'Abkhazia'/Georgia

[msmobyone]

I have a 'thing' about visiting places that have unresolved 'issues' with 'recognition' - I have wanted to go to Abkhazia...the break away republic of Georgia that few nations recognise for a long time.

As I now have a m/entry visa I emailed  a request  for a Visa an received an invitation within four days.

I asked for 3 days, but other things cropped up, so it was today, or bust.


The place to ask for it is here...


http://mfaapsny.org/en/council/visa.php



I received this letter of invitation




The border is 20 minutes for SC's home and it reminded me of crossing into the 'Turkish Republic of Cyprus...surreal.

I didn't want to offend so no photos or the border...but I can do better...one can view the crossing by going to

www.sochi.camera

Then click on the capital A in the tool bar...A for Abkhazia

The first cam [r48] is leaving and the second....showing a duty free shop....is coming back.

My goodness, I can understand why the Georgians would be upset to lose this place. It was stunningly beautiful. A time warp.


Much more tomorrow..I am going to have to register my visa ... again...as I left and re-entered Russia...

Russians do NOT need to use their intl. Passports...just the ID one.

When we arrived at the border - the queue didn't seem that long - we had our passports and my visa invitation checked - it is important to have the right of re-entry to Russia

Then we were directed to another place - with a choice of queues - we chose one of the two outer right one's - don't - it didn't split into two checkpoints as the others subsequently did. We queued for 1 hour30 minutes

SC - as passenger - had to go through a pedestrian passport control and I had to drive to a passport control point, alone and produce the vehicles docs and my passport.


THEN - the car was physically searched - all cars are searched - not randomly like UK entry

Finally, I was cleared as having left Russia and drove to a waiting place - to be re-united with SC.

10 MINUTES passed .. no SC ..She was waiting for me in another place and a very kind Russian family - who had queued behind us spotted her and one of the passengers ran to show her where we waited.

Reunited - we drove 300m - then there was another fence and a gate - our docs were inspected for the third time and we were in 'no mans' land' before encountering the red and white duty free shop and the passport control for 'Abkhazia'

My passport and invitation were - naturally - of more interest and the border guard went off to his computer and returned some time later. He was smiling - now THAT worried me...  :chuckle:

He asked why I had asked for 3 days and this was the last day. I explained 'time pressures' and he told us that normally we would need to drive to the capital - Sukum and get the visa - but as we were on a day drip and if we wanted to stay longer - we could do this subsequently and he wished us a good time. This was all in Russian.


Our friendly Russian family had got the 'wrong' line and just cleared passport control and we together queued to clear permission to drive on their roads. We then then set off in an informal convoy with lot of smiles and thumbs up - as the whole process of leaving Russia and being clear to enter Abkhazia took nearly 2 hours.


First impressions - we drove towards the mountains we had seen when cycling from the Olympic station - along the esplanade. This time they weren't snow covered - but luscious green.

The local drivers ignored the speed limits and overtake when / where a sane person would not.


The petrol / gas is 5 to 10 percent cheaper than Russia - you can buy Rosneft there - we 'lost' our friends when they peeled off to fill up

I had set the satnav for Sukumi 100km to the SE - hugging the Black Sea coast.

We stopped just north of GARGA and waked through tropical  greenness to the beach  - still a little stony - so on we went ..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T2jGF2olwyg

We kept seeing adverts for two mobile / cell phone networks and soon realised that our Russian sims had no signal.

This was 'no good' as my maps for Russia ran out and both WAZE and Google maps were not too accurate, without the network.I had forgotten to download maps.me for Georgia

We passed through Garga and headed to Pitsuna - crossing many rivers and encountering many former Spanish coaches - buses - that overtook us on blind bends. 

map


http://www.google.com/maps/place/Autonomous+Republic+of+Abkhazia



There we bought a local sim, bezlimit - without limit for internet and Alina at AQUAFON - faithfully set it all up for us, ignoring the ever growing queue for top ups

Now I had 4G and downloaded the map in less than a minute and we headed for the Monastery at New Athos

As we entered the town, I spotted the Monastery on a hill - high above the town - I followed a local registered mini-bus on a whim and missed the white circle with a red outer circumference - a sign that was supposed to mean - local traffic only - there was no writing to hint at this  :chuckle:

SC called on me to stop and an unmarked Police car arrived and asked us to follow them.

As we stopped in a safer place - he tried to stop other traffic - but they ignored him  :chuckle:

I played the dumb tourist and SC ignored my advice and spoke in Russian.. I saw his eyes light up ..


