17/5/22
So today I went to a local bakery and got a pastry and a coffee and sat in a small park to eat my breakfast. Then I went back to the hostel to meet the owner (Charlie from Leeds), who was going to give me a tour of Tbilisi. We got the bus across the river and all the way through Tbilisi North West. We stocked up on food and then got a cable car over a beautiful canyon and walked back around an artsy, but abandoned-looking office block and over a suspension bridge. Then we got another cable car up to Turtle Lake. We walked a bit and then stopped at a viewpoint and chatted. Around 5pm, we started heading back as I needed to get my stuff and move AGAIN! I was staying with a girl from Couchsurfing – she seemed very cool from her profile, so hopefully it would be a positive first experience!!
After grabbing my stuff and getting another bus across town, I found Gabriel’s apartment, but only after going into a completely random apartment block first!! We had tea and chatted and then ordered falafel. Gabby seemed very nice and chill so all was well!
18/5/22
Today I had a chilled morning. I drank coffee, played guitar and fussed the cat (radical for me, since I’m one, not a big cat person, and two, quite allergic!). Around noon, I headed to my fave coffee shop, Plantlovers for a breakfast carrot cake and a flat white 😋. Then I went to meet a girl from the Facebook group Host a Sister. We were going on a day out together.
After some confusion about where exactly to meet, I met Melissa, who was also British. We got the metro, then a bus and then roamed around Tbilisi Sea (a lake), before heading to Tbilisi Sea Club, which I was keen to go to. We got divine fresh pink lemonade and I ordered brushetta. We chilled, chatted and swam, as well as lying on a big float in the lake. It was glorious.
Around 17.30, we left and walked back to the bus stop and went our separate ways back home. By the time I arrived back at Gabby’s, it was nearly time to go out to meet her pals for dinner. We taxied to the square and met them outside the falafel place we had eaten from the night before. The others got falafel, Gabby a maccies and I got a McFlurry and ate my salad left over from the day before. We sat in the square eating and chatting. Two of the others were teachers and one worked in an office for an NGO – they were nice. Around 10pm, we headed home. Gabby offered for me to stay an extra night if I wished so she could help me plan the rest of my trip. This was fab, as I wanted to stay another day anyway and had planned to move to a hostel.
19/5/22
My last day in Tbilisi (for now at least!). I said bye to the cat (Gabby had already left for work) and headed out for the day, stopping for breakfast in a local cafe on the way. I got a cheese kachapuri and a coffee. There was a table of four Georgian men, who came in, ordered two litres of beer at 11am, shared it all between them, and left within ten minutes. One took another two litre bottle for the road. Ew.
I headed to the sulphur baths passing by a beautiful mosque with blue mosaic tiles on the way. It took me awhile to find the public sulphur baths with a bath as well as just a shower and after going round nearly all of them, an old Georgian lady walked me up the street and made a cross sign with her arms. The baths were right next to a street sign with a cross! The building itself was not fancy, like the other ones in the main square. It looked like a run down leisure centre! I went in, paid for the baths and a scrub and went into the women’s baths. I started changing into my bikini, when the old women that worked there all said ‘no’. Apparently I was to go in completely naked! They also made me take off ALL of my jewellery: ten rings, a bracelet and earrings. I wasn’t sure why, but apparently its because the sulphur makes silver turn black! The ladies had my back!
I went in and was told to first shower. All around me, there were old Georgian women showering and scrubbing themselves. After my shower, I was told to go in the bath and wait. It was nice and warm. After a bit, one of the old ladies that worked there came in to scrub me. Of course she was also entirely naked! What an experience!! I sat on a tiled bed and she began her work first on my arms – lots of black stuff came off as she scrubbed! Then I lay down and she did my front. I told her to avoid my dog bite scab which she did luckily as the scrubbing was very vigorous and definitely would have pulled off the scab again! It smelt of vinegar – apparently it is a very good scrub along with a rough mitt. After the front, she told me to turn and she did my back. The whole thing was probably done in ten minutes – very efficient!! I felt rather clean! I went to sit in the bath again while she hosed herself down, ensuring she had none of my skin left on her. I watched a lady shave her pits and another lady clip her toenails, all in the public baths!! So wild!! Women free and unbothered by their nudity and each other. What a place to be! After succeeding to wash my hair and not pass out in the very hot and steamy baths, I headed to Cafe Frieda and caught up with Bonnie on the phone with a fresh lemonade.
I headed to the Botanical Gardens afterwards, which did not seem very botanical but were quite green and had a pretty river and a couple of nice waterfalls. After a wander and a pause by the waterfall, I headed to see the Mother of Georgia statue before racing the storm trying to get down to the bottom of the hill. Of course, I got caught in the rain!! I stopped for a coffee along the way before heading back to Gabby’s. We ordered noodles and Pho, chatted and Gabby helped me plan my trip. Then we watched a film together before calling it a night.
wanderingwelshie travels 