also in the uniformity of taste of the food (like the detergent the plates were washed in), we headed out for a long back track to Vladikavkaz to visit the Georgian military highway and the famous towers of Ingushetia. The Caucasus are like the alps and the road was cut in a river valley for much of the way with steep peaks on either side. Turning off the road to Georgia to run along the side of the mountains we were held for an hour while the FSB quadruple checked our permits. I understand why people rebel here, it’s suffocating to live under constant intervention.

In pictures of the region you tend to see the same two groups of towers at egikal, but what I didn’t know in advance is that there were hundreds of towers in various states of repair along the road. We stopped at all the big ones and they were quite lovely. A couple, our guide had never seen up close as none of his tourists had wanted to climb up the hill to get to them. The best was probably Egikal and the two towers at Bashenny near the army base.

The landscape and towers were really wonderful and I spent a lot of the day dreaming about hiking from tower to tower along the route of the Caucasus mountains, but I suspect that won’t be feasible while putin and the FSB have a hold on the territory.

A long drive to Kezenoy Am – the highest lake in the Caucas

It was a long drive back through the mountains to get to the border of Dagestan where we spent the night at Kezenoyam- the highest lake in the Caucasus – it used to be where the Russian rowing team trained A late dinner of shashlik and salad and to bed.

Waking up to a stunning day, I managed a half hearted 20 minute jog along the lakeside…. stunning. And then we had a very ottoman breakfast of tomatoes cheese and cucumber before heading to republic no. 5 – Dagestan

Dagestan – the wild west

A quick trip to neighbouring Makazhoy – an abandoned village perched on a river gorge. The village was emptied when Stalin deported the Chechens in 1944. 15 years later the returnees where not allowed to resettle here. Now people are allowed to live here but few want to as they worry that the Russians are more likely to commit war crimes in remote places with no witnesses.

Entering Dagestan the roads became gravel and were winding up and down sheer mountains. We stopped often, partly because of the FSB checkpoints, but also because of the frequent cow roadblocks. The whole family would be out herding the cows. Mums and grandmas in skirts and headscarfs, the men in baseball caps and rip-off Armani t shirts. The drive was stunning – sheer dusty red cliffs on either side of narrow river valleys which are lush green with fruit trees. It isn’t all lovely though, environmental issues don’t appear to be front of mind here – the outdoor toilets in riverside villages are effectively long drops perched above the river with human waste going straight into the river. Rubbish is burnt, but plastic is chucked off the side of the mountain. The rivers were frequently damned, no doubt for electricity, creating some quite lovely lakes – like at Irganay. The mountains were phenomenal – a mix of Utah, Arizona, NZ and Morocco – with thick slabs of rock thrust out of the ground with the lines running vertically. The roads were winding and mad men in ladas would come hurtling around the corner on the wrong side of the road. Cows used the road for perambulation and more than once we almost hit a mad kid riding a horse on the median strip. It was a bit like being in the Russian wild west.

The abandoned village and towers of Kakhib

Our goal for the day was Kakhib – an abandoned village about 2 hours from Gunib. It is a stunning abandoned village that appears to be utterly disguised in the cliffside. The rock houses and watch towers are well camouflaged and my photos don’t do it justice. Our guide had never actually walked through the ruins as none of his tourists to this point were willing to do the walk – it was only 15 minutes strolling. Tourists do make me laugh. To fly to a country, drive for hours off road to get somewhere and then not be willing to actually walk a few minutes to see it properly. We saw lower Kakhib, and then the neighbouring higher Kakhib – which was stunning in the afternoon light, though you did have to watch your feet to avoid all the cow poop.

After weaving our way back down the mountain on a track made for 4wd Ladas, we also stopped by the Karadakhskaya Tesnina – a nice hour round trip walk to see the narrow gorge. And then to Gunib. We were invited to Iftar half way to Gunib, but decided to keep going. We made it 20 minutes after Iftar and went to a restaurant with world class crap service. We asked for a menu and were told we didn’t need one. We eventually got one, and we asked for a few dishes, and then the waiters told us we could have pizza or nothing. Hilarious! The pizza wasn’t bad, but it did take 40 minutes. Stephane and I were fine, but poor Abdylla had been fasting since 3am

Gamsutl – the Macchu Picchu of Dagestan

Another day, another abandoned village at the top of a mountain. Gamsutl is probably the most famous of the abandoned vilalges in the region and is a gentle stroll up through the forest. It was actually pretty popular and we met quite a few Russian tourists hiking up. I had assumed Russians were not that welcome in this part of the country, but as Abdylla rightly pointed out, he was much happier to see Russian tourists than Russian soldiers. It was a lovely hike, and I got my morning jog in on the way back down.