She offered him 500 roubles to forget my 'transgression' and he escort us to the 'authorised traffic only entrance to the monastery' and we drove up a steep hill - found a great parking spot and observed everyone else puffing and sweating as they reached the top - form the car park 500 or more down in the town.

IF I had been alone I would have toughed it out - but SC pointed out this is not Russia.

The whole scene was being videoed and I am still debating whether to post it as we want to go again :laugh:



When we drove down the bumpy road to the town - and our next destination - Lake Ritsa  - I was paranoid that we'd meet our corrupt policeman, again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fx_hT9JEVKQ

more follows ..we  are off to Lake Ritsa

NB if someone can remind me how to post youtube links so they show as a photo ... 

[msmobyone]

We are now going back towards Russia for a while before turning north and into the mountains to find Lake Ritsa. I have not read up on the place and have no idea what to expect....SC wants to go..

We encounter more suicide driving and the cars lying on the roads - even in the middle do not blink an eye or flinch as coaches drive past them.

Many of the road signs are Mosaic and follow the style of Gaudi.. sorry no photos

Now, we are on the road heading up a valley of a River that is crystal clear and clearly from a Glacier- an interesting blue / grey.

I see another Policeman - young - with a Radar gun - but I am going the required 50km/h and we pass unmolested...I am so relieved not to be stopped - again - that I miss the chance to park up on spotting an old bridge across the river.

We park up and find it has a zip wire.

'Brave' me decides to walk across the bridge and I find I cannot walk without both hands on the railing as when people approach - combined with the strong cross wind - walking becomes scary.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GygFqaml2Pk


SC didn't come so I laughed at her and suggested she was scared...... She smiled and said' let's see who is scared' and walked to the zip wire.there was a queue of undecided people, but to the delight of all -incl the owner - she marched to the head of the queue, defiantly  :chuckle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rWqZ4VOG0o4


She can be seen leaving and coming back - just as an insane kid - Nikita - heads off.

She returned with a beaming smile and the 'crowd' looked to me to respond - I had to do it ....

At this point we hadn't even asked  - how much - so I did and it was 200 rubles - about 3 usd

I was brilliant and I have no record of it as SC couldn't get the camera out of sleep mode..  :snivel:



Off to Lake Ritsa..

[Boethius]

Beautiful videos, moby.


To embed, you have to click the share link on youtube, and just cut and paste it here.  You seem to have share disabled on youtube.

[mendeleyev]

Lake Ritsa is one of the most beautiful spots on the planet! Stalin loved it there, and one of the Soviet Union's most important dachas was built along the shore.

Few Russians today know that many of the roads, and tunnels dug thru the mountains to get to the lake, were built by the German Army Engineering Corp, under full approval of Stalin and his ally Hitler before their relationship turned sour.

Today it is considered a pilgrimage to travel to the area, with many springs and fountains purported to have spiritual and healing properties.

[mendeleyev]

Wiki Commons photo collection:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Lake_Ritsa

[mendeleyev]

[mendeleyev]

Official dacha of the USSR General Secretary, Ritza:

[mendeleyev]

Excerpt from an article I wrote for a newspaper syndicate some time ago:

Centuries ago, Abkhazia was its own kingdom, but in 1864, it was annexed by Russia and later forced into the Soviet Union as a province of Georgia. After the collapse of the Soviet state, Abkhazia declared independence and fought a civil war against Georgia, culminating with Russian peacekeepers sent in by Moscow to stop Georgian forces.  The main border checkpoint is a short distance from the Russian city of Sochi.

Most Western readers have probably heard very little of Abkhazia, but it is home to one of Joseph Stalin’s most loved summer homes, his famed “Mysra” dacha. Constructed in 1932, Stalin’s Mysra summer home was built on a wooded hillside just above the Black Sea. Stalin, whose real name was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, was ethnic Georgian and he felt at home in the area. In Soviet times, Abkhazia was part of the Soviet Union. Stalin’s feared henchman, Lavrenty Beria, was ethnic Abkhazian.

[msmobyone]

Hey Mendy ..thanks for the history

Boethius - thanks for the tip re youtube

Getting to Ritsa Lake


After our zip wire ride - we continued due north into the mountains... I made a few videos - but they cannot truly capture the majesty of the scenery

The road follows the river, passes through tunnels and gorges and the speed limit was 50km/h - not that the former courier vans - converted to 'mini buses' and imported Spanish coaches paid too much attention.Frankly, I would rather go on my own steam than experience the ride with them  :chuckle:




it is about 23km to the lake and realistically it takes an hour.

