Puri, Khachapuri, Lobiani and Kubdari

It was our first, jet-lagged morning in Georgia, at the table of a Tbilisi hostel. A man named Benji, who was about to make us pankcakes, put a few flat loaves on the table with jam. They were rounded and puffy, with two points sticking out at each end. I asked if they were the pancakes and he laughed. “No,” he said. “This is puri, Georgian bread.”

Thus began a small love affair. Puri (პური in Georgian), in all its myriad forms, is delicious and different, a fluffy, cheesy, buttery, salty welcome to the region.

(As you can see, I can be forgiven for thinking that it was some kind of pancake. One point got ripped off this example before we had a chance to take a picture.)

Puri is often confused with the Indian bread of the same name, but there are real differences in the way the two loaves are cooked. While Indian puri (also spelled "poori") is deep-fried in oil, Georgian puri is baked in a traditional, vertical oven called a tone (seen at right in the picture - they're squat, primitive looking things).

Though electric tones exist, the traditional oven is heated by wood. A fire is lit at the bottom of the well-like, clay oven in the evening and left to burn all night. In the morning, the walls of the tone have absorbed enough heat to bake bread until about noon. Loaves are stuck to the inside walls for a few minutes, then removed with a long, hook-and-pole thing. Some tones are as deep as six feet, while others are only a slight recess.

The version of puri that is most famous, and perhaps the least likely to be forgotten, is khachapuri or, ხაჭაპური. Qacha means cheese; this is simply stuffed bread. It’s often served in lieu of plain bread, and many regions have their own styles.

In the mountains of the Svaneti region, our host mother was especially proud of her kubdari, the national dish of the Svaneti people. Kubdari is similar to khachapuri, but also filled with ground beef and herbs. While delicious, it really should have been considered a meal in itself – but it was served alongside our plate, like an extravagant dinner roll.

Above, a more sedate, normal khachapuri, snipped into quarters with long shears.

Bakery-cafes are probably the most popular eating spots in Georgia, especially in Tbilisi. Alongside sweets and little cakes, one is likely to find a wide array of savory baked goods - from regular breads to khachapuri to the indulgent adjaruli khachapuri, a dish-shaped loaf, the hollow of which is filled with a raw egg and melted butter in addition to cheese.

One of our favorite Georgian breads is called lobiani, which derives its name from lobio, or "beans." It's a wafer-thin pastry with a dry, bean and garlic paste baked inside. Delicious, and way less guilt inducing than some of the other options.
Georgian script is very tough to read without practice, and it's difficult to find a shop that's selling what you're looking for. Luckily, a lot of businesses will hang examples of their wares outside their door. We laughed the first time we saw a loaf on a string, but then found that it's common.
On feast days, like New Year's, bread plays an important role in the festivities, especially the traditional, cheese-less loaves. We actually had difficulty buying bread on New Years Eve - all the bakeries were packed, with lines out the door. This little girl had just secured her families supply, and was literally running home with it.
For some reason, most Georgian bakeries tend to be below street level. We were able to find this semi-subterranean (though the light from the window might suggest otherwise) place in Signaghi using our noses.

It seemed to be some kind of secret bread club - plenty of old women were buying bread at the counter, but we were initially turned away. It wasn't until one of the other customers admonished the baker that she went into the back room and emerged with a loaf for us. The cost, for a large, frying-pan-sized puri: .50 Lari, or about 30¢. We ate it with a can of sardines, standing up in a park - maybe the best lunch of the country.

