On to Georgia
The next morning we said good bye to Azerbaijan and headed for Georgia. One taxi to the bus station, one minibus to Balakan, another minibus to Zaqatala and one taxi to the border crossing. As the taxi neared the border we saw a huge monument proclaiming Azerbaijan and as we approached closer we saw that it is under construction. The next time we come that way there will be a grand border crossing, but for now we had to settle for an old dirt road, full of waiting cars and trucks. Since we were on foot we walked ahead and were let through the gate. There were other local people also crossing on foot and many of them stood waiting to get their passports stamped. The border official motioned us ahead of the queue, it seems that tourists get preferential treatment. He stamped our passports and we were on our way. The border itself is a river so we had to cross a bridge but at that time of the year the riverbed was completely dry.
On the Georgian side the border official took our passports and went into his office to type something on his computer. Slovenian citizens don’t need a visa to enter Georgia, but it took some time for him to figure that out. When he finally did, he stamped our passports, no questions asked, and we stepped into Georgia. A new country, with a new language and on top of that, new writing. While we could at least read signs in Azerbaijan it was going to be tougher in Georgia. All the signs were in the Georgian alphabet and only occasionally was there a sign in Russian Cyrillic.
We took a taxi to the nearest town of Lagodekhi. We wanted to spend the night at a nature reserve just outside of Lagodekhi, but once again we were stuck with a taxi driver who didn’t understand “nature reserve” and needless to say we had no idea how to say it in Russian. So we just asked him to take us to a hotel, the only one in Lagodekhi. It was one of those monstrous hotels from the Soviet era, deteriorating and up to that point in our travels we managed to avoid them. I never figured out why these hotels operate at all, it is obvious that no one does any maintenance whatsoever and they have very few guests. I nosed around a little and I believe that only 3 rooms were taken the night we were there, including ours. The lady at the reception had other business in addition to giving out the rooms in the hotel, it looked like she was selling lottery tickets or something so she was probably not too busy with the reception work.
Our room had seen better times and I am sure it was a very nice hotel when it was first built. But now none of the drains worked and we didn’t dare touch the air conditioner, it was one of those old models that was mounted on top of the balcony door and it looked very tired. In fact, the whole balcony was crumbling and I very carefully avoided leaning on the balcony railing just in case it fell down. On the other hand there were fresh sheets and towels in the room and there was soap and toilet paper in the bathroom. OK, the toilet paper was there probably since the Soviet times, the paper was stiff and grayish and I thought it better to leave it alone and rather use my own.
The region around Lagodekhi is famous for a number of old churches and monasteries and we hired a taxi to give us a tour. It was a hot day once again and we were tired so we just looked at the places with mild interest. But the driver was determined to show us every single one of them and he drove us around until dark. I was quite disappointed because all the places we saw were under construction as it seems the whole country is being renovated. It was difficult to see anything under the scaffolding, between the bulldozers, and some of the construction that was going on was quite noisy. It was new to me that women must wear skirts in churches, but not to worry, tourists were handed wraparound skirts to put on so we could go inside. No photography inside though.
We were tired of the heat and dust and we made plans to head into the mountainous region of the Caucasus for a few days where it should be cooler. When Marko saw mention of a glacier he was eager to get there. Had he known what it took to get to the glacier he might not have been so enthusiastic.
The next morning we said good bye to 
We took a taxi to the nearest town of 
Our room had seen better times and I am sure it was a very nice hotel when it was first built. But now none of the drains worked and we didn’t dare touch the air conditioner, it was one of those old models that was mounted on top of the balcony door and it looked very tired. In fact, the whole balcony was crumbling and I very carefully avoided leaning on the balcony railing just in case it fell down. On the other hand there were fresh sheets and towels in the room and there was soap and toilet paper in the bathroom. OK, the toilet paper was there probably since the Soviet times, the paper was stiff and grayish and I thought it better to leave it alone and rather use my own.
The region around Lagodekhi is famous for a number of old churches and monasteries and we hired a taxi to give us a tour. It was a hot day once again and we were tired so we just looked at the places with mild interest. But the driver was determined to show us every single one of them and he drove us around until dark. I was quite disappointed because all the places we saw were under construction as it seems the whole country is being renovated. It was difficult to see anything under the scaffolding, between the bulldozers, and some of the construction that was going on was quite noisy. It was new to me that women must wear skirts in churches, but not to worry, tourists were handed wraparound skirts to put on so we could go inside. No photography inside though.
We were tired of the heat and dust and we made plans to head into the mountainous region of the 
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