I am a qualified nurse who has worked in the NHS for the last five years. Pre-covid, I would travel whenever I could, whenever I had a few days off together. For the past two years, I have not travelled at all (like most if the world) but now I have quit my job in order for me to travel freely for awhile. I have always been passionate about travel from a young age and was lucky enough to have gone abroad with my family as a kid. Here I will write about my experiences and observations in various places.
After arriving back in Mestia, we checked when the next marshutka was and discover it was in twenty minutes or so. We got a taxi to take us back to our guest house so we could grab our stuff and agreed with the marshutka that they would pick us up on route from our guest house. We swapped numbers in case anything went wrong, which to me seemed a little excessive, since there was one road out of Mestia which the marshutka would have to take. We got to the main road on time, loaded up with our big rucksacks and proceeded to wait around forty minutes with no marshutka in sight. After awhile, we decided we needed to go back into Mestia to see what had happened and to get our money back, since we had agreed to pay ‘half now, half later’. Paulo wanted to walk, but it was 3km, my bag was heavy and my legs tired. I wanted to hitchhike.
We tried a car which drove on past and then a pick up which stopped and waved us into the back! We hauled our bags over the side and then climbed on up. We stood up in the back, holding on to the top of the roof of the driver’s cabin. When we arrived, we thanked the guys and went back to the bus stop. The driver was there chilling and when we went over to him, he looked sheepish. He said there were not enough passengers to go and noone had thought to tell us. It seemed that the phone numbers they had given us had been incorrect so when I was ringing to see where the bus was, noone would say anything. He gave us our money back and we went to a different marshutka place. We ended up leaving finally at 4pm, instead of 2pm, but this was okay as we still make it to a real city before dark! We had to wait on a country lane in the valley while a digger cleared a recent landslide off the road! We stopped halfway and got the UNESCO meat bread, kubdari, before continuing on to reach Zugdidi.
Our guest house in Zugdidi was just around the corner from the bus station and it was glorious when we arrived, comfy, clean, white beds, with a nice, shiny bathroom. What heaven! We showered, chilled and drank free coffee – ideal!
A strange house near the bus station
8/6/22
Today was basically a move day, but since we had done a lot of our journey the day before, first we were going for brunch. Paulo found a pancake house, which seemed to be the best breakfast place in the area so we went there and had great savoury pancakes filled with ham, cheese, lettuce and others bits. I got an iced coffee with ice cream in it because YOLO (yep, I’m bringing it back!) and then we went to grab our bags before heading to the bus station. The bus was leaving within the hour so we waited roadside. We tried to get a coffee but there was nowhere close by. Instead I sat on a step and random street dogs came to collect love off me. There were three dogs sitting around me at one point!!
Just another cute street dog!
When we got to Batumi, we went straight to our Airbnb to dump our stuff before heading out. Our place had a balcony overlooking a fancy park so we decided to roam that way and see what was about. After all the hiking and bussing about the last few days, I was ready for a nice drink! We walked through the park and along the beachfront until we found a rooftop bar with fairy lights. SOLD! Up we went! I ordered a margarita (of course) and Paulo an aperol spritz (bloody Italians🤣) and then we got some foodie bits. We sat and chatted and joked about since my margarita was fairly big and apparently also fairly strong and made me silly. Afterwards, we walked back via Carrefour and bought wine for the balcony and breakfast.
We arrived in Svaneti and the bus stopped to allow us to get out and take some photos. Then we continued on to Mestia where the bus terminated. On route, I realised our guest house was before Mestia and when I asked the bus to stop, the driver said ‘no stop, no stop’, because he thought I wanted to stop just for photos. I told him ‘no, finish’ and he let us off! We walked down a narrow lane to our guesthouse with barking dogs and a cow with her calf completely blocking the way. Eventually the cow moved after the calf ran off and we were able to get through to face the barking dogs waiting inside the garden of the guest house. They barked a lot and ran at us in a maybe friendly maybe not way to the point that the owner three stones at them! I wasn’t sure how we would leave the house again!! We had a dinner of hot chocolate and chocolate cake and went to bed.
5/6/22
Mestia to Adishi
Today was going to be a longggg day. We had decided to do two days of hike over one day so we were doing 21km with plenty of climb which would take up to ten hours. Luckily, we didn’t have to worry about light since it was summer! We set off after a good guest house breakfast around 08.30. We reached Mestia around 09.30 which was a cute but mainly closed town, since it was not peak season yet. We walked through the town and along through some woods past a ski lift. The views were already pretty!! We rejoined the road for a bit, crossed a strongggg river which was running over the road, and while it was shallow, it sprayed all the way up to our knees when we crossed since it was so strong! We were glad to have taken our shoes off for the occasion!! Later we saw two biiiig bulls rigged up to pull a tree along!!