Georgian Food

Georgian food is like a great sitcom. A classic one. Sure, it's formulaic and mostly predictable, but there are enough little surprises, enough zest, a guest star now and then to keep you hooked. When it's "bad," it may feel uninspired and laid on too thick, but when it's good it's damn near brilliant. The cast of characters include: walnuts, garlic, cilantro, pepper, mushrooms, eggplant, pomegranate and beans. The lead, the cornerstone of all Georgian food, is khinkali.
In small eating joints, it may be the only thing on offer. At restaurants with a scroll of a menu, they are still often the only thing ordered. Khinkali are a lot like Chinese soup dumplings. You have to get the hang of eating them, as the doughy sacks are filled not only with a ball of spicy meat, but also some great liquid. You grab them by the nub (which remains uneaten) bite and slurp out the juices, then go about eating the rest of it with your hand or a fork. When they're stuffed with mushroom or potato, there's not quite the same half-filled water balloon experience, but they're still a treat. Some were satisfying, some were great, some were transcendent. All were ordered in bulk, as asking for less then five khinkali is basically impossible.
The thing is - Georgian food is just absolutely packed with flavor. Sometimes to a fault, but mostly to sheer pleasure. This was another ubiquitous menu item - badrijani nigvzit, eggplant with walnut paste, topped with pomegranate seeds. Here's where that hard-to-complain-about predictable formula comes in. Just about everything, especially every vegetable, is prepared with crushed walnuts and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds. The walnut puree is so garlic enriched, so flavorful, that you'll swear it's some sort of cheese. But Georgians just know how to work wonders with the nut.
And they make them so hard to recognize! What are these, you ask? Candles? Sausages? (My guess and Merlin's, respectively). They're churchkhela, strings of walnuts dipped into a flour and grape juice paste. Think: nut-filled fruit roll up on a string. Mostly, they were brown or deep burgundy, but these festive ones ran the full gambit of grape varieties. On the side of almost every road were churchkhela stands. Many of them were covered with a plastic tarp or a piece of lace to shield the gummy creations from kicked up dust.
Probably my favorite walnutty dishes were pkhali, veggie pates most often made from spinach, beet or cabbage. Oh, the mounds of spinach walnut mash I consumed. Every now and then one would be just a little more garlicky or salty or... do I taste dill? Scallion? No two tasted exactly the same and they were always a pleasure. Merlin and I commented that the pkhali in Georgia were like the paprikas in Hungary, dishes that were introduced to us on this trip and will likely be incorporated into our lifelong cooking. Here, a veggie plate is rounded out by "peasants salad" (tomato, cilantro and cucumber), eggplant w/ walnut, kidney beans and mchadi, a dense cornflour cake.
Speaking of kidney beans, lobio was the chameleon of the menu's main players. Sometimes it was cold, but most often it was served "in a clay pot." This could mean anything from plump, crisp-skinned beans with or without liquid to a mash to a stew. This bowl of lobio was incredible with a heavy dose of cumin, a bay leaf at the bottom and a biting black pepper spice. Georgia's really only the second country on our trip so far (after Hungary) to kick things up with spice. Here, it wouldn't be surprising to find a dried chilli pepper somewhere in your dish or to discern that the heat culprit was just a heavy dose of raw garlic or one strong red onion.
With all these flavor explosions and the sad, but common, occurrence of over salting, dishes like shredded beets in mayo (with a dusting of crushed walnut, of course) and "fresh greens" came in handy. The latter was a plate full of cilantro, scallions, parsley and radish. People chewed on these herbs to help with digestion and drank neon green soda water infused with tarragon. The plate often signaled a respite for us, a break before the next round of dishes came. And they always came.
You see, it is just too easy to order way too much. Food is very inexpensive in Georgia, menus are big and servers just keep saying "and..." until you've exhausted the list of things you know how to say in Georgian or can successfully charade. I have to mention the one food I probably ate more of in Georgia than anything else, but isn't really all that photogenic. S'oko - mushrooms. Saying the word alone would bring a sizzling cast iron skillet of whole mushrooms in oil and spices. Another alternative was to get the same preparation but filled with sulguni, smoked cheese. The best, though, were "stewed mushrooms," which came in so many different variations of yumminess.
Meat can be ordered in any number of sauces, with common bases being tomato, yogurt, garlic or walnut. Sausages, like the one above which had pomegranate seeds mixed into the filling, are usually served in a sizzling pan with potato and onion. Stewed veal was almost always on hand, as was the delicious tabaka, a flattened (or spatchcocked, if you will) whole chicken, fried. The simplest of meats, the almighty kebab, which could be seen grilling on any and all fires, can be ordered with an array of sauces: chilli (ajika), plum (tqemali) and pomegranate (masharaphi) being the most popular.
Sure, we almost always left a Georgian dinner with a certain amount of stomach pain. Yes, the covert walnut infusions probably had a lot to do with it. And the irresistible bread. But it was all worth it. Most restaurants in Georgia are located in cellars, below a sidewalk with no windows. Walking downstairs and opening a door, you never know exactly what you'll find... except you always kind of do. It'll be Georgian food, served with Georgian hospitality and devoured with Georgian vigor by the Georgians seated all around you. If Georgian food is, indeed, a classic sitcom - your fellow diners are the laugh track.

