According to the classical 19th century Georgian writer Ilia Chavchavadze, if you haven’t seen Svaneti, you can’t really claim to have been in Georgia. Pity the many Georgians, then, who can’t make this claim! Its roads, museums and watchtowers renovated, its ski resorts up and running long after those elsewhere in Georgia have melted, Svaneti is Geor- gia’s faraway ancient fortress.

With around 200 magnificent stone watchtowers over a millennium old, Svaneti feels straight out of a Middle Earth province. Its people, the Svans, have their own language, distantly related to Georgian but incomprehensi- ble to non-Svan Georgians, with four dialects and no fewer than eighteen vowels among them. While they now number less than 1% of Georgia’s population, the Svans are justifiably proud of having been mentioned by ancient Greek writer Strabo in his Geography of about two millennia ago as being capable of raising an army of 200,000.

If the Mongols were here at all, they say, it was for no more than a year, the place

was so inaccessible in the Middle Ages. So much so that the national treasure was sent here for safekeeping many times over the centuries of Georgia’s woeful times of invasion from all sides. And most of that wealth remains: in the museums of Mestia and Ushguli, and scattered throughout the village churches of the region, each with its key-keeper. Linguistically and in gold, Svaneti truly is the old treasure storehouse of Georgia.

If the multiple invasions by Turkic and Persian forces have mixed with and left their mark on the lowland Georgian population, the Svans, again due to their inaccessibility, have retained much more of a European look, sometimes startlingly so in red hair and blue eyes.

Although there are many village and town Orthodox churches here, some of great age, the local animism has remained a force to be reckoned with, never really replaced, partly syncretistic. The Svans have their own ancient gods and goddesses, such as Dael, or Dali, their own feast days and rituals, and their own music and songs, with fantastic harmonies and a couple of instruments found nowhere else in Georgia, and their own dances and costumes, too.

Several dishes of Svan origin are nationally famous. The best of these is kubdari, the delicious spiced meat pie which can be considered their main food. Svan salt, too, mixed with a great variety of local herbs, has a flavor all of its own and is always present at the table here, to sprinkle with the fingers wher- ever one desires. As the region is too high for serious grape growing, Geor- gia’s famous culture of wine has been supplanted partly with one of chacha or araqi, locally distilled “moonshine,” which can vary in taste and power from mild to head-banging. But the supra, the Georgian feast table with its rituals of toastmaster and speeches, remains in full force.

There are two main locations which dominate in Svaneti, Mestia (its capital) and Ushguli (Europe’s highest village at over 2200 m). But one will be richly rewarded by a drive or a walk through any village here, and there are many, each with its own glorious high Caucasus landscapes, many with towers and all with friendly locals to show the visitor around or offer hospitality as needed. In spring, the place starts greening up at last after up to half a year under snow. Summers are mild and it never gets anything like as blisteringly hot as the Georgian lowlands can, with evenings even cooler. Autumn shows off the fantastic color changes of the many deciduous trees; and winter, the longest season, offers the best, highest, most spectacular winter sports in the whole country.

The difficulties of reaching Svaneti and risk of being robbed by bandits at gunpoint belong firmly in the fading past. It is more easily accessible, and safer, than ever before, for groups of any size- from many down to one, and mode of transport: small plane or helicopter, private car with or without driver, tour bus or minivan, horse, bicycle, motorbike or foot. Its campsites, guest houses and hotels have multiplied in both quantity and quality, and its people are ready to show you around in a variety of lan- guages. While this is not a day trip location, it is one not to be missed, to be planned for in any proper tour of Georgia.

By Tony Hanmer

Photo by Tony Hanmer