Svaneti, June 2007

We're about to leave Etseri, but first here are a few more shots from that village.

Svaneti, June 2007

More from the June 2007 walk. Still in Etseri - we were there nearly a week before starting to walk, helping on Nodar's family's farm and waiting for good weather while there was considerable rain. At least the clouds gave quite some interest to the mountain landscape, though they weren't much help to the farmers.

Dear viewers,

Just finished scanning the 7 rolls of film from June's walk through Svaneti. Now I'm editing them, and will post some to the blog as I go.
From the bottom up:

Daisy Field, Etseri
Insects Mating, Etseri
Mountains, Etseri

Svaneti, July 2007

2 more cellphone photos from the recent trip.

Bottom, Another view of Ushba with several villages spread out below it, as we travelled down from the pass near Ipari towards Mestia.

Top, one of those wonderful finds - a small, spring-fed pond, great reflector! - near the pass from yesterday's bottom photo. Here it's displaying the main wall of Shkhara.

Ushguli, July 2007

A couple of teasers from the cellphone, though edited a bit before posting. Bottom, high above the village on its SW side, nearing the pass which gives 360-degree views including towards the Lentekhi region of Svaneti. This 7-hour walk gave me my second full-circle photographic panorama. At left, Mt Ushba; at right, Mt Shkhara's main peak. Below them is what can be seen of Ushguli, including, in the centre, Tamar's Tower fortress, which has apparently the highest watchtower in Europe.
Top, a view of the top half of Ushguli in all of its summer glory, with the wall of Mt Shkhara looming above it in the background. Near the left edge of the picture is the partly white house where I stayed this time, my 5th visit to Ushguli and 19th to Svaneti (and 4th this year so far, a record!).

the W( )RD: There and back again

Dear viewers,
When I am offered a chance to go to Svaneti, I usually take it, especially when it's for free, as my last trip has been. There was short notice, and I'm currently stabilising my living situation in Tbilisi, including internet access; so there wasn't even a good opportunity to warn you that I'd be away from the Internet and the blog for a whole week.
I just got back last night from Ushguli - from there to here by minivan in 13 hours, not bad! 6 rolls of film, a number of short video clips on my cellphone, and a few cellphone snapshots as well. (Gotta work on getting those video clips onto youtube so I can link them to the blog too... the video collection is growing.) I've been on (Georgian) Rustavi 2 TV's Morning Show as well, and apparently will be on again, as I was interviewd in Ushguli 2 days ago.
Still scanning and editing the 7 rolls of film from my July '07 walk through Svaneti! (Including a 360-degree panorama from an Ushguli summit, my first such panorama. 17 shots to stitch together, max print size at 300 dpi: c. 4 m long.... Am I showing my forgetfulness by repeating what I've written about earlier? Ah well.)
Stay tuned from now for daily posts - I'm back in business.