David Gareja - A Treasure in Isolation

In the summer of 1987, a group of Tbilisi students began protesting Russian troop movements that were happening far away in the deserted Kakheti region of Georgia. The country was still controlled (occupied would be a better word) by the Soviets, who were fighting the last, losing stages of a war in Afghanistan. The Kakheti wasteland - a world of treeless slopes, sheep, rock and hardened people - was being used as a training area because of its supposed resemblance to the hills of the war zone. The Georgian youth weren't protesting the war, though, and they were only nominally protesting Russian rule.

The group was trying to save one of the great treasures of the Caucasus.

David Gareja cave monastery (also called "Davit'garejis," "Keşiş Dağ məbədi" and "დავითგარეჯის სამონასტრო კომპლექსი") is among the most unique, hauntingly historic and beautiful places we've been on the trip. It further proves a point - if you want to see amazing things with very few other tourists around, come to Georgia. This is a country of astounding history.

In the sixth century, a small sect of Assyrian monks arrived in Georgia. They split up when they reached the Caucasus, with some settling further east, near present day Tbilisi, and some heading to the foothills. A monk named St. David, drawn to the desolation and purity of Kakheti, decided to build a monastery there, high up on a bluff overlooking present-day Azerbaijan. For three centuries, it grew slowly - the few devotees who kept up the site lived very simply in small hollows dug into the rock. Then, in the 9th century, the Georgian kingdom began to flourish, and the monastery took on a special role in the religious lives of the monarchy.

With royal support - from such notables as David the Builder and Queen Tamar - David Gareja expanded and thrived in the 9th to 13th centuries. It was during this period that the most notable caves were cut into the rock, and when the monastery's extraordinary frescoes were painted.

The wall paintings are especially important because of where they are and what they’ve endured – nearly one thousand years of graffiti has taken its toll on some of the images, not to mention the wind and sand. Most of the frescoes lie just a few feet within cave walls, unprotected by doors, open to the elements. Some are even on exterior surfaces. The biggest threat, though, came not from exposure, but from Russian artillery fire.

In the 13th century, the entire population of David Gareja was massacred by the invading Mongols. Some two hundred years later, a small contingent of Christian Georgians had reoccupied the monastery, but the place remained sparsely and sporadically populated – there were regular attacks by both Persians and Ottomans. A new height was reached at the end of the 16th century, but in 1615, six thousand monks were killed here by the Persian Shah Abbas. Then, the Bolsheviks arrived and banned access to the entire area. The caves deteriorated some simply from disuse, but it was when military training began in Kakheti, in the 1970’s, that things really got bad. Russian tanks ran shelling sessions along the ridge, and frequently targeted the church caves. Huge amounts of damage were done. Some chambers were lost forever.
From Tbilisi or Signaghi – the two most logical starting points for tourists visiting the monastery – it takes about 1 ½ to 2 hours to reach the site by car. There are no buses or other public transportation options. For the last 45 minutes of driving, the road is extremely rough and the landscape becomes increasingly barren and empty.

We watched hawks and eagles skim the low grass. Men on horseback herded cows and sheep across the brown earth. There were no other cars. The road was washed out to bare rock in some places.
David Gareja is enormous - there are several hundred caves spread over a few kilometers - but there are two main, accessible parts. The first section is called Davit Lavra; the immediate group of buildings just beside the "parking lot," this is a fairly compact warren of caves and ancient walls. It has been re-inhabited by monks, who have closed off the majority of the chambers. There are a few visitable caves and a recently refurbished, uninteresting chapel. It's worth about twenty minutes of your time - the views are excellent, the structures are fun to look at. There's a little shop that sells icons and candles, and nothing else (plan on bringing your own food and water, if you need it). Our taxi driver tried to convince us that this was the complete monastery.
In fact, it's just the beginning. A twenty minute hike up the hill from Davit Lavra (find the trail immediately next to the shop) leads to the the back side of the ridge, just above the border with Azerbaijan, and to Udabno. The lower desert stretches into the distance. The trail gets rougher, and a little scrambling is required. There are no guardrails - a fall would likely be deadly.

