To Shatili, 11 June 2010

On our way to along the Aragvi River to the mountain pass



Vlado and Dima is inspecting one of the difficult sections of the road down from the mountain pass to Shatili to see if we can drive through


The few families left in Shatili is living next to the original castle complex. We were staying in the house to the left


The man in the house, the local doctor, was a dedicated hunter




Saturday we were served had bear (small young bear) for dinner. The remains of the young bear can be seen in the fridge


When we woke up next morning we experienced a flat tire. We had only a "emergency wheel" as reserve, so we were in trouble


Fortunately another group of tourists were in the village. The had hired a 4WD with an experienced driver, who had the necessary equipment with him, and he fixed our tire without any problems


The couple in our house had two boys. Here are the future bear hunters

Shatili is another fantastic village on the north slope of Caucasus. Actually we did not know much about Shatili, or the road to Shatili when we planned our trip. We decided to start our trip Friday after work so we had at least one whole day in Shatili.

This was a very unwise decision, we learned. We had estimated that it would take 3½ hours of driving to get to Shatili, but after 3½ hours, we had not yet crossed the mountain pass (2720 meter). The road (or rather jeep track) was very bad and not at all suited for the old WV golf we were driving in. I was later informed that we probably the very first driving to Shatili in a car that were not 4WD – may not be true, but it was also what I felt after 2 hours driving on the jeep track with deep gorges in total darkness without meeting one single other car.

But to our relief we finally reached Shatili, and also succeeded to find a place to stay, at one of the few families left in the village.

The man in the house, the local doctor, was an eager hunter, and next day we had bear (small young bear) for dinner.

Shatili is situated in the part of Caucasus called Khevsureti, near the border with Chechnya. Located in the deep Arghuni gorge at approximate 1,400 meters, the village is actually a unique complex of medieval-to-early modern fortresses and fortified dwellings of stone and mortar which functioned both as a residential area and a fortress. The fortress consists of the terraced structures dominated by flat-roofed dwellings and some 60 towers which cluster together to create a single chain of fortifications.

The population of Shatili, along with that of most of the Khevsureti, was resettled under the pressure from the Soviet authorities to the plains in the early 1950s. In the 1960s, the exotic landscape of the empty village was used as a setting for a series of Georgian films about the past life of the highlanders.

Shatili is still inhabited by a dozen or so families, but is inaccessible by road during wintertime. We were told that the road had opened 2 weeks before we arrived.