Georgia (the country)

My intro to Georgia was from the middle front seat of a shuttle van, sitting next to a chain-smoking Armenian. I was very ready to get out of the car and decided to walk the fifteen minutes to my hotel. However, I forgot about the heat and when I finally arrived, I was a sweaty mess. I got some Thai food at the place next door to the hotel and recovered for the rest of the night.

This is a typical look in Tblisi. Lovely architecture with a sprinkling of graffiti and chipped paint.

Tbilisi’s Walking Tour

I took a walking tour of Tbilisi the next morning. This was focused mainly on Old Town, which was convenient because that is where I stayed and Tbilisi is big with 1.3 million residents.

Here are the highlights of the tour:

A cool church perched on a hill. At this point this week, I had seen a whole lot of churches. But what made this one unique was that during the Soviet times, it had been turned into a prison where none other than Mr. Joseph Stalin himself was a state ordered resident. A funny note about Stalin: I never heard any Georgians talk trash about him. They talked plenty about Russia, but he seems to have gotten a pass. Weird.

Former prison…I’ve seen worse!

A gondola ride up a mountain to the Mother of Georgia statue. This is an impressive metal statue that teaches us to be welcoming, but also have a weapon in case your guests get rowdy. Smart lady.

See her shining like justice on the hill?

An Alice-in-Wonderland building. Every day there is a little puppet show here that sounds a bit like a mechanized cuckoo clock. Sadly, we missed seeing it and I forgot to go back at a later day.
Bridge of Peace: a glass pedestrian bridge that residents are divided on. Some like it and some say it resembles a maxi pad. Ha!
Another church, but honestly, I can’t remember what was unique about this one…
Georgian cheese pastry and lemonade. I’m glad I tried these, but I wouldn’t want either of them again. There is a different version of the bread that I accidentally tried earlier that day, thinking I was getting cinnamon apple and instead getting bean paste. There are many flavors or this type of lemonade, none of which are made with lemons. I had one that tasted like black licorice (tarragon), one that tasted like bubble gum (pear), and one that tasted like grapes (grape). I think these are just the bottled versions of soda. At two restaurants I had very refreshing flavored lemonade like I am used to, so I never knew what I was gonna get when I ordered.

Lemonade that is not lemonade. Maybe that’s what that writing says…

After the tour I was really hot and needed to go recover in front of the AC.

Kazbegi

Kazbegi is the nickname of a mountain area in Georgia. The actual town we stayed in was Stepantsminda, but it is much easier to say Kazbegi. I took a two-day tour that stayed overnight in Kazbegi. Fortunately for me, a cute little Singaporean gal was on the same tour and stayed at the same hotel, so we became besties.

I suspect this cow is happier than cows in California.

The Tour

Our tour took us to a monastery on a lake used for drinking water. It was very pretty and unlike other monasteries I went to, this one also was a fortress. I climbed around the remaining walls and enjoyed the view from the tower. We next stopped so people could paraglide in a stunning canyon, but having done this before I opted out. My friend did it and said it was very relaxing, if a little dull. Ha!

This place was soooooo pretty.

We arrived in our town and went to up the mountain to the famed St. Grigor monastery. This is a very dramatic view because the church is high up some seriously impressive mountains. We couldn’t take our short bus to the top, instead we climbed into one of the ubiquitous Mitsubishi Dacias which is basically a four-by-four minivan. At the top I marveled at how beautiful it was. For dinner we ate some traditional Georgian fare and I think compared to the Armenian and Greek food, it wasn’t my favorite. Not bad, though. Definitely better than a lot of countries.

Horseback riding

The next morning the two of us went horseback riding. Having been friends with B for years, I have had several horseback riding experiences. This one was pretty tame. We spent 97% of the time on the road and the guide walked beside us. I did impress my friend who hasn’t been on a horse before because I could get up and down without a problem. She told me I looked like a cowboy girl. 🤠

We passed a bunch of other horses roaming free; I don’t think they were really wild, but who knows. They definitely added to the aesthetic. That morning we could see the craggy tops of the mountains, which was super pretty.

My horse wasn’t terribly interested in these horses. I think mine just wanted to get back to its barn and eat lunch.

Hike

After our riding, we went on a hike to a waterfall with a couple other ladies plus our guide and his dad, who also happened to own the hotel we stayed at. They were super friendly and nice. The hike went up the mountain for about 30 minutes and ended close enough to a big waterfall that we were sprayed by the mist. It felt wonderful after being hot during the hike. While we lingered at the top a group of boisterous Georgians joined us, carrying a big Georgia flag. One teenage boy asked me if I wanted to take a picture, which I assumed meant I took a picture of him, but the next thing I knew, a lady was taking a picture of me, the American lady, with the boys. Ha! I felt like a rock star.

We hiked to the waterfall that poured into this river.

Thunder started at that point, so we skedaddled on back down the mountain. We got a little rained on, but the downpour started once we were in the van. So much water fell that the bridge had about a foot of standing water. Then it was all gone and the sun came out again!

Return to Tblisi

After an action packed morning and afternoon, we hoped in another van and went back to Tbilisi. This one had lots more people on it and the only seats were a group of four facing the guide. I felt responsible to talk to him since he was right there. I learned that 20 years ago, if we would have visited the town we would have been robbed or killed. The locals became more welcoming once they realized the money they could make off tourists. Now, I’m not sure I believe that as death and robbery seem very extreme, but I’m glad I came when I did instead. Fun fact: we could see Russia and a Russian-occupied mountain from where we stayed. Yikes.

Our guide told us that mountain is Georgian land Russia is currently occupying. I didn’t feel the need to get any closer.

Sulphur bath

On our Tblisi walking tour we went past the sulphur bath section of town (Tbilisi means warm waters) so I decided to make a reservation for the day I got back from the mountains.

My hammam was in the cool blue building.

I have done hammams in Morocco, Turkey, Spain, and now Georgia. Each time had its own style, so I never really know the protocol. Generally speaking, you soak in hot water for a while and then a lady comes in and exfoliates your skin with a special scratchy hand towel. Is it awkward? Sure is! Especially when you accidentally signed up for a couples room with your bestie, B. In Spain, the lady was very vigorous and took off the top layer of my skin. Ouch. But here, in Georgia, things went just right. I reserved a private room and the lady exfoliated the dead skin and left the living skin in tact. I would totally go to hammams at home if they had them. You feel amazing afterwards.

My private room. Much better than public.

Tblisi review

Tblisi reminded me a bit of Bucharest. You could tell she used to be a grande lady, but the shine has worn off over the decades. There is cool architecture but the paint is peeling and it looks a little rough in places. Throw in some communist gray cement buildings and you get quite the historical soup. I do prefer a little grit to shiny glam, though, so I would definitely come back here.

Tblisi had several cool murals like this.

Visiting Kazbegi was my favorite part of visiting Georgia. Well, tied with the hammam. It is a gorgeous area with steep mountains and green mountain sides, sprinkled with wildflowers. Some of my favorite things.