From Kazbegi, we got into some four-wheel drive vehicles for a drive up the mountain opposite our hotel to the very small village of Tsdo. It was a winding, snowy, wild ride but we made it up the mountain. Tsdo is a village of 17 people. It's actually below 5,000 feet elevation but it had lots of snow on this day. Tsdo is only about three to four miles from the Russian border and they have had many issues with Russia over the years.

Back in Soviet times, this small village had about 5,000 sheep and supplied wool for the Soviet Union. Today, we only saw a few chickens at the house we visited. The village seems to be just hanging on, which is probably how we got up there (via our travel company).

Our visit was an educational lunch visit around Georgian culture, cuisine, and Georgian hospitality. First you can see the small village of Tsdo, and then the house within the village that we visited.

Perhaps the chief purpose of our visit was to learn how to make 'khinkali,' which are meat-filled dumplings whose origins are in the mountains of Georgia. We first got a demonstration, but then it was time to go hands-on with the process. We made a cheese mixture khinkali, and a meat mixture khinkali. Both were served to us for lunch and both were very good.

Lunch was served in close quarters but was very good. We had fresh salad, bread, homemade brandy by the brother in the back left of the photo, cheese, Quince juice, cheese and meat khinkali's, beet root and cheese Khachapuri's, beef stew, and several more brandy's, for good measure.

Following lunch, we drove to the Gergeti Trinity Church. The remote 14th century church is perched on a hill with Mount Kazbek in the background. It features tremendous alpine vistas of the Greater Caucasus Mountains. The church is one of Georgia's iconic landmarks. It was hard to get photos of the church from being right at the church. I got the best one I could in the first photo. In the second photo, you can see Vicky (red coat) entering the church grounds through the bell tower. The church was open but no photos were allowed inside it.