Local sports competition

When we reached the bottom there were crowds of locals and it turns out they were having a sports competition between local schools. Things are pretty basic here, so there wasn’t much in the way of equipment! The long jump was actually a standing jump – the longest about 2.5 metres. There was no shotput, so they threw a 16kg kettle bell instead, swinging from the legs. The girls could do the jump but not the weighted throw, so instead they did dancing. And this was all done on a patch of field covered with rocks and cowpats. We were like local celebraties, and a few of the ladies took photos with us, and the local English teacher came and had a long chat to practice her English – which was remarkably good.

We had a restful afternoon and another huge dinner. Some locals were eating cake at the next table and I mentioned it looked good, so they gave me some (weirdly they had bought the cake from elsewhere). The next morning, we farewelled the lovely old lady who owned the rest house and headed to Derbent.

Dodgy Derbent – Derbent is an interesting town. On the edge of the Caspian Sea its an absolute no go on the FCO list, avoid visits at all costs, but we had a lovely time. The fortress is amazing and with the old town formed a narrow wedge between the sea and the Caucasus range.

We wandered around the edge of the Fortress, avoiding most of the Russian tourists as none of them were willing to walk around the steep walls. After a stonkingly good lunch we then wandered around the old town and the Shia Mosque. It is the oldest mosque in the country. It was interesting with our guide who was a Sunni, who told us all the differences between Sunni and Shia….., but stopped when I asked if they were sufficient reasons for them wanting to kill each other.

We then went down to the Armenian church, which has bullet holes and shrapnel in the walls. It is no longer a consecrated church, it is now a carpet museum, as the christians were run out of town years ago.

After checking out the Lenin statue, we found the public gym….. and amused the local girls by practising our pull ups and leg lifts. I don’t think most old ladies swing around on the playground equipment.

Next up, the synagogue, which was closed for shabbat. But the cafe next door was a thriving hub of jews and muslims drinking tea (those not fasting) and playing aggressive dominos. We were like local celebrities so were forced to stop for tea!!!

We went to check out the town cemeteries – they were quite extraordinary. We then had a wander to the beach, which ended the journey from sea to sea (black to the Caspian)

Iftar was an amazing half a side of lamb cooked in a tandoor, with exceptional seabuckthorn tea, The food has been surprisingly good. We are heading home from Makhachkala tomorrow, but we are already planning our next trip back

Makhachkhala, May 12, 2019

Additional notes

Books recommended to me on the region – Let our Fame be Great by Oliver Bullough; Caucasus – Mountain Men and Holy Wars by Nicholas Griffin; Cry Wolf by Vanora Bennett; The shoemaker and his daughter by Conor o’Clery

We booked through a UK agent, who outsourced to Caucasus Explorer, who outsourced to Caucasus Odyssey for the non Abkhazia portion. I am sure this meant there was a lot of extra margin in there. You can book direct with Abdylla through his Instagram, or with Dimitri at Caucasus explorer

Men visiting the tombs of those who had completed the Haj

Onwards to Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya (Russian breakaway republics part 2)

Leaving Sochi we took an amazing overnight train to Mineralnye Voda. £55 for first class, comfy bed, nice duvet, free chocolate, free tea, and a well dressed lady who was in charge of the carriage. Amazingly they also had excellent onboard WiFi with free movies and an amazing app. I am contemplating travelling across Russia now by train as I enjoyed it so much.

Deporting an entire population

Abdylla, our Chechen guide was there to meet us, and we headed off to Nalchik – the capital of Kabardino Balkar. It was an unremarkable but lovely town with lots of trees. We visited a monument commemorating the deportation of the local Balkar population. It was to be a theme for the next few days. At the tail end of WW2, the Russians deported the whole Balkar population of 40000, ostensibly for supporting the Germans.

At the same time they ‘cleansed’ the entire populations of Chechnya and Ingushetia in operation lentil. (C.500,000 people). This was to clear the region of Muslims so Russia could attack Muslim Turkey if they wished. Most of the deportees were women and children whose husbands were conscripts fighting in the Russian army. 60% of the deportees didn’t survive the transit and the first year. When they were eventually allowed to return 15 years later they had to buy their land back from the Russians and Ossetians Sobering!