At first, there are only a few small hollows in the rock, with no adornment and rough-hewn walls. As the trail continues, though, the caves become more elaborate. Frescoes begin to appear on the inner walls, then on the outer faces. Near the end of the ridge, the caverns become truly engrossing, the painting more intricate. One of the most famous paintings, this 10th century depiction of the last supper, graces the wall above the old monk's cafeteria - the strangely carved rock along the floor was once a low table.
A visit to Udabno won't be forgotten. It is truly a magical experience, coming face to face with these frescoes - a thousand years old, unprotected, painted on cave walls in the desert. One feels a rush of discovery, and a sense of utter loneliness. There are no signs, no guides, no admission fee, no opening times, barely any other people. If you can get there, you are simply there.

Emerging from the caves into the light, the emptiness of the landscape is captivating. This part of the monastery feels ancient in a way few other places can - there is not a single mark of modernity in sight, there are no voices. On the day we visited, there wasn't even a gust of wind. It seemed that we had stepped back a millennium.
The student group was successful, in 1987, in putting an end to the Soviet military maneuvers at the monastery. This kind of effective protest was almost unheard of in the USSR, and some historians mark the event as the genesis of the Georgian independence movement. Sadly, ten years later, the Georgian military began training at David Gareja, and it took another popular protest to put an end to the shelling.

Because the Georgian international border with Azerbaijan technically runs along the ridge-top of Udabno, there is currently a low-grade dispute between the two countries over who owns the monastery. There is another part of David Gareja that is some 2 kilometers into Azerbaijan, and several other, more inaccessible compounds on the Georgian side.

Of all the places we've been, I can't say that there are any more striking or moving than this one. Driving back through the bare nothingness, we couldn't think of anything to say - the taxi driver pointed at huge eagles, young boys sat motionless on tall horses, the sun got very low in the sky, the rocks turned blue and red. We sat in the car both melancholy and excited, feeling that we'd made a discovery - one of the greatest triumphs of traveling.

Sighnaghi - Ready, Willing and Able

Sighnaghi is a beautiful town. Its location can't be scoffed out. Up over the Alazani Valley facing the Caucasus, it takes your breath away upon arrival. Tourist literature touts its virtues and charm. Adjectives like "Italianate" are used and its squares are called piazzas. Sighnaghi is sort of like the most beautiful daughter in a brood, being dolled up and thrust forward at a debutant ball. Obviously, we should all be clamoring to fall in love with her... but the poor girl can't change out of her gown until a suitor has presented himself. And it's been five years.
In a country that is undergoing construction and modernization all over the place, Sighnaghi stands out as a job completed and well done. In 2007, the small town received attention and thoughtful renovation. The goal was to take this undeniably attractive town and spiff it up, then welcome hoards of tourists. It was rebranded as " the city of love and art." Hotels popped up, it became the location for the biggest annual wine festival in the country. The clean up prompted many people - including early guide book assessors and a contact we have here - to say that Sighnaghi had become "too tidy and soulless," too "plastic."
Arriving in town ourselves, five years after that facelift, we can't say that we agree. First of all, the most gorgeous aspects of Sighnaghi, its views and its 4.5km defensive wall (with 28 towers) are as they have been for at least 240 years. Our first evening there, we walked along a section of the wall and looked out at the sherbert dusk. The fortifications are all original and absolutely impressive. Below a stretch of the tourist walkway, a chunk of land was fenced off. Its owner, an old man, worked away. There is authentic, local life bristling right up against the tourist "sites" in Sighnaghi. Even the brightest of paint jobs couldn't render it plastic to me.
This doesn't mean that the town ignores its "resort in waiting" status. The cobbled street leading down toward two old churches and the closest scalable tower was lined with knitwear for sale. Sweaters, gloves, socks and papakhi, circular wool caps worn by men in the Caucasus. When I did a quick wikipedia-ing of the small town's economy, the production of wine, traditional carpets and mcvadi (skewered meat) were counted as the most dominant moneymakers. It's not hard to see why the promise of tourism, bolstered by government investment, has created an air of excitement and expectancy.
The main town square has a tourist information center and souvenir shop, with one of the few postcards displays I've come across in the country. There are more vehicles branded as taxis than otherwise. The drivers all hang out in the far corner of the square, waiting. There are at least three hotels and numerous guesthouses. When I was too lazy to unclip my backpack and made my way through town in full tourist regalia, a woman waved hello out her window and then asked, "room??"
This is Georgia - the land of hospitality. So, unlike other places where an eagerness to benefit from tourism can feel off-putting or even aggressive, Sighnaghi just feels like a lonely hostess with frozen pigs-in-the-blanket in her freezer and a table with leaves she's never had to fold out. They are proud of this beautiful place and want to show it off. They have an unyielding knack for welcomes and take absolute pleasure in having guests.
The taxi driver who drove us out to Davit Gareja Monastery invited us into his home for coffee and an abundance of homemade treats before returning us to our hotel. He showed off his son, Luca, as well as his motorcycle with a dual sidecar- used to show tourists around in warmer weather. In town, we'd seen another presently curbed tour vehicle - a flatbed of a bus, complete with picket fence walls, wooden seats and canvas canopy roof. It didn't look like it'd been used for a while.
The thing is - none of this made the place faceless, like we'd been warned. I'll remember Sighnaghi. The views and George, the taxi driver. Maybe it'll be so popular in a few years that I'll be able to say "I remember it when." I hope so. For now, I'm pretty sure that the town in Kakheti will remain ingrained in my memory because of these. Grilled eggs. Grilled eggs brought to the table on a massive skewer. They were not hardboiled and then heated up. They were kebab'd raw and cooked in their shells. Riddle me that, Batman.

