Our work mostly takes us to the east side of the country (and beyond) so we haven’t spent much time exploring to the west (though we have been to one spot in the mountains out that direction.) We took a quick vacation a few weeks ago to relax and explore a place we’ve wanted to go, and a few nearby spots that were bonus discoveries. It was nice to get away and have a break before the craziness of wrapping (and packing) everything up to leave for an extended trip to the US. And as much as we love Mira, it was nice to have a break from life revolving around toddler schedule (and energy levels) too, especially since we knew she was having fun with friends. (Thanks friends!) We’d love to take her when she’s older, but it turned out she’s still too young/small to do most of the things we did for now.
Without further ado, pictures from Paradise. Roughly 4 hours from where we live.
First stop: Okatse Canyon, where they've built a skywalk along the canyon wall. You can only get to it if you have (or rent) a 4x4 vehicle though, so Ben got some fun driving in too! (They weren't kidding when they warned us it was a "bad road." Ben says it's definitely the worst he's ever driven on.)
Looking down into Okatse Canyon. (Yes, the water really is that color.)
Okatse Canyon. True-to-life color.
Khinchkha Waterfall on the Okatse River. One of the tallest in Georgia.
Khinkchkha Waterfall
The base of Khinchkha (though there's another fall a little bit further down the river.)
Along the road between Okatse Canyon and the falls.
Tsqaltubo Spa Resort (where we stayed). An old Soviet sanitorium (health resort) that's still being renovated. It was fun to wander around an explore the grounds, but that may just be because I find old buildings intriguing, even if they're not in very good condition.
Prometheus Cave, so named because they say you can see the boulder Prometheus was chained to from here, but thecaves weren't discovered until the 80s. (They light them up with colored lights.)
Prometheus Cave
Martvili Canyon boat stop.
Taking a short raft trip upriver from the falls in Martvili Canyon.
Martvili Canyon, from the boat.
Martvili Canyon.
Sunshine creating rainbows in Martvili Canyon.
Looking down the calmer portion of Martvili Canyon. The royal family used to use this as their summer bathing spot.
Waterfalls. They're awesome. And I think I saw more of them in these few days than in the rest of my life put together.
Everywhere we drove we were surrounded on all sides by beautiful vistas of mountains. Quite a change from the city.
Found a quiet, sunny spot on the grounds of the former royal summer palace (of Mingrelia/Samegrelo) to finish a book.
Nuns with smartphones. Who knew?
Obligatory Georgian food photo (because I haven't shared very many.) This is adjaruli khachapuri, affectionately known by English speakers as "cheese boats."
Getting some reading time on the balcony of our hotel room. It was nice to be able to just relax.