We went for an excellent sour cream laden lunch, though felt somewhat guilty eating in front of Abdylla who was on his first day of Ramadan fasting. (We did tell him he could ditch us and come back but he wouldn’t). Then we strolled around town, saw a few monuments to Lenin and then hit the road.

Drunk russians, a swift escape and a lot of check points

As we were driving to Ossetia, we made Abdylla stop to take a photo of a mt Rushmore-esque monument. There was a coach tour of Russian military retirees drinking vodka who forcibly invited us for some shots. We chatted for a while and then had to scarper as we made the mistake of answering one of the Russians who spoke to us in Pashto. Purely because we knew the words ‘thank you’ and ‘how are you’, meant we must of been spies.

Escape made, we still had to endure regular check points, as the FSB have a strong presence in these ethnic republics. We also had to endure endless billboards of Putin in various glamorous poses.

Horrifying Beslan – 400 deaths in a high school hostage siege

We stopped at Beslan to see the memorial of the school siege in 2004. More than 1000 people were held hostage by Chechen terrorists for three days in a high school gymnasium, Russian ended the siege by firing rocket launchers into the building. 400 people were killed.

The memorial was beautiful but harrowing with all the faces of those killed. We went after to the town cemetery which had a section for the graves, the saddest was a block of six graves of children all from the same family. I always find it shameful to think about these conflicts happening in our lifetime….., and it reminded me that even today there are 1.5 million Uighur Muslims being forceably detained and ‘cleansed’ in China right now.

Vladikavkaz – capital of Ossetia today but once the capital of Ingushetia

We rolled into Vladikavkaz, a peaceful soviet town watched over by Fatima and the mountains in the distance, with a lovely mosque. We had iftar with Abdylla, waiting until 7.03 to eat – excellent khinkhali, chebusara, and fish and then headed to bed.

After a wonderful breakfast of cottage cheese pie, sausages, beetroot, cottage cheese pancakes and cherries (they like cheese here), we left the pretty town of Vladikavkaz and drove from Ossetia to Ingushetia.

Visiting Magas – the artificial capital of Ingushetia, and waiting for the FSB

The border shifted 50 years ago. When the entire Ingushetian population was deported in 1944, the ossetians extended their territory. When the Ingushetians came back the Russians reset the historical borders. Its not a dumb idea from Moscow, as the more the regions infight amongst each other, the less they fight with the Russian government. Today Ingushetia is an autonomous region with its own government. The border shift though, left Ingushetia without a capital, so the new town of Magas was created. It’s a bit like Milton Keynes or Canberra.

We visited the Magas museum which is a faithful reconstruction of an Ingushetia tower. Abdylla said it would take 40 minutes to climb to the top so we decided to jog the sloping ramps around the castle walls to see how long it would take. Abdylla stopped half way, wisely recognising that trying to race while fasting probably wasn’t that sensible….. it took me 8 minutes. Hubby did a creditable effort only walking and made it in 13. At the top is a glass balcony with a glass floor showing the 100m drop which was a bit vomit inducing.

We then had to go see the FSB (formerly named the KGB). We needed permission to visit the famous ingushetian towers on the Georgian military highway. After a frustrating hour for Abdylla, permits were secured but only for tomorrow so we would have to make an extra four hour round trip – oh well, at the mercy of the FSB.

Monument to deportation, whitewashed by the Russian government

Before leaving Magas, we visited a monument to the Ingushetian deportations. First built by the locals, the Russians intervened with a re-characterisation of the monument, by making it also about when the ingushetians ‘ceded’ their territory, and a monument to the wars in Germany and Afghanistan. The Ingushetians haven’t fully accepted the whitewash and there is a harrowing museum under part of the memorial showing the Russian deportations.

The most shocking thing were gravestones that were purposefully pillaged from Ingushetian cemeteries and used to build roads and farm sheds, a collection of these had been recovered and installed in the museum. It’s amazing to me that I hadn’t ever heard of this before, but I guess I hadn’t studied Russian history and the victor normally writes the history in any case. (Again, my normal caveats apply, I don’t profess to have an actual clue on the history and who was right or wrong). We also managed to find some food, not always straightforward during Ramadan. Lunch was an excellent Chechen pasta (like spätzle) with broth, onions, and chicken.

