We are camping here in the communal pasture just North of the village, in fall view of its famous defensive family towers. A plan to seek shelter inside one of the ancient tower-compounds fell through because the local belief forbade sheltering "unpure" girls on the eve of St. Quirike, the holiest of the feasts of the Highland Svans. And of course no villager would vouch for our stranger girls.

Apart from its scalloped-gunport towers and arched doorways, Ushguli's other claim to fame is that it is the highest-altitude village in Europe, at 7,000+ ft. Of course many people would say that this village is in Asia, its being on the South slopes of the Caucasus ... it is a notch stronger version of the familiar Elbrus vs. Mont Blanc argument all over again.

The third claim to fame (for three is a charm) is the tale of the murder of a guest of honor. Ushgulians invited Prince Dadeshkeliani, an influential lord from the opposite end of the Khevy ( the Canyon of Svanety ), ostensibly for a feast. The plan was to shoot the prince and thus to check his rumored plans of expansion. But no clan could agree to carry it out, for fear of devastating blood feud. So the elders commanded one man of each clan to hold a rope tied to the gun's trigger. They all pulled the rope together and from that moment on, the Dadeshkelianis were in blood vengeance against the whole community.

July 1981.