ROADS

Roads are, generally speaking, in terrible condition. The road to Mestia was renovated only short time ago, which cut the travel time from 5-6 hours to just under three. It looks like a marvel of human engineering, since often the road passes places, where it is a sheer drop along the cliff face down to the raging river some 150 metres, while at the same time another rock face is towering just above the road, so it appears the road has been cut straight into rock itself. Some of the most spectacular (and dangerous) parts have been abridged by tunnels due to the recent renovation, but you can still see (and trace) the old road. Just be careful at the edges :-)

The road itself is worth for 2-3 days of sightseeing, just stop at all the photogenic places and visit numerous ancient churches dotting the villages along the way. Be warned though - as the road cuts into the hillside (and at times cliffside) at a considerable height over the valley floor (which is often just roaring river), the villages are sometimes way off, over a 4x4-only road (if at all).

But not all roads (or people living along them) got that lucky. Most of the Georgian roads are still metalled. There is, for example, a road from Kutaisi through Lajanurhesi to Ambrolauri, that is just unpaved. That's it. It's just packed mud and stones. The bus to Ambrolauri takes about three hours, while the distance is less than 100 km. It's not very pleasant journey since one gets tossed around a lot in his or her "seat". This road is marked as Local (which is one level below Main Road and one above Rural Road). I don't quite get why marshrutkas from Kutaisi to Ambrolauri don't take the shorter road through Tqibuli (it's not that bad to Tqibuli itself and the Tqibuli - Ambrolauri road is newly constructed, but a lot of things in Georgia baffle me anyway, so nothing out of ordinary.

Another Local Road (also shown as an important road on Google Maps) leads from Akhaltsikhe to Kutaisi, two respectably-sized towns.

This is the road, all right!

I would love to write that it is little more than a hiking trail, but in reality it is not even that little better than a hiking trail.

The section from Sairme to Abastumani (some 40+ km) is what we (in Western world) call hiking trail.

You've got to be kiddin' me!

We had a beautiful hike over the road, however, so it has some advantages.

We tried to scale part of the road in the cargo space of an old Russian truck

Our "ride" (not the horse!)

and it was the most unpleasant 40 minutes of my life in a vehicle (and believe me, I had some very rough flights).

While in the truck, we were surrounded by equally terrified calves (the truck was about to tip over every so often) who drooled me all over.

And I was the lucky one, because my friend got shitted on by one of the calves.

 Watery diarrhea soiled not only his pants, but also his backpack and sleeping bag.

 There was a Georgian guy, apparently undaunted, since he could use his both hands to light a cigarette, where it took me both hands to hold on to rail to keep me alive.

Mama, mama, I see first car in months!

We even camped on the "road".

It's getting progressively worse

Someone's restin' on the main road...

Now comes the worst part.

You call this a road?!

Light human traffic

And I was unable to take picture of the worst parts of this road since my soul was being shaken out of me alive in the truck.

Also the road to my village (and other unimportant settlements) is in horrible condition. The bus takes about the same time to cover 3km from the intersection with the main road to my village as it takes to reach that intersection from the town (13 km). And the top speed of the bus is just 60 kph.

There is a beautiful stretch of highway between Tbilisi and Gori (some 80 km) with a somewhat redundant tunnel and there are some other unnecessary tunnels around Georgia, as the one near Batumi, which expands to 4-lane highway only in the tunnel but nowhere else beside it. The two lanes of the road leading from Batumi to Poti are more than sufficient for the traffic density, yet the tunnel was built as a 4-lane one. It is a trend opposite to what you can see in the West, where tunnel construction is the most expensive part and therefore many 4-lane highways would feature only single profile tunnels (Paarl-Worcester tunnel in South Africa being a prime example).

The famous Gerogian Military Highway from Vladikavkaz through Stepantsminda (Kazbegi) to Tbilisi (first constructed by Russian Empire in late 18th century to facilitate the conquest of Caucasus) is the only overland crossing between Russia and Caucasian countries, that can be successfully taken by anyone (regardless of nationality). Although   it's considered Main Road in Georgia, it features about 25 km long unpaved part in the highest reaches (up to 2400 m altitude) and a short part of it is quite dangerous. This is despite (or, rather, because of) the fact the road is plied daily by numerous (mostly Armenian and Ukrainian) trucks, which supply goods to Armenia and Georgia, respectively.