Paradise in the mountains

In the weekend we travelled to Stephantsminda or Kazbegi as it is commonly called. This is the last town on the Georgian Military road before the Russian Boarder. By the beginning of October you will only be able to get there by 4 wheel drive, as the roads will be covered in snow.
Kazbegi is about a two and half hour drive from Tbilisi, through small villages, and past Gaudari one of Georgia's ski fields. The village has become popular with tourists for hiking or its main attraction the Gergeti Trinity Monestry which sits on top of the mountain. There are many places to hike and in recent years it has hosted the Kazbergi Marathon. Next weekend it will be hosting Georgias first multi sport event.

We got to spend the weekend with great friends and enjoy the spectacular weather, fresh temperatures and clear blue skies.

We stayed in an amazing hotel. I will share more about this in another post.

This was the view from the top of the mountain looking down at our hotel.

At night the church on the very top was lit up, to remind us of the monks overlooking the village.

We supported a friend who was running the half marathon. Not your everyday city to surf half marathon either. This was a rugged, out in the mountains on your own type of run. Made me think about pulling the trainers out of retirement. The Kiwi flag was missing, but surprisingly there were 3 kiwis running. Thanks to our daughters trained ear, we got to meet and spend time with them over the weekend. One of them being from our local Library in Tauranga.

Many countries were represented. In the event.

Making our way to the top before the runners started, 2700 metres above the village. There was a small aid station at the top. Thankfully none of us needed it.

Very proud of Molly and her friend, it was a serious climb. Our friend Deano in the lead. Milton no where to be seen. He made the mistake of eating rabbit stew the night before. I will leave the rest to your imagination.

Cows drinking from the aid station. No there was a real one.

The track on the way down. These two are waiting for me, as I spent a lot of my time on my backside, in my defence the track was steep and slippery.

This little fella could move fast, as did most of us when we saw it in the grass.