Merry Second Christmas!

As some readers may remember from last year, Christmas comes a little later in Russia. The same is true here in Georgia, where the Georgian Orthodox church celebrates the occasion on the 7th of January. It's actually not that big a deal - businesses remain open, life goes on as usual. Still, it's exciting to see Christmas trees!

This stunted little thing was in the house of a family in Mestia, where they seemed a little confused about its purpose.
Eastern Orthodox churches use the Julian calendar for the dates of their feasts and holidays, though the countries themselves use the Gregorian calendar. There is currently a difference of 13 days between the two, so things happen a little later here.

This is the national Christmas tree, in front of Parliament on Rustaveli Avenue, in Tbilisi.
We've tried to wish people a Merry Christmas, but have mostly received blank stares. Even when we use the rough Georgian translation - "gilocavth shoba" - it doesn't seem to register. New Year's Eve is a much more widely celebrated event - the biggest holiday of the year, in fact.

The tree in Signaghi is placed not in front of the town hall, but in front of a more prominent landmark - the casino.
Santa Clause has come to Georgia, slowly displacing the older, communist-issue "Grandfather Frost." One cell-phone company made all their employees dress in fluorescent orange suits, complete with beard and boots.

For some reason, we're still laughing about this picture from Belarus. In that officially religion-less country, Santa (despite appearances) isn't really Santa, but just a red-wearing Grandfather Frost (how appropriate!). He tends to be accompanied by his granddaughter, the "snow maiden."

Bodbe Monastery

It was a beautiful day for a pilgrimage. No longer in the Svaneti region, where mornings were bleak and afternoons were brilliant, we awoke to a blue sky and bright welcome. Our current home is Signagi, a town in the Kakheti wine region of Georgia with charm all its own and close proximity to one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Georgia - Bodbe Monastery.
The walk afforded gorgeous views over our awesome location, perched on a hillside overlooking the Alazani Valley. The Greater Caucuses stretch across the sky, a string of snowcaps. A restaurant at the entrance of the nunnery was closed and construction work could be heard in the distance.

Not able to read Georgian, we only surmised that we'd made it by familiar tourist attraction decor: the universal "no cell phone" and "no flash photography" signs. Soon after we arrived, a car pulled up with four other visitors. Just as I did at the gate, the women pulled their hoods over their heads and wrapped scarves around their waists for knee coverage. The youngest girl in the group tied a gift shop handkerchief as best she could around her forehead.

Saint Nino is buried at Bodbe Monastery and she's one important lady. Along with Saint George, she is the patron saint of the country and is credited with converting the pagan king Marian III, who then declared Christianity the official religion of the land. It was he who then ordered this monastery to be built at the site of Nino's death, circa 340.
I found it appropriate that a site dedicated to a female evangelist now functions as a nunnery. Though, during Soviet rule, the monastery was converted into a hospital. Before that, through the centuries, it was a monastic chanting school, a haven to religious writers and painters and the home of one of Georgia's largest collection of religious books, among other things.
Throughout its life, it has been renovated and added to and, even today, appears to be getting a facelift and large, new building. Most of what is here now was built in the 18th century and refurbished at the beginning of the 21st. One thing that has remained relatively unchanged since the 4th century, though, is the view.
About 3km downhill, along a leaf covered trail with sporadic stairs, we found the Holy Spring. Locals come to drink from the water here, which is said to have sprung up when Saint Nino knelt down to pray on the spot. The small building housing the spring was constructed in the 1990s.
There were sandals and towels there for bathers and a small cup for those preferring only to take a sip. Next door, smoke rose from the chimney of a small house. Laundry hung outside and I wondered if that was the person taxed with watching over the spring or simply a resident who predated the construction. Bodbe Monastery is simple and impressive. It feels lived in, but also open for exploration and reflection. We were happy to be pilgrims for the day.

