In the village of Ushguli, north of Georgia

 “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity” – John Muir

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(at the intersection of Europe and Asia) The Caucasus mountain region, spread between the Black Sea (in the west) and the Caspian Sea (to the east), is occupied by Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. Featured here is a site in the north of Georgia, a country found at the eastern end of the Black Sea on the southern flanks of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, where a series of parallel and transverse mountain belts are often separated by deep, wild gorges. Rather wild and mysterious, Svaneti is an ancient land locked in the Greater Caucasus, so remote that it was hardly tamed by any ruler. Uniquely picturesque villages and snow-covered peaks rising above flower-strewn alpine meadows provide a superb backdrop to the many walking trails. Svaneti’s emblem is the koshki (defensive stone tower), designed to house villagers at times of invasion and local strife. Around 175 koshkebi, most originally built between the 9th and 13th centuries, survive here yet today. Five of them are found in the village of Ushguli (shown here) -- one of the highest continuously inhabited settlements in Europe.

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