Guria - Side of Georgia

Guria is a region in Georgia, in the western part of Country, bordered by the black sea in eastern. Look at the map:

This is guria on the map of Georgia

As for the etymology of the name of Guria, some say that the root of the word refers to restlessness and the word should mean “the land of the restless” and may be associated with events during the eighth and ninth centuries when “Leon became the King of Abkhazeti, Guruls refused to obey the ruler of Odzrakho, ceased their vassal relations with Adarnase and Ashot Bagrationi and united with Leon” as it was described in Vakhushti Bagrationi’s historical works of the eighteenth century.

According to a later explanation, in the times of Georgia’s prosperity, when its borders stretched from “Nikopsia to Daruband”, Guria was situated in the heart of the Georgian territory. The linguistic evidence for the above hypothesis is the Megrelian for “heart” – “guri”.
These photos are token in Guria:

Beautiful sight of Guria

Lake in Guria

River in Guria

Christian church in Guria

The toponym "Guria" is first attested in the c. 800 Georgian chronicle of Pseudo-Juansher.

Guria first appears c. 1352 as a fief of the house of Vardanidze-Dadiani; and after 1463 it became a sovereign principality independent of the Kingdom of Georgia under a branch of that house, known thereafter by the name of Gurieli. The principality, comprising modern Guria and much of Adjara with the city of Batumi, was subsequently reduced in size and devastated in a series of conflicts with the Ottoman Empire. A Russian protectorate was established by the treaty concluded on June 19, 1810 between the Gurieli Mamia V and the empire, and in 1829, during the regency for the last prince, the Gurieli David, the principality was annexed by Russia.

There were uprisings against Russian rule in 1819 and again in 1841. In 1840, Guria was made a county (uyezd) and renamed Ozurgeti, after one of its main towns. In 1846, it was transferred to the new Kutais Governorate. By 1904, the population was just under 100,000, occupying an area of approximately 532,000 acres (2,150 km2) of mountains and swampy valleys, covered by corn fields, vineyards, and some tea plantations. It was the most ethnically homogenous of Georgian areas, with the peasantry and lesser rural nobility making up almost the entire population, with a high level of literacy and relatively high degree of economic self-satisfaction. The peasant protest movement, which originated in 1902 and culminated in an open insurrection against the government during the Russian Revolution of 1905, was the most effective and organized peasant movement in the empire. The peasants’ self-government, the so-called Gurian Republic, survived into 1906, when it was crashed and Guria devastated by the Cossack punitive expedition. The region was a native powerbase of the Georgian Social Democratic (Menshevik) Party which dominated the Democratic Republic of Georgia from 1918 to 1921. Guria was a scene of guerrilla resistance to the militarily imposed Soviet rule early in the 1920s. Under the Soviet government, Guria was an agrarian area divided into three administrative districts. In 1995, the Georgian government decreed the creation of the region (mkhare) of Guria, restoring the province’s historical name to official usage.

Some of information is taken from wikipedia, the url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guria

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Svaneti - Side of Georgia

The landscape of Svaneti is dominated by mountains that are separated by deep gorges. This is resort of winter, good place for skiers. Here comes many tourists, there is beautiful sights of mountains in svaneti. Also there are old towers built by svani (people who live in svaneti). Look at these photos...

There is part of Georgian history. There still live people in svaneti. They have reserved their culture. You will be surprised when You will see people wears their traditional clother. Almost all sides of Georgia have their selectable clothes, they look so different to each other.

There are towers of Svaneti. This is important part of worlds history. These towers was build for self-defence from enemies. There is gun shooting place at the top of tower. 

the svans are usually identified with the soanes monitone by Greek eographer Strabo, who placed them more or less in the area still occupied by the modern-day svans

This is mountin by named Ushguli. The height oof ushguli is 2,100 meters from the level of the sea.

Te Ushguli villages contain buildings that are part of  UNESCO Heritage site of Upper Svaneti

The Svans, the indigenous population of Svanetia, are ethnic subgroup of the Georgians. Until the 1930s, Mingrelians and Svans had their own census grouping, but were classified under the broader category of Georgian thereafter. They are Georgian Orthodox Christians, and were Christianized in the 4th-6th centuries. However, some remnants of old paganism have been maintained. Saint George (known as Jgëræg to the locals), a patron saint of Georgia, is the most respected saint. The Svans have retained many of their old traditions, including blood revenge. Their families are small, and the husband is the head of his family. The Svan really respect the older women in families.[citation needed]

Typically bilingual, they use both Georgian and their own, unwritten Svan language, which together with the Georgian, Mingrelian, and Laz languages constitute the South Caucasian or Kartvelian language family. The Svan language is endangered and is being largely replaced by Georgian.

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