About Clunegapyears

Travelling around Europe with James in our motorhome

Chiatura: Mining Misery

Posted on September 30, 2025 by Clunegapyears

28/09/2025

We’d left Kutaisi via the alcohol shop and Carrefour, so it was mid afternoon when we arrived.

I was expecting to see interesting Soviet architecture. Chiatura was a mining town of Manganese and one of the world’s main suppliers. The workers were expected to toil for 18 hrs per day until strikes reduced the day to 12 hrs hard labour. Lack of protection, no H&S etc. But even post the Soviet era conditions were harsh. They went on strike in 2019 to object to 15 days on, sleeping in a dorm, and 15 off. In March this year the mine closed … uneconomic. Miners have been left owed wages and no prospect of employment.
It was definitely the most depressing town we’ve seen on this trip. I know we’re were there on a Sunday, but men were hanging around in groups, many with large beer bottles.

The hope is that the recently restored network of Soviet cable cars (to transport workers efficiently to increase productivity) will fuel tourism. They need to do something about the general depressed feel of the town.

*Soviet WW2 monument. Its huge size is unusual*

The new cable cars are super easy to use. 1Gel (£0.25) and most depart from Central Station.

*The first cable car ride*. *New and French built*

Our first cable car was to near the Pioneer Palace. The Pioneer Youth was similar to the Hitler Youth: activities and political indoctrination. The building was not that old but a ruin.

*Pioneer Palace: the area around a newly restored park*, *they’re still deciding what to do with this*

The second cable car was my error, to the wrong place. Right platform. Wrong cable car. We can walk from here and then catch the correct one back down, says I. The walk was through miserable blocks of flats. Half of which were derelict, others had curtains and washing.

And then two dogs shot out and one bit Corrie. We left as quickly as we could. Corrie has 3 puncture marks in her shoulder, and it keeps bleeding. I’ve cleaned the wounds and applied iodine.

Stunning Svaneti

Posted on September 28, 2025 by Clunegapyears

Shdugra Waterfall Walk

26/09/2025

A non driving day. Yay!
But J may have preferred that as we walked 13.5km with a very steep up and then down. Not bad for 78. 😙

*We didn’t make it as far as the waterfall as the way markers turned from red (intermediate) to black (difficult). Discretion the better part of valour.*

A popular walk, so we met quite a few people. The standard question here ‘where are you from?’ is more interesting than in Europe. As well as Belgium and Spain. Two from Belarus. A Russian couple living in Armenia since the start of the war with the Ukraine. And a Ukrainian couple living in Moldova … since the war with Russia. I would just love to have chatted and asked inappropriate questions.

*And a nosey cow had his nose through our door … Corrie grumbled.*

Mestia Towers

27/99/2025

Brr 6C outside when we woke. Lots of layers. Jez only warmed up on the 40 minute drive to Mestia, the capital of the Svaneti region.

We saw a number of defensive towers on the way. Then I climbed one with 7 floors. J doesn’t like heights so he stayed on the second level with Corrie, who can’t do ladders. The ladders were mostly made from Silver Birch branches. Very rustic and a couple were vertical. One definitely wobbled as I climbed. The last one popped out through the roof. So fab views of other towers and the town.

*The tower I climbed with a house and holiday accommodation on the plot*

The Svaneti Museum was disappointing. Sanitised and didn’t cover the turbulent regions history or many traditions.

*The most interesting artifact was a male leather belt with a purse, tinderbox etc*

We decided against driving the track to the start of the waterfall walk … rain was forecast and I’m still scarred from the road from Hell in Turkey. We went for an ordinary lunch and decided to start the long slow road back south. We picked up French and Australian hitch hikers, with the warning that we would be slow and bumpy. In the event, the descent was much quicker than anticipated and the rain held off. We dropped our passengers in Zugdidi and looked for a parking for us. We didn’t fancy Zugdidi centre, and there weren’t many options on P4N, so we pressed onto our lovely riverside spot in Kutaisi. 5.5 hours driving. So another non dry day!!!

A Dam Drive

Posted on September 26, 2025 by Clunegapyears

25/09/2025

I knew it would be a long drive, which is why we drove a chunk yesterday. But first we stopped at the Enguri Dam, that we could see from our parking. Soviet construction started in 1961 and it was completed in 1987. Only 7 years later, it was inspected by Hydro Quebec (why them???) and found to be in a ‘rare state of dilapidation’. The EU granted €9.4 billion and a further £136 million in EU and bank loans to make it, the power station and exit to the Black Sea safe. The Russians also left nuclear waste. The built relays which were supposed to join up with another uncompleted dam. Unmarked pairs of cylinders in the mountains, two pairs safety recovered but one pair was found leading to injury and eventual death December 2001 … Lia Incident. Another pair still out there.

The dam is the 9th highest dam in the world. 5 of the highest dams in the top 10 are in China. The tallest is Russian built in in Tajikistan… hope they did a better job! The tallest in Europe is in Switzerland.

