John Wurdeman
Director of Pheasant’s Tears
I have had the joy of living in Georgia since 1996. Over the years as an expat I was asked many times to show guests real authentic Georgia, the real songs, cuisine, wine, people a...
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 a...
Color Parade: Svaneti
One of the great bonuses to living in Georgia, or visiting, is the great variety of landscapes and micro-climates this small country has to offer. Case in point: the magnificent autumn colors as the leaves...
BLOG By Tony Hanmer
Bought dried corn for the chickens, as there’s nothing else for them to eat until April aside from kitchen scraps.
Scythed, dried, raked, stacked, loaded, sledded, and barned hay for the cows (not in our ...
There might be many reasons to visit Svaneti, Georgia’s highest region and the furthest from its capital. Stunning Caucasus landscapes? Check. Millennium-old watchtowers? Check. Ancient roots of the proto-Georgian language? Pre-Ch...
“Georgia’s on everyone’s minds at the moment”
Following on from the vast amount of press Georgia is receiving at the moment, UK based The Independent has published an article entitled “Inside Ushguli, the most Remote Village in...
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Let me start this simply: I’m not a good flyer. Granted, I've done it many, many times over the years. I swallow my anxiety and just do it, because I have to. Yet, there is one huge component to the flights I usually take:...
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For those of you that may have read my previous blog, you would certainly have taken away one thing from it: I’m pretty damn scared of flying on small planes. Alas, I was both surprised and deeply concerned to learn of my ...
The Guardian's Gemma Bowes has picked out her Top 20 spots around Europe for breath-taking views and deep-diving into nature.
In the article, Georgia's mountainous Svaneti region is positioned among such well-known greats as th...
One thing I really like about Georgia. Across the globe, you often find the best exhibitions located in the melting pots of people, in the metropolis. Tbilisi is no different as numerous mesmerizing art galleries are placed next t...
Head up to Mestia this weekend for the Svanetoba on July 29! Find out more below.
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One of the meanings of Georgian words ending in “oba” is a day dedicated to the bit which comes before that ending: these are typically f...
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Have you heard of anyone who has a photographic obsession with Mt. Fuji in Japan, that marvelously symmetrical slightly curved cone? That’s me with Mt. Ushba in Svaneti, I must admit.
Partly, I suppose, because it’s vis...