Shatili

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Change of plans; departure to Armenia was postponed to join the Lonely Planet writer for Georgia to the remote town of Shatili, which lies in the North-West of Georgia on the border with Russia (Chechnya). Getting there is a bit expensive since the journey takes 5 hours by jeep through the mountains. Therefore he was looking for companions to split the jeep fare and me and another guy jumped in after being convinced by the enthusiastic stories of the owner of our hostel. It was definitely worth it!

One of the reasons for the long trip: a mountain pass of 3000m. The clouds cleared moments after getting up there, great success!
The 4~6 centuries old part of Shatili. To our surprise there was a guesthouse inside of it! The top left balcony on this picture was ours.
The nearby castle of Mutso; high on a hill this had a 'Lord of the Rings' feeling to it!
Plague houses at Mutso, just outside the fortress.
View from the bedroom window of the fortress-guesthouse.