Leaving Tbilisi, we headed north through the Tbilisi national Park. The maps we have show a beautiful curvy road through the mountains. The road is mostly tar with broken areas of dirt. It connects to the Georgia military highway. We are headed north on the Georgia military highway. This highway, between Tbilisi, Georgia and Vladikavkaz, Russia, is the traditional route used by invaders and traders throughout the ages. It runs through a gorge surrounded by high mountains. The one pass on the highway, the Jvari Pass, reaches a maximum altitude of 7,805 feet (2,379 metres).
The road through the Tblisi National Park was as good as it looked on the map. In some areas the trees are beautiful green and close into the road. Then the next minute you break out of the trees into the open to fantastic views. We were lucky with the blue skies, breaking screen valleys and hillsides and beautiful snow-capped mountains. The road twisted back and forth on itself with at times tight switchbacks as we climbed the steep mountains.
The road was basically an out and back of about 70 miles. The temperature’s continue to drop and the wind to increase as we neared the top of Jvari Pass. There were several avalanche tunnels that we passed through on our way up and over the past. Just before the pass is a monument, The Russia – Georgia Friendship Monument. This large concrete monument, built an 1883, is to commemorate relations between the two countries and the bicentennial of the Treaty of Georgievsk. Inside the monument is a large tile mural that spans the whole circumference of the structure and depicts scenes of Georgian and Russian history. As I understand it, this treaty swore Georgia to allegiance to the Russian emperors, to support Russia in war, and to have no diplomatic communications with other nations without Russia’s prior consent.
Turning around we headed south back the way we had come. We turned west heading up into the mountains once again on some small roads. We stopped at the Gori Fortress and a nunnery.
We walked around the Stalin museum and elected to just view from the outside and not spend money to go inside. It was getting late in the day so we decided to spend the night in this cute town. We found the Hestia Guest House for $20 a night. It was one of the nicest places we had stayed in. The hosts were wonderful and opened the big wooden doors to let me park my motorcycle securely near their cars. In the little kitchen in the morning they had a wonderful buffet breakfast with fresh bread. Perfect!
Across from the Stalin museum was a little restaurant, the Chinebuli. We ate a wonderful, inexpensive meal and was even able to strike up a conversation with a couple locals. It was a wonderful evening and as dusk drew around us, we had a wonderful walk back to our guest house. As we strolled down small streets, with overhanging bushes and roses everywhere, we waved at several residents as they stood outside in their yards.
The next morning, after seeing our thank yous and goodbyes, we mounted up and headed towards Kutaisi and Batumi. I had wanted to explore Batumi But the traffic was terrible and by then I just wanted to get to the border.
The border was busy as it seems all traffic and Batumi was headed there. The border crossing took about 2 hours and then we were on the Black Sea coast line, a very popular area for tourists. About 45 minutes later we are at the beautiful Danzi Campground on the river. The campground was full of friendly people, had a restaurant, washer/dryer, and nice showers.
Time to relax.
Cheers,
2WANDRRS
2WANDRRs 
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