We meandered our way to Grozny in the secondary roads. Abdylla was playing Crowded house in the car and with the endless flat fertile fields it felt like being home in the Waikato. Well, except for the women in their traditional clothing and the streams of tanks going by. We were not sure if they are mobilising troops or preparing for victory day on the 9th of May, either was possible. My favourite stop was the Achkhoy Martan mosque, which was incredible.

Grozny – capital of Chechnya, about which I had only heard bad things….

We arrived in Grozny, with its obligatory ‘I love Grozny’ sign (every Russian town has one). Grozny can feel like a monument to Kadyrov – the Russian appointed leader who is wildly unpopular with Chechens. His house, visible from the observation deck of the tallest building in town is ridiculous! We couldn’t take photos though, as you are banned – apparently too many people were posting photos and the comments were vicious about how hopeless he is.

Wandering around was lovely, checking out the archangel Michael church, the flower park with the AstroTurf animals and of course ‘the heart of Chechnya mosque’. Strolling for an hour before dinner, the locals here are extremely traditional – most of the women have their heads covered and are in long dresses. Beards and hats are de riguer for men. We bumped into lots of Abdylla’s friends in the street and of course none of the men would shake my hand. Its an interesting town, and a thriving recruitment ground for ISIS after years of Muslims being mistreated by the Russian government .

Iftar was at a very traditional Chechen restaurant – haggis, dumplings, broth, pumpkin pancakes and sea buckthorn tea. The pumpkin pancakes were amazing…. I was less thrilled by the haggis.

Strolling home we popped into the mosque. Clearly my long skirt and headscarf weren’t sufficiently Islamic, so I was loaned a stunning tablecloth ensemble and directed to the women’s prayer area. The mosque was lovely by night, and amusingly set against the ‘high rises’ of Grozny with their neon signs. Off to bed, tomorrow to Ingushetia

Grozny, May 8, 2019

Bus stops and abandoned stations in Abkhazia (Breakaway Russian Republics part 1)

A complicated history, and now a breakaway state

Abkhazia (population 240,000) is wedged between the Black Sea and Caucasus mountains, and neighboured by Georgia and Russia. Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in a bloody war between 1992-93, shortly after the Soviet Union fell apart. In 2008, after a five-day conflict between Russia and Georgia, Moscow officially recognised the republic as independent. It is a complicated conflict, and I won’t profess to have a clue about who is right or wrong (in all of these situations there tends to be right and wrong on both sides in any case). Georgians represented more than 50% of the population prior to independence and abkhazians less than 30%. The population is now 40% of what it was. Today the UN still consider Abkhazia to be part of Georgia. Abhkazia is only officially recognised by Russia, Nauru, Nicaragua, Syria and Venezuela. The economy is largely held up by the million or so Russian tourists who come every summer for a cheap Black Sea experience (it feels like the British equivalent of going to Benidorm).

The lottery of life

Many Abkhazians only have Abkhazian passports (unless they are lucky enough to have a Russian parent). Technically they can get a Georgian passport, but apparently that isn’t really allowed as ‘the security services will come after you’. I had never really contemplated what life was like as a ‘citizen’ of a largely unrecognised state. Officially this means that they can only go to the countries that recognise them. Practically this means they can only go to Russia, as there are no direct flights from Russia to any of the other places that recognise them, and it isn’t obvious that airlines would even recognise an Abkhazian passport as an official ID. I have always felt grateful for having passport(s) that allow me relative freedom of movement, but even with passports from less popular countries it is still feasible to get a visa to go to many places. I can’t imagine not being free to travel – such is the lottery of birth! I am grateful every time I travel that I was born when and where I was.

Sochi,Gagra and Russian tourists

We arrived in Abkhazia via Sochi – a Black Sea resort for working class Russians, now famous for the Winter Olympics. It took an hour to get through Russian passport control, we were apparently the fifth (non Russian) tourists the border chief had seen that year, so he had to ask us a few questions. On the Abkhazian side, they waved us through but I made our guide stop so I could get a passport stamp. They tried to talk me out of it, as they were worried I would have problems in Georgia, but we eventually persuaded them.

Our first stop was Gagra, a soviet beach resort, starting with a visit to the Tsereteli playground. Zurab Tsereteli is a famous Georgian artist, still alive today and with a whole museum in Tbilisi dedicated to his work. He is famous for his use of mosaics and curves and as well as the playground he was responsible for some of the finest bus stops in Abkhazia. We had a stroll along the beach, stopping for an excellent Turkish coffee. We visited the abandoned cinema and an excellent abandoned villa (formerly home to the princes masseuse).

