Touring Khevsureti by Karen Shimizu

Oh, no, it is a paradise but has no Cafe Paradise yet, although that would be a cool idea, at least from May to October somewhere near the road at Barissakho or Shatili, or maybe at the Datvis-Dshvari-Pass ? In Georgia Today Karen Shimizu wrote a nice piece on a journey in Khevsureti in company with Mindia Tsiklauri and 20 musicians from the Village Harmony Music Camp: Touring Khevsureti. The hills are alive...
As I read that, I sit in the new opened Cafe Paradise in the Old Town of Tbilisi right on the opposite site of the famous Cafe Kala and next to the Old Gallery and it's rarity of Georgian art and images and frames. It is small, just for 20 or 25 people and has a warm, dark, oriental atmosphere, where I will spent probably lots of cold and windy Tbilisi winter days.



And for Khevsureti, I think I am going next weekend there.

khevsureti-from-roshka, originally uploaded by grijsz.

If you want to join us next season, contact me via Kaukasus-Reisen

September at the pass

fogoptrezexp, originally uploaded by grijsz.

Song from Khevsureti performed by Nino

Nino Arabuli on a party in Tbilis, 2006
Hear another song of Nino here: http://kaukasus.blogspot.com/2006/09/to-all-homesick-georgians-abroad.html

Ketevan

Jagos Mutter, originally uploaded by Pepela.

Lagaza's wife Ketevan

Lagaza

IMG_0772_1, originally uploaded by Pepela.

Lagaza Arabuli, one of the few remaining Khevsurs in Juta

The Juta creek from Chaukhi

IMG_0821.JPG, originally uploaded by Pepela.

"Hotel" Armazi in Amga

In Amga


A Khevsurian woman in her traditional costume


Khevsurian Rider, Hans Heiner Buhr 2005

Mutso

Near Datvis Jvari Pass in Khevsureti


A typical road section on the way to Shatili


The Fortress of Mutso, 4 or 5 km from Shatili


A bull to sacrifice for the Holy Atengenoba feast at Roshka

All images by Friederike Abresch

Dshuta-Juta

Dshuta, home of the Arabulis


The Chaukhi-Massif of 3640m just behind Dshuta

Hight above sealevel apprx. 2150 m


The cross of the Dshuta Khevsurs


Lagaza Arabuli and his wife Ketevan from Roshka, in the middle my father Hans Buhr

Murtazi Tsiklauri from Roshka died

Murtazi (right) and Badri in Roshka 2004

Murtazi and his nice family of Ivane Tsiklauri have been our good friends for years. Murtazi was a very kind and strong Khevsur. We will miss him badly, as he died in a car accident near Roshka. His funeral had been on Sunday, June 18th 2006

Khevsureti through Google Earth

A bigger image here Image by Google Earth

Google Earth is a really exiting adventure, I spent the whole sunday with it...

I tried to locate some villages in Khevsureti (and also Tusheti). I am not sure about the right places of Dshuta (Juta) and of Shatili, because the landmarks (rivers) repeat close on other places. Maybe both villages are set a bit too far north. Buildings itself can not yet been detected/seen quite good with that resolution, but for Shatili one might almost sense. I am quite sure about Roshka and Arkhoty.

This summer I could take a GPS device there and feed the data into Google Earth, then it should be the more likely locations.

Google Earth is free. You can download it here. It takes a short while to become familiar with all the buttons of the interface. But then, it's fun !

Khevsurs a topic at Wikipedia

Photo via Wikipedia, Khevsurs ca. 1910

Not a long time ago, there was nothing to find on Khevsureti and the Khevsurs on Wikipedia, but now there is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khevsurs and of course anybody can add content and edit.

Archil Kikodze wrote a nice article on CENN, "Legends of Khevsureti"