The water goes through a tunnel under a mountain to the underground electricity power plant. This is in Abkhazia … ceded from Georgia in the 1992/3 war so relations aren’t good. Yet the power station supplies 45% of Georgia’s electricity. Apparently it is jointly managed.

*In the tourist film the mountain sides were covered with hoists and pulleys … this is all that remains*

*We could see our parking from it – the grassy area in front of utilitarian blocks of flats*

Only 90 km, but the road into Svaneti was being largely rebuilt, narrow and bendy. I rarely got into 4th gear and never 5th or 6th. It took 4+ hours. And we have to return this way. It followed a river and when I could glance up, it was stunning. I didn’t even have a drink as I darent take a hand off the steering wheel. The road was built in 1934. In one place, a digger resided permanently to remove landslip. It was rebuilt in 2011 and work underway now.

The Svaneti region was isolated and pretty autonomous before the road and Georgian independence. It has its own unwritten language with 4 dialects. Own laws and rules … feuds continued until recently. There are about 275 defensive towers, which protected hamlets. Similar to the Mani in the Peloponnesus. Being so isolated, it has preserved its heritage and traditions.

Snow covered 8 months of the year. We’ve seen glaciers. In 1987 avalanches destroyed many homes and killed 80 people. Russia relocated 2,500 people. Being so isolated, criminals used it as a safe haven. Georgian Special Forces carried out anti criminal operations in 2004 … improving safety. The info I read did not say eliminating them! We will try not to offend anyone!

It is truly stunning. We drove up from Becho as it is less touristy than Mestia. And closer!

Martvili

Posted on September 25, 2025 by Clunegapyears

24/09/2025

Georgia has many sulphur springs. White Springs was another small one. And again rafting on offer. Just a small walk.

*I don’t know why they built 2 ugly buildings for the water to exit*

Snow on distant hills. The roads have wide verges where the livestock graze. We stopped late afternoon to fill with water and do the laundry and two cows started mooing, more of a bellow, at the neighbouring gate, until the owner let them in.

*Houses are in large plots.* *Many laden apple, pear and persimmon trees*

The main stop was Martvili. From the town we took the Soviet cable car up to a Monastery. £0.25 each! Built in 1986, single rope with a tiny manned cabin.

*The conductor kept the door open and Corrie was looking hopefully at the exit. J not happy either, so we walked back down*

Good vibe at the peaceful monastery. A priest, then a lady, doing a reading so very atmospheric.

*Reuse for a gas metre. A lot of iron* and steel gates and fences.

Tourist central at the Martvili Canyon. Car park attendants whistling and waving you into their car park. Tourist tat shops on the walk to the entrance. £5 pp entry. With Corrie we could not do the zip line or the 6 minute boat ride. Shame 😂. The walk had viewing platforms so we could see the spectacular waterfalls and gorge. When you weren’t being elbowed by other visitors! No opportunity to do a longer walk, so we were out within 30 minutes.

We are heading north now, but had to turn back when the road became a track. Re-routed to orange roads, a bit of a zig zag, but passable. Just the usual livestock to avoid. Overnight is another gem … fab view of the Engiri dam.

Tskaltubo: Abandoned Soviet Spa

Posted on September 24, 2025 by Clunegapyears

03/09/2025

Love a bit of architecture. Got it in spades here. The first bath house was built in 1870 as the waters were known to be beneficial. In 1913 they were proved to be medicinal… radon apparently. Stalin’s first visit was in 1920 and 3 spa houses were hastily erected using 4000 labourers. The Soviet’s ‘acquired’ the territory during the 1920s and declared it a Balneotherapy centre – treatment of medical conditions using mineral water. After WW2 there was an explosion of construction. By the 1950s there were 9 bath houses in Central Park and a further 22 sanitarium and wellness centres around the park.

At its peak there were 125,000 Soviet visitors p.a. There was even a direct train from Moscow. It was not just the party elite who visited. Every citizen had the right to rest and leisure. Good workers would buy a voucher for an inexpensive amount. About one third of a middle class monthly income. As well as baths there were entertainments in theatres, libraries and conference halls.

A bustling and thriving city. Lots of restoration and modernising in 1980s. Until 1991. Georgian independence. Visitor numbers dropped to less than 1000. Most of the buildings were abandoned and stripped of tiles, radiators … anything that could be reused or sold. Refugees from Abkhazia were housed here from 1992. Most of them were eventually rehoused the last ones officially by 2023. Although one building was full of clothes that looked like more recent squatters. And I was charged £1.25 by an elderly lady to enter one, where were living, to see the public areas.

I think we were lucky to be able to enter so many of the buildings. The Georgian government has tried a few times to ressurect Tskaltubo to top spa destination. Recently a number have been purchased and are being restored. Fences around some went up only this year. Stalin came here regularly on holiday. His bath house No. 6 is one of the few that is restored and operational.

We must have walked over 9k. The first park was through a huge beautiful park – Central Park. Loved it.