here’s a quick (and very incomplete) set of impressions from last month’s botanical excursion to georgia (the country). instead of trying to organize and post-process all the pictures first, i decided to give you a teaser consisting only of panorama photos.
the trip took us to two main destinations: bakuriani in the lesser caucasus and kazbegi/stepantsminda in the greater caucasus.
botanical highlights included the tall herbaceous vegetation (in this case, tall really means gigantic! a 1 meter caltha sp. should speak for itself.), the tragacanth vegetation of the sheep pastures, the subnival zone of mount kazbek, and many species and genuses endemic to the caucasus regions. of course, seeing almost completely natural river systems with huge banks of the german tamarisk (myricaria germanica, very rare in central europe) is always a good encore.
apart from the biological beauty, georgia also has a rich cultural and historical background, with many churches and monasteries dating back to the very early days of christianity.
pictures after the break (en), or in the gallery (de/en).
liberty square (tavisuplebis moedani), tbilissi (panorama)
mshvidobis khidi, the bridge of peace (panorama)
tbilissi and narikala fortress, seen from the botanical institute (panorama)
view of tkemlana, from atskuri fortress (panorama)
view from atskuri fortress, tkemlana, georgia (panorama)
view of bakuriani, from our hotel room (panorama)
the road from tskhratskaro pass (panorama)
ivana, picking flowers in the meadows near tskhratskaro pass (panorama)
hiking in the meadows near tskhratskaro pass (panorama)
mtskheta and svetitskhoveli cathedral (panorama)
view from jvari monastery of the holy cross, overlooking mtskheta city and the confluence of the aragvi and mtkvari rivers (panorama). view from mtskheta church of the holy cross, overlooking mtskheta city and the confluence of the aragvi and mtkvari rivers (panorama)
view of zemo mleta, on the way to cross pass (panorama)
mount kazbek (5033 m), for once not covered in clouds
view of kazbegi/stepantsminda and mount kazbek (panorama)
hiking near mount elia (panorama)
hiking near mount elia (panorama)
botanical debriefing for the day (panorama)
tsminda sameba (holy trinity monastery), gergeti (panorama)
mount kazbek’s glacial stream (panorama)
mount kazbek, the subnival zone (panorama)
hiking in the subnival zone of mount kazbek, georgia (panorama)
hinking around mount kazbek, georgia (panorama)
the valley south of stepantsminda, view from my room (panorama)
tergi river, near stepantsminda (panorama)
old power pole and view of kazbegi, from the riverbanks of thergi river (panorama)
tergi river looks angry – close to the russian border (panorama)
travertine limestone sediments near kazbegi – rapid precipitation of calicum carbonate (panorama)
russian georgian friendship monument, georgian military highway. the first tile that fell out is said to have been mother russia’s brain (center). (panorama). russian georgian friendship monument, georgian military highway. the first tile that fell out is said to be mother russia’s brain (center). (panorama)
german tamarisk (myricaria germanica) population along river tetri aragvi, near pasanauri, georgia (panorama)
tblisi, georgia: narikala fortress and gondolas (panorama)
royal spa bath, tblisi georgia (panorama)
tblisi, georgia: view from narikala fortress (panorama)
tblisi, georgia: view from narikala fortress (panorama)
Fantastic photo’s Marcus. Looks like you had a great trip