Castle Hunting: The Svaneti Towers

During the last decade of the 12th century and the first decade of the 13th, under the rule of the beloved Queen Tamar, Georgia prospered, grew and was peaceful. During her reign, Tamar often made the long voyage into the upper reaches of the Svaneti valleys, spending summers there and helping to found metalworking and painting schools – she supposedly loved the green pastures and imposing glaciers, the simple people and the restful quiet. It was a golden age for Georgia and, for a moment, it seemed that the isolated Svan people were on the brink of becoming more integrated with their neighbors.

Tamar died in 1213. In 1220, the Mongols made their first contact with Georgia. A few years later the country was conquered, the military massacred, the aristocracy killed or in hiding, the entire region overrun by Genghis Khan’s horsemen. It would take hundreds of years before Georgia could claim true independence again – after the Mongols left the Persians and Ottomans fought over the scraps, then ceded the area to the Russians.

Only the Svans were able to repel the Mongols, and were never overtaken by Turkey or Persia. They sealed themselves in their mountain hideaway, secure in their towers, never quite trusting the outside world.

These towers are among the most unique and fascinating fortifications in the world. Instead of entrusting the defense of a town to a large fortress or castle, each family built their own tower. Most of them were erected between the 9th and 13th centuries, though the foundations of some have been shown to be much older - perhaps even dating from the 6th century.

In total, there are some 175 towers surviving, with large concentrations in Chazhashi and in Mestia, where there are 47. At one time, however, there were as many as 500 of these buildings in Svaneti, with nearly 100 in Mestia alone.

From a distance, they prickle the hillsides and look - somewhat pessimistically - like smokestacks.

Many of Mestia's towers have been preserved and are - if not lived in - at least still attached to domestic quarters built around their base. Completely integrated into the town, the defenses rise everywhere. As recently as the 1970's, there were still many occupied towers, and during civil conflicts with the Russians, they were supposedly even employed as gunning positions.

There are also some Svaneti strongholds that have been miraculously preserved. This is the main room of a large, intact tower-house. Once belonging to the Margianis, an important family in the town - the woman who showed us the house used the Russian word for "king" - the building is part of a complex that included three towers and this residency.

The woodwork is all, amazingly, original. It dates mostly from the 12th century, and is intricately carved and worked. The holes that you can see in the far wall are actually cattle stanchions. The animals stood on a lower floor, feeding from a trough along the ground. The human inhabitants slept in long, communal beds in the space just above their cows - the animal's body heat helping to keep the family warm in the winter.
The towers were used for food storage as well as defense, and their interiors - though narrow - are many layered. It's unusual to find such slender holds with five or six stories, but this was the pattern that nearly every family followed. The interior dimensions remain constant; the slight slope of the walls is created by thinner stones at the top and a wider foundation.

The Margiani tower that's open to the public is a narrow, difficult-to-climb structure with extremely shoddy ladders. Like many keeps and strongholds, the door is some twelve feet above the ground, with a ladder or staircase below that can be destroyed to increase defensibility. Inside, large, flat rocks lay beside the ladder holes, ready to be employed as seals. Unlike a few other, similar towers in these mountains, the Svan versions have crenelated tops and roofs.

The medieval Svan families were just as worried about being attacked by neighbors as by invading armies. After all, the high Caucasus form an imposing natural barrier between the towns and the rest of the region, meaning that contact with foreigners was very rare. The Svan people are notorious for their blood feuds and for their internal, familial standards of law. The Margiani family, after all, had three prisons in their compound.

Another interesting facet of this particular family defense is that the three towers were never connected by a wall. There were tunnels, though, that linked the buildings. Recently, it was discovered that there was also an escape tunnel, that led up the hill into the woods above.
In all our travels, I've never seen anything quite like these citadels. They accent this wild, independent place beautifully. Seven hundred years after the Svaneti valleys were sealed off from the rest of Georgia, the immediacy of the isolation is still gripping.

We had a feeling of discovery in these mountains, as though we had stumbled upon a place that was only just waking up from a long hibernation.