The UNBELIEVABLE VILLAGE LIFE of GEORGIA 🇬🇪

Georgia is one of the easiest countries in the world for an Indian passport right now. Visa free entry, and once you are in you can stay for months 🇬🇪 But almost everyone who comes here stops at Tbilisi. In this video I travel 10 hours north into the mountains, into a region called Svaneti, and this is the part of Georgia you actually come here for. I am in Mestia, a village of just a few thousand people sitting deep inside the Caucasus mountains. It was peak summer when I filmed this and there was still fresh snow falling on the peaks right behind me. The Caucasus range here is higher than the Alps, and it runs through Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia. The Russian border is only about 10 to 15 km from where I am standing, and I talk about whether I should actually cross over. But the real reason to come here is the Svan towers. There are roughly 5000 to 7000 of these stone tower houses across Svaneti, most of them built in the 8th century, and almost every old home has one attached to it. Everyone assumes they were built to fight off invaders. The truth is much stranger. No invader ever made it this far because the terrain here is brutal, so the towers were actually built to protect these families from each other. One insult could start a feud that ran for generations. I pay 3 lari, around 100 rupees, to climb inside one of these towers. Five floors of pitch dark rooms and old wooden ladders that are honestly falling apart in your hands 😅 The reviews literally called it dangerous. The view from the top was worth every second. Along the way I show you the whole town, a 24 hour supermarket in a village this small, a second hand shop selling clothes from Germany and France, the camping and trekking rental shops, a farmers market, ladies selling local honey on the roadside, and a tiny local vegetable shop where I filled a full bag of fresh vegetables for 7 lari, about 220 rupees. I also show you my hostel, which cost me just 20 lari a night, around 650 rupees, run by owners who openly say they do not make money from it. This is the last video of my Georgia series, so if you are planning a Georgia trip, save this one for the mountain part. Hit like and subscribe, and tell me in the comments if you would climb all the way up that tower or stop at the first floor like most people do. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro, why I escaped to the mountains, and Georgia's visa free entry for Indians 01:32 – First look at Mestia, khinkali, and Georgia's five cross flag 03:48 – The main street, and how I reached Mestia from Tbilisi in 10 hours 05:17 – Cows on the road, the town square, and why Georgia's stray dogs are safer 07:01 – Why I skip tourist restaurants, and a walk through the back lanes 08:39 – A second hand clothes shop from Europe, and why I buy from these 09:48 – Camping shops, the Caucasus range, and how close Russia actually is 11:06 – Why I did not film for a week, the farmers market, and roadside honey 13:59 – Local vegetable shopping for just 7 lari 15:19 – Day two in the back lanes, and the Svan tower houses everywhere 17:00 – Who the Svan people are, and these 8th century stone towers 19:43 – The real reason these towers were built, and it was not invaders 22:47 – Climbing inside a Svan tower house for 3 lari 26:04 – Five floors of dark creaking ladders to reach the top 30:06 – The view from the top, the farms behind, and Ushguli village 32:03 – My 20 lari hostel in Mestia and a full room tour #georgia #mestia #travelvlog