One pays 650/ roubles an adult to enter the National Park

We saw a sign saying parking 700m and laughed as it was in the middle of nowhere... MISTAKE .. We rounded the bend and entered chaos.. as Coaches, Mini buses, 'jeeps' and cars fought to enter / escape.

A solitary Policeman directed traffic and sent us deeper in chaos - a Coach driver decided his line -escaping - was moving too slow - so had moved onto the incoming side  :chuckle:

After 20 minutes and much shouting - involving the Russian excursion organiser from the coach and the Policeman - the Coach was put back in line and we all started moving.

We parked up in the car park - about 500m from the lake and took an electric golf buggy ride back into chaos - which had subsided enough to get us to within 50m of the lake - Cost 50p each - approx 75c

The lake was stunning. In a natural bowl - surrounded by high peaks - with snow still visible - it was 24C at the lake - 1000m up

We walked past all the restaurants - cooking over charcoal and picked out one that cooked where the passing trade could view.



This Shashlik cost 200 rubles .. 2.20GBP / 3.30 Dollars - it was SO tasty ... SC had fresh Trout 300 Roubles.


We took a short video of the lake.




and a kind lady took a rare photo of us together



We walked back to the car park and I took this shot as evidence of Abkhazia style 'parking'  :chuckle:




Now, it was time to head back down - we had waited to allow the 'pack' to head off before us.






Again, the scenery doesn't do the views justice. I expected to meet cows lying in the road .. but only an errant horse  :nod:

[Boethius]

Your video of the lake gives an error message.

[msmobyone]

Your video of the lake gives an error message.

please try again ... I had the same err msg.. my coding was poor 

[msmobyone]

We made our way back to the border with some trepidation - bearing in mind the time it took to get through coming


waze - the app I normally use for satnav was run with maps.me and kept sending me messages stating I had found a 'good route' and 'thanking me' ...I assume not too many waze users had been here, before

Maps.me found a tunnel that saved us 20 mins getting through Garga and we saw the dome of the future Football World cup qualifier stadium in the distance - not too far to 'home'....

The expected queue of 2km we saw wasn't there ... We drove up to the frontier barrier, directly.

Our passports were checked and some head scratching was obvious with mine....''Where is your visa'' ...  ???

We explained that I had the 3 day invite and only arrived in the morning and that were told, ''that would be fine'' ...As the lorry behind was tooting his horn in impatience, we were directed through the barrier - but asked to wait where we would not block traffic. My passport was transferred to another guard. SAME QUESTION ... ''Where is your visa'  ???..

I had observed the same guard that let us in and pointed him out - stating that he had explained that going all the way to Sukhumi would not be necessary. I did this in Russian - as SC was panicking that we'd have to go all the way back 120km and stay overnight - with my invite expiring at midnight - 3.5 hours time ...

The guy, though for a whole minute - leafing through my passport and hers - which he had asked for and then said, he colleague had given us incorrect info, but he would let us leave, if we promised to come , again   and broke into a smile.

SC sank in her seat and we drove up to the gates, where a young RU guard waved us through to the main checkpoint.

The queue was 10 cars long and SC went with the dog to the passenger passport control .. I awaited my turn and when called forward, my passport and car docs were checked...it took 10 minutes and the guy eventually asked me if had only left in the morning. I confirmed and I was given a new slip - which meant re-registering in Russia

Then the car was thoroughly checked by another guard and I was able to meet up with SC

Conclusions

My curiosity was rewarded and I would hope that the Georgians will allow us into Georgia - should we try to visit there by boat, from Sochi


Spectacular

[STaty]

Hello, msmobyone! Thanks! It is very good post about Abkhazia. This that place to which there is a wish to return. Hospitality of locals, tasty food, the beautiful nature and kindness of police officers  - all this so!

[Muzh]

Hello, msmobyone! Thanks! It is very good post about Abkhazia. This that place to which there is a wish to return. Hospitality of locals, tasty food, the beautiful nature and kindness of police officers  - all this so!

Still waiting for your pictures from Sochi. 

[STaty]

Still waiting for your pictures from Sochi. 

Hi, Muzh! I am so sorry, but I can't show a photo from Sochi. I am a mom  therefore in all my photos my son. But I will improve. Next time I will surely make a photo of beautiful places. I hope.