The mountain road has turned into a puddle, the bikes are carrying their share of luggage, and the reflection makes a rather good portrait. Rafał and Aleksandra’s cycling photographs from Georgia are full of moments like this: a big landscape, with a small, recognisably human adventure inside it.
The pair’s 2015 account of cycling through Svaneti describes a June journey from Jvari towards Ushguli and across Zagari Pass. Their pictures move between green valleys, village lanes and higher mountain ground. It is a record of their trip, rather than a checked itinerary for present-day road conditions.
Give the towers more than a passing glance
The stone towers are part of a living cultural landscape. UNESCO’s Upper Svaneti listing recognises the relationship between the mountain setting, settlements and distinctive defensive tower houses. Chazhashi, within the Ushguli community, is central to that heritage.
In a photograph, the towers work at two scales. From a distance they give the hillside a rhythm of upright shapes. Up close, the stonework and narrow lanes bring the scene back to the size of a person. Including both views makes a travel story feel less like a collection of landmarks.
The stops are part of the journey
A plate of food and a warmly lit room change the pace of the gallery. These quieter frames remind us that a cycling trip includes conversations, meals and time spent off the bike. Ask before photographing people or entering private spaces, and leave room for encounters that do not need to become pictures.
Take the idea, then plan your own route
For a mountain cycling project, separate the route you hope to ride from the photographs you hope to make. Check access and road conditions locally, allow time for slow sections and choose alternatives before a particular pass becomes the only way forward. A route completed in one June does not establish what another season will allow.
One useful photo exercise is to collect a wide view, a detail and an everyday moment from each stop. Together, they say more about travelling than another summit panorama alone. For two different ways of recording a long journey, explore an Appalachian Trail portrait time-lapse and Travis Burke’s van photographs.
The towers belong to an inhabited cultural landscape
Upper Svaneti’s significance is not limited to its mountain backdrop. UNESCO describes a cultural landscape of villages and defensive tower houses, with Chazhashi among the important surviving settlements. The towers are therefore more than picturesque markers beside a cycling route; they belong to the organisation and history of communities living in this terrain.
Rafał and Aleksandra’s route account names Jvari, Ushguli and Zagari Pass. Keeping that sequence preserves the actual journey while avoiding the sweeping claim that Georgia was an unknown country. The encounters they describe involved people already living and working in the region, not a landscape awaiting outside discovery.
The old “highest inhabited village in Europe” label also needs qualification rather than repetition as an uncontested record. Definitions of settlement, permanent habitation and Europe’s boundary affect such comparisons. Ushguli’s setting and buildings are substantial reasons for interest without the superlative. For a cyclist, the practical questions concern the route, surface, elevation and conditions of the journey being planned, not whether a village wins a geographic ranking.
Sources, photography and further reading
Original feature and image attributions:
- Bored Panda
- 18 Amazing Places You Should Ride Your Bike Before You Die
- Rafał and Aleksandra
- UNESCO’s Upper Svaneti listing
- an Appalachian Trail portrait time-lapse
- Travis Burke’s van photographs
Current reference information, checked 15 September 2026:
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