Shkhara! Shkhara!

Shkhara may sound like everyone’s favourite Colombian pop star, but it is actually the highest peak in Georgia. At 5,193m, it is also the second highest peak in Europe, only just behind Russia’s Mount Elbrus, which is over the border. One would have thought that the Greater Caucasus would have kept the Russians out, but no. This photograph shows Shkhara bathed in alpenglow and looming over the 9th century church of Lamaria – the end of the road at Ushguli, Europe’s highest village and bastion of the Svans.