B&B Jago Arabuli in Dshuta

dshuta-juta-arabuli, originally uploaded by grijsz.

B&B Jago Arabuli in Dshuta, Jago opened a small B&B in his house. Perfect for 6 guests, shower, great view and hospitality. Dshuta is a famous entrance to Khevsureti via the Arkhoty Pass or via the Roshka Pass. From Kazbegi goes a road to Dshuta of 18 km. Recommended time for stays: End of May- End of October. For bookings contact me at info@kaukasus-reisen.de

Mountain network Bed & Breakfast

mountain-network900-2, originally uploaded by grijsz.

Dshuta (Juta) call in advance 00995 99 533239 or ask in the village for Jago Arabuli

Shatili call in advance 00995 77 729362 or ask in the village for Vasha Chincharauli

Korsha (behind Barissakho) ask for Shota Arabuli

Roshka ask for Ivane Tsiklauri

Ardoti ask for Murgvar Ardoteli

Cesho ask for Murtazi

Cesho ask for Bakuri

Zemo Alvani and Dartlo call in advance 00995 99 964839 or ask for Manana Idoidze

Shenako ask for Kako

Indurta ask for Irakli Papashvili

Ninigori (3km before Lagodekhi) call in advance 00995 93 344615 or ask for Simoni Nareshelashvili

Prices may change, ask in advance

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"

Khevsurs

Khevsureti is a region in the north of Georgia, Caucasus, wich is inhabited since hundreds of years by the people called Khevsurs. The Khevsurs are with no doubt Georgians and they are orthodox christians with a lot of pre-christian archaic traditions in their life and religion. The famous German ethnologe Gustav Radde travelled Khevsureti in 1876 and after and published 1878 a book "The Khevsurs and their homeland " in wich he first collected all available
information about the Khevsurs and their beautiful homeland. (Radde, Gustav, Die Chewsuren und ihr Land . Kassel, 1878.)
I met the Khevsurs first in Autumn 1996, when a Khevsur Jago Arabuli happend to
be the "Tamada" in a feast in Telavi in Eastern Georgia, Kakheti. What did I wonder, when "my" first Khevsur spoke fluently German to me. We got immediatly friends and since that I am a friend of Khevsureti and his unique people. I want to thank all Khevsurs, wich I met during the last years, wich helped me in various situations, wich had been hospital to me on any occasion.

Khevsurian friends


Armazi


Lagaza from Dshuta (sometimes written Juta)


Sumbata from Roshka


Murgwar from Ardoti with one of his daughters


Vasha and his brother Kviria from Shatili


At Atengenoba-feast Roshka


A Khevsur with his traditional Dshokha

The Sno-Valley

View from the Sno-Valley to the mountains of Khevsureti

Khevsureti Location

On Kists, Chechens, Tushs, Khevsurs and Pshaws

A profound history of the Kists from Pankisi with very interesting passages on the other Highlanders of the Northern and Southern Slopes of the Caucasus a found in the thrilling work Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge: An Ethnographic Survey
by Shorena Kurtsikidze and Vakhtang Chikovani from the University of California, Berkeley

Read the full work here http://tinyurl.com/8cw2w Here is a small exerpt:

"Historically, the Georgian highlander societies of the Khevsureti, Pshavi, and Tusheti were autonomous from the Georgian kings. These societies were regarded as borderland-dwellers and were not included in the administrative-territorial divisions of feudal Georgia. In these official administrative units, local princes (vassals to the king) governed and the general population lived in serfdom. The situation of the borderland-dwellers was entirely different. These inhabitants of the southern slopes of Caucasian mountain range were under the direct protection of the Georgian kings. They were free of any taxes. The major duties of these societies were protecting Georgia’s northern borders from invasion and participating in the military operations of the Georgian king. In return they had administrative and religous autonomy. In the 17th and 18th centuries, in order to protect its southern borders, the Russian administration organized settlements of Cossacks in the region of the Tergi River. The population of Pshavi, Khevsureti, and Tusheti played a similar role on the southern slopes of the Caucasian mountain range. Amazingly, one 19 th century traveler compared the Khevsurs to the old inhabitants of Zaporozhie (i.e., the ancestors of the Cossacks). Many Khevsurs and Tush today work as the northern border patrol in the Georgian military."