<...> we step into the tourist van that had just arrived to our hotel. it is pretty dark here compared to the sunny october day because of the tinted glass, but that's just what we need. the group slowly fills up the van, and thus it starts.

the guide starts, "hello, dear guests, our today's destination is New Athos and-"

the group (altogether) replies,
"no!"
"it's Lake Ritsa!"
"no, Lake Ritsa!"

the guide asks the driver, pretending to be surprised too, "Lake Ritsa?"

the group chuckles with the guide. except for us, we just smile as we hear that wrong-destination-joke for the 3rd time.

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the sun bathes our van as we slowly but surely approach the lake, driving past the glorious Caucasian mountains. I could've easily thought nobody lives here, if not for the villages placed on their roots and even slightly above. they look so small from such distance and such contrast with the giant spiky rock they surround, that they look like some ant colonies.

did I mention the plants? yes, they are beautiful too. all the flowers, all the trees growing above them, and so much more!.. living in Siberia, I had never seen grapevines in person, but here they are! the grapes I'm usually getting from the supermarket, just growing here!

but the speed bumps make me snap out of these thoughts, as we enter another village. the walking Abkhazia loves placing speed bumps, because the driving Abkhazia loves violating the speed limit. ugh.

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finally, the Lake Ritsa. just gorgeous. surrounded with absolute monsters of mountains, it all just looks epic. and the waterfalls above it, yes. just the heaven on earth. I didn't drink the water from them (some of our group did), but I did try to climb up one of the waterfalls, and failed miserably when climbing down. LOL

the lake itself is also surrounded with people. countless cafes and shops that sell souvenirs, wine, juice, honey, and of course, churchkhela of all its forms and varieties.

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now, to the yummy stuff.

1st, here's a full resolution photo of the Milky waterfall in Abkhazia (5533x8000 pixels): 74MB

2nd, I'm back from my family vacation, and I'm motivated to continue blogging :D
expect more posts from me soon!

3rd, all the photos in this post (and their full-res versions) are licensed under CC0, which means that you are free to use it however you like (public domain)! you can email me for full resolution pictures of the ones included here too, and they will be licensed accordingly.