Ritsa national park

We headed up the gagra valley to the Ritsa national park. The valley becomes a stunning gorge carved out over centuries by a fast flowing snow fed river. The road culminates at Stalin’s dacha, a place he only visited five times, on the banks of crystal blue lake Ritsa. It was nice but was somewhat marred by the presence of a road (I am a kiwi and prefer to walk in the mountains than go by road), and somewhat marred by the presence of a lot of Russian tourists, but probably mostly marred by the animals tied up on the side of the road for tourists to take photos with. Eagles, peacocks and monkeys on leashes less than 20cm long. It was awful, and the practice would die out pretty quickly if the Russian tourists weren’t paying 100 rubles to have a photo taken with the peacock.

Dinner and finding a husband

On the way back we stopped at the abandoned train station in Gagra – the architecture is amazing. And we checked out the old abandoned soviet market and the beach.

Dinner was shashlik and kachapuri (excellent Georgian cheese bread), followed by strudel. Service wasn’t brilliant, but was typically Russian, with the food taking an hour to arrive and it was delivered by a grumpy looking waitress. They drove us out of the restaurant eventually by pumping up the volume on bad Russian pop.
Dinner conversation was amusing. Our guide, Diana, is fiercely proud of being Abkhazian, with every sight being introduced with ‘isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it the best thing you have ever seen?’. The sights weren’t normally that amazing, but her enthusiasm was commendable. Somewhat incongruently, she wasn’t a great cultural fit with the locals. By her account, abkhazians are still very conservative, especially in villages. Women are apparently not allowed to work outside the home, date any man they aren’t going to marry, speak too much to their husbands in public, divorce or generally bring shame to their husbands or fathers. And as a thank you, the men do nothing to contribute to the house. It sounds fantastic. But Diana is stuck here and can’t travel as she doesn’t have a Russian passport. We did spend some of our time figuring out how she could get one, marrying one of her more trustworthy cousins who already has a Russian passport is apparently the best idea.

Donuts and bus stops

The next morning, we had an excellent Russian breakfast, eggs, bread, and cottage cheese donut things which were amazing and a few Turkish coffees each and then headed out for a meandering journey to Sukhumi. Sergei our driver had gone home last night and had bought his lovely daughter Katia back with him, she was trying to improve her English, but was as shy as you would expect a 12 year old to be.
The morning started with some incredible bus stops by Tsereveli – the Whale/dolphin, the Spaceship, the Fish, the Cock, and the Creature of the sea.

For more bus stop photos see here and here

Pitsunda and soviet beach resorts

We then strolled along the coast at Pitsunda, it was like being transported back to how I imagine 70s Russia might have been. Incredible architecture!

We also visited an incredibly cool cathedral with a mildly interesting exterior but a very groovy interior with an incredible Art Deco organ and seats that looked like they were stolen from a 1950s cinema.

We passed by the ruined church in Miusera, which was a bustling picnic spot. The church was surrounded by platforms of Georgian houses that had been destroyed during the war, it was eerie. The area has now been turned into a national park.

Lunch cooked over the fire with the hunters

Our lunch stop was with a family in the village of Achandara. We couldn’t find their house so the matriarch despatched her son in a battered Lada to come and find us. We ate in a wooden cabin adorned with bear and wolf skins shot by her sons, and she cooked us a kind of polenta above a wood fire which we ate with spicy beans, pork knuckle and homemade cheese. We finished it off with feijoa jam and bread (she made everything herself).

Stuffed to the gills, Sergei took us to the cosmopolitan Sukhumi. We visited two abandoned railway station (Sukhumi and Baratashvali) and the botanical gardens.

We also saw the main square which is famous for the abandoned Georgian government building which the Abkhazians burnt from the inside and have vowed to leave as a monument. It was been covered with hoardings commemorating 25 years of independence.

Georgian government building (hoarding celebrating 25 years of independence)

Glitterati in Sukhumi

Dinner was a surreal experience in the ‘top’ hotel in Abkhazia. We had borscht, kebab and local honey cake. Everyone around us was ordering off the extensive sushi menu. I have never quite seen sushi like it – oversized, elaborately decorated with mayonnaise and lurid sprinkles…. I am not sure what the Japanese would have made of it. Our fellow diners were clearly the glitterati of Abkhazia with Chanel bags and very high heels!