We past a church before we reached our lunch village. We went to Maia’s, the recommended guest house and asked for lunch. Lunch was soup, bread, and salad, though everything seemed to be shop bought not made. Afterwards we had a coffee before paying up. We had not asked the price before since Georgia is a very safe place and not generally a place for scams, however she had charged us double what we paid for the glorious lunch at the riverside (and when I looked later, the same cost as two of her guest rooms – cheeky bugger!). We paid without a fight and left (£10 poorer!). There was a friendly dog in the guest house who the lady said could come on our walk if we wanted. I didn’t mind but when we opened the gate, the dog ran out and that was that. We had a dog now. Paulo named him Luca and off we went up the hill with various street dogs following us/Luca. Once we got up the hill high enough, the other dogs went back to the village. We past a line of goats, including baby ones which were very cute, and we stopped to look down over the valley. I filled my water bottle in a nearby stream with leeches on the rocks – eeeeep!
We made a few stops on the way to admire the view, including a stop overlooking Russia’S Mt Elbrus and a closed for summer ski resort, but eventually, we made it to Adishi, where we would spend the night. We walked down the valley and noticed many stone towers in the village. Apparently, they were for making sure they had no Russian invaders!! There was a man waiting for us at the edge of the village who had clearly seen us coming down the mountain. He offered us his guest house and we accepted having already negotiated the price. They welcomed us and even Luca the dog onto their veranda and we drank black tea with fresh mint while they prepared us dinner. After I had showered, dinner was ready. We had kachapuri made fresh with homemade cheese they had made with milk from their cows and soup with noodles, Georgian bread, tomato and cucumber salad and spiced beef kebab. At some point in dinner, a different man within the family had gone out to find Luca right outside the door and had shooed him away. After dinner, we had another tea before I headed to bed. We both tried to look for Luca but to no avail. He had not eaten and we were worried about him!! We had saved some kachapuri for him so hopefully, he would show up!
6/6/22
Adishi to Iprari
Today was the peak day of the trip, the highlight of the trek – not that we knew since we hadn’t really researched it too much, we thought it was going to be a chilled low level river walk. How wrong we were!!
After breakfast, we were getting ready to leave when our host asked if we were carrying on to Ushguli, which we were. He said he could organise a horse for us to cross the river on since it was too high and far too strong to cross on foot. I had heard something about crossing a melting glacier at the right time else it was impossible and figured this was it. The melting glacier must feed the river. We agreed to the horses, thanked him and told him we will pay the money to the man with the horse. As we left the guest house, we were trying to look for Luca again. We found him at the very edge of the village, waiting for us under cover of a barn. He howled and jumped on both of us when he saw us. He was so tall and strong when he was on his hind legs, nearly toppled over with my rucksack on! We were relieved to see him. We fed him kachapuri and off we went.
We walked along the main river, but also over many streams until we saw a meadow of wild flowers with insaaaaane mountains in the back as well as rough snow. It looked soooo beautiful. Next to the meadow was the gushing river with the horses waiting. There were already some other hikers there trying to find a way across the river without the horse as they didn’t want to pay the £12.50 for two people for a two minute crossing. We weren’t messing about with a raging river and crossed on horseback right away. Poor Luca was beside himself, barking at us on the horses as he didn’t know how to cross the river. We were worried for him. As Paulo came across on horseback and we were both on the opposite side, Luca started running across the river before getting swept up in its strong current. The river was trying to drown him, and yet he kept ion with his mission to cross half swim/running, half drowning. We were very relieved when Luca arrived to us, a wet, stinky dog on the other side! What a victory!! Eventually the hikers followed on horseback. We stopped to chat with an Israeli couple who were drinking coffee riverside – they had their own coffee stove with them – and then we continued on, upwards. I drank some water and noticed that a leech s mincing around inside my water bottle – how delightful! We reached an insaaane viewpoint of the rough snowy area between mountains which was apparently Adishi Glacier, as the Israelis later told us when they came up. They had binoculars and let us look at the glacier and its waterfalls up close with them. Then we carried on.
As we continued up the mountain, it started getting snowy, first in patches and then whole streaks. It got to a point that the path became narrow with icy snow underfoot and a steep drop on the right hand side. Since it had come on suddenly, we were not prepared. It appeared to go on sometime and I was not happy about it. Initially, I thought it was unsafe and we shouldn’t do it. The damn dog kept sitting down in the middle of the icy path and he wouldn’t budge which meant I had to try and climb over him with my biiig rucksack into unknown icy territories. It was at this point that I thought I couldn’t carry on, but Paulo encouraged me. After that, I got in the zone – if Luca could do the raging river, I could do a cliff edge icy glacier, it was all good! I could see a guy scrambling about in front and figured we were all in the same boat. We edged along, with at least one hand holding the snow on the left, cautiously stepping forward, waiting to see if our next step would cause us to be knee deep in snow, as the glacier was slowly melting. Since everything was snowy, you could not see where our mission would end, but at some point we saw people standing about in a circle. They smiled and told us what t was grand where they were. A few minutes later, we joined them. Ohhh, the relief!! We were alive, and we hadn’t required mountain rescue – what a success. As we chatted to the others, the Israeli couple arrived behind us. The larger group left and the Israelis offered us coffee. We accepted – how could we not after such an ordeal?!
