Ushguli, Svaneti, Georgia

In honour of the video clip which made me famous last April, and for which I was presented with a prize recently at the studio of Rustavi 2 TV in Tbilisi... Tony in the bath, again. Badly missing the steam baths of Tbilisi's Old City

A building (exterior and interior) which I'd assumed was the 8th of Ushguli's churches, but apparently it was a gold refinery, if I understand correctly

View towards Chazhashi, one of Ushguli's 4 hamlets, from the river which, as it froze, gave me endless delight and photographs of the process

Ushguli, Svaneti, Georgia

Local guys and a moonshine still

Goats closeup, towers background

Tower in sunlight

Upper village and Mt Shkhara at sunset

Happy New Year!

The photos are from Ushguli, Svaneti, from a few weeks ago; Lali & I spent the New Year with her parents in Kakheti, in the east. Oh well, so photos & writing don't match so far, whatever. We had a great time - arrived on clean roads, left 3 days later in a lot of snow, driving carefully to get home to Tbilisi safely. We passed several vehicles whose owners hadn't been so slow on the road; and saw a near-crash of a 4x4 which had just passed us half a minute before, fishtailed, got itself into a 360-degree-spin and just about met an oncoming car. Never a dull moment!

The photos - a huge piece of ice from the always-running outdoor faucet; details, held up by Anzor, and another piece of ice used as a crown by Princess Lana.

Ushguli, Svaneti, Georgia

Top: View of the upper 2 parts of the village from its centre

Middle 2: a solar battery charging my cellphone, a gift from a friend in the UK this last summer (many thanks, David O!). A necessity in Ushguli during the all-too-frequent power outages

Bottom: Lali and Bebia (Grandmother) making chishdari, friend Svan cheese, superb with baked potatoes

Ushguli, Svaneti, Georgia

Top: Mt Shkhara, Georgia's tallest, at sunset, holding onto the sun long after the foreground buildings can on account of being much higher than they are

Middle 2: walking towards Shkhara

Bottom: a waterfall in central Svaneti on the way up to Ushguli