Morning run along the seafront

I woke up early enough for a run and headed out along the seafront. In the distance I spied what looked like several men in black shell suits loitering around a kids playground…. it all looked quite dodgy and I was contemplating turning back. As I got closer I realised it was an outdoor gym area and the blokes were all doing press ups! The promenade was busy with (mostly) men strolling and a few more doing squats and push ups. A great way to start the day.

The benefit of the run was quickly destroyed by breakfast, a ridiculously large spread with porridge, sausages, eggs, vegetables and more of the incredible cottage cheese pancakes with a couple of cups of coffee. Fortified we headed to the bazaar for a wander around. Apparently the opening of a big supermarket nearby is ruining trade, and the bazaar is largely run by Armenians. There was a spectacular array of merchandise, my favourites being the camouflage gumboot shoe and the nut sugar strings.

Setting an FKT on Anakopia

The tourist highlight of Abkhazia (for those who are less obsessed with soviet bus stops) is the Anakopia fortress and the new Athos monastery. Diana, our 25 year old guide assured me it was a 40 minute hike to the fortress, I took the challenge and made it in 12 (somewhat miffed as I had taken one wrong turn and lost a minute or so, I was even more miffed on the way down as I found all the shortcuts so reckon I could do it in 8 now). The view over the Black Sea is stunning, and I lay in the sun like a lizard on a rock for 20 minutes waiting for Diana :-).

We climbed the tower, took a photo with the Abkhazian flag that Diana had carried up for the purpose – it is the hand of peace, seven stars for seven districts and green and white stripes to demonstrate Christian and Muslim harmony. We also visited the tiny and mostly ruined Orthodox Church along with a few smartly dressed elderly local ladies who had made the climb. The downhill took 7 minutes (and I still missed a few shortcuts).

Soviet tourism in the cave of New Athos

After that we went to see the ‘famous amazing cave of new athos’. It was large! Sadly, it was a tourist production where the tourists are put on a train, and then we had to walk very slowly for an hour and a half through the caves, in a big crowd. I put a podcast on and stayed at the back…. waiting until the lady who was responsible for turning out the lights came behind me to move to the next spot. On the bright side it was an anthropological exercise in Russian tourist watching.

We also had the pleasure of visiting another abandoned station – Psirtskha – beautifully located on the river.

Lunch followed with more kachapuri, stew, grilled pork and a nut and cabbage dish and more Turkish coffee. From there we wandered to perhaps my favourite abandoned train station – Psirtskha station – it was more like a posh gazebo, and was beautifully located on the river.
Then we headed up to the old Monastery. It was more stunning from a distance when you could see all the gold cupolas reflecting the sunlight. There was an old man painting icons for the tourists. We had a chat, and he asked where I was from. I said NZ, and he asked if I was Maori. I asked him if he knew New Zealander’s, he said I was the first one he had met but was curious about polynesians as he was a fan of Gauguin. Is a stunning monastery, with incredible paintings inside.

Back to Russia

After that we meandered back to Russia by way of a bonus palace and church on the way and one final bus stop. Exiting was slightly tricky as I had to rustle up the guard to get my exit stamp, he was very impressed with my greeting and thanks in Abkhazian. Entering russian took a bit longer, as my passport seem to raise a few red flags!
I would recommend Abkhazia for 3-4 days purely for the bus stops and the train stations. The monastery was lovely also. We didn’t see everything and next time I would quite like to do a lot of hiking in the high mountains.

Stephs’ photos are here

Gagra, 5 May, 2019

Other notes

For the kiwis they have feijoas here – it’s amazing, feijoa juice, jam, it was amazing…. that’s a reason to visit
It’s very cheap here. Abkhazia is deceptively poor. The average teachers salary $250 per month, a flat in Sukhumi cost $65k to buy, which means property is very unaffordable. For foreigners, everything seems cheap.
We booked this as part of a bigger holiday through native eye in the UK, but you could probably book direct with Dimitri at Caucasus explorer. If you wanted to go off-roading, you could also contact Sergei at off-roading Abkhazia.
We stayed at Hotel Abaat in Gagra and Hotel Leon in Sukhum and both were good
I would suggest learning a few words in Abkhazian, the locals were always thrilled when I said thank you very much (itabob idootsana) and very good (dar ibzyo)

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