subject: Mestia, Svaneti - One of the best exotic ski resorts in the world [print this page] Mestia, Svaneti - One of the best exotic ski resorts in the world
Georgia is situated on the South slopes of the Greater Caucasus Range and Small (South) Caucasus Highland. The central, 125 km part of the West Caucasus, starting from Kodori range and ending at the Pasi Mountain, is called Svanetian Caucasus. Svaneti is the highest region settled in Georgia.
The major inhabitents of Svaneti region are svans. Svans have their own original non written language Svanuri, which belongs to the group of Georgian languages.
Glaciers, mountain ranges and plateaus configure exotic landscapes covered with variety of vegetation and herbs. These fascinating sights with architectural monuments of the mid feudal epoch, towers and farming buildings attract travelers from the first minutes.
Georgian cuisine is rich of many dishes characteristic to Svaneti, among them famous sulguni kind of cheese, kaarz cheese with mint boiled in milk, khachapuri baked cheese in wheat bread, Pishvdar cheese baked in corn bread, or Tchkut baked cheese in millet bread, kubdari stewed beef baked in wheat bread, sham corn flour porridge with slices of sulguni cheese, tashmijab cream of potatoes and cheese mixed with corn flour, chadi a cornbread etc. There is also a wide range of pasties cooked w
ith different stewed herbs inside. Svans like barley soup seasoned with garlic and pepper (Lutspek) and barley flour boiled in nettle soup (Kharshil). These soups are also very healthy food, they say that if one eats them at least ten times, he won't get sick during the whole year. Almost all dishes are dressed with Svan salt a regular table salt mixture with bits of ground red hot pepper and variety of spices. The dishes dressed with Svan salt have a very characteristic flavour and taste. Another reason for specialty of Svaneti cuisine is that all dishes are cooked with local, natural products giving a unique taste and aroma to them.
The history and culture of Svaneti is penetrated with folk music. Commensurate to the severe nature and hard life-style the Svans' singing is somewhat rigorous and powerful. The songs are mainly dedicated to the national heroes, the fights against the conquerors, the religious holidays, the famous kings (e.g. Queen Tamar), the goddess of Hunting Dali etc. Many songs have been created even before the Christian times and therefore include heathen elements (e.g. the song "Lile" dedicated to the goddess of the Sun "Kaltidi" and etc.).
It is also noteworthy, that 4100 meters above sea level on the slopes of Mkinvartsveri there is the cave of Bethlehem the oldest monument of Christianity, the hermits abode.
Lately, Svaneti has become one of the touristic centers of Georgia. Traditional tourism heritage are: alpinism, camping (6 picks are on the 5000 meter above sea level), ethnographical excursions, steps of cultural heritage. In December, 2010 new ski resort has opened in Mestia, Svaneti. It has Snow coverage six months a year. New airport has also opened in Mestia, it makes possible to visit svaneti in 20-30 minutes from capital of the Country. Home-hotels are waiting for the guests in the villages of Ushguli, Mestia, Jabeshi, Mazeri and etc.
On January 7, 2011 New York Times has published the list of 41 places to go in 2011. The list contains places From the beaches of Mexico to the wilds of Kurdistan. Georgia ranks 6th in the list with Mestia, Svaneti.