The guy took snow and put it into his little pot for the coffee. We got chatting again. The couple, Naomi and Leon, had come to Georgia to get married, since getting married in a non-religious ceremony was not an option in Israel. They had come to do a post-wedding hike before settling into some luxury in a fancy hotel for a few nights before flying home. They had special Israeli coffee, which was an Arabic special, cardamon coffee. It was delicious. After our coffee stop, we thanked our new friends and continued on. No doubt we would see then again later!
Thankfully, we were heading down to pastures green on a regular stoney path. What luxury!! As we got to the bottom of the valley and walked along, we saw many waterfalls – at one point, I could see seven all at the same time! It was insanely pretty!! We stopped and sat awhile to enjoy the views. We crossed more streams and saw some waterfalls where the waterfall flowed under the snow somehow creating a kind of snow cave! We had been hiking a long time and to ensure we got to our final destination happy, we stopped one village before for a drink and some sugar. We ended up with homemade red wine and a Snickers, which fit the bill surprisingly well! Of course, the Israelis were also there and we chatted again, before they left in a taxi to their slice of luxury and we walked to the next village, an hour away.
We arrived, found a guesthouse, Luca had a fight with one of the dogs of the house and then we went in, after the owner broke up the dog fight. The other dogs were put inside and Luca was given a corner of the garden. We rested, showered and waited for dinner. We had a simple dinner with the usual soup, kachapuri and bread and then went to sleep almost straight away.
7/6/22
Iprari to Ushguli
Today was meant to take just over four hours and we hoped that we would be able to get a marshutka back to Mestia, if not all the way back to Zugdidi so that getting to the beach the following day wouldn’t be such a painful journey! To try and achieve this, we had a 6.30am breakfast and a 7am start. We sat by a stove for breakfast, which they used to bake fresh bread. It was very warm!! We collected Luca from his spot in the garden, gave him a Georgian breakfast of kachapuri and bread before we left.
We headed down another valley and passed through a village. Then the path went through a gate which had been locked up. Paulo went over barbed wire and Luca tried to follow and got some fur ripped out he whimpered and backed away. I decided to go over piled up wood and a corrugated iron fallen down fence. Luca followed, unhappy. We reached another village overs the hills only to be barked at aggressively by vicious dogs. Initially it was okay, as they were behind a fence but soon they had jumped the fence and were attacking Luca. Of course Luca fought back. It was terrifying. We retraced our steps prontissimo!! Why are all Georgian dogs so darn big?! No delicate pointysnouts here, no no! All square jaws perfect for attacking! After rerouting via a very nettle veg patch, we avoided the dogs’ house and headed for another part of the village only to be met by the biggest dog I’ve ever seen! It scrambled over a ladder style just to fight Luca, and on the barking, the dogs from the original house also joined in the fight. As soon as the dog came over the style, I ran over it fast as I could and ran into the village. There were two women and an old man with a stick int he lane. I ran towards them. The huge dog returned (afyer struggling back over the style) along with Luca and the others. They were all wild! I’m not proud to say that I hid behind the old man while he wielded his stick at the dogs. He told us that the path we needed was the same direction as the wild dogs which I was not pleased about. He helped us past and waved us in the direction of the path. Once the other dogs had abandoned Luca, of course there was a bull blocking the path we needed. We scrambled up the hill to avoid trying to navigate around a bull. Stress levels were high – would the dogs come for round three, or would the bull decide to chase us?
Once we had crossed a few streams and reached a high meadow, we stopped for a breather and to enjoy the view. Then we continued up and down winding around the side of hills and through woods, looking across to the other side of the valley to see snow-topped mountains. We reached the road and picked up another dog. We had to navigate through a herd of cows that we completely blocking the road. There was also a bull and calves, and now, we had two dogs in tow – ideal!! Our newbie dog behaved impeccably while Luca barked at one of the calves last minute and all of the cows turned to look at us!! Luckily we had already past through them! After the cows, we crossed a small stream over the road where there was a massive dog with a massive head and therefore a massive jaw – his head was bigger than mine!! There was a guy near the dog who waved at us and told us not to worry about the huge beast, but we knew Luca wouldn’t like him. Of course, seconds later, Luca went for him and the man spent his time trying to break the dogs apart with a stick. Luca ran towards us while fighting (as he always does) and I went to hide behind a car! The man held the huge beast while we coaxed Luca away!!
We headed for the next village dreading the thought of the next batch of dogs waiting to pounce. Of course, it didn’t take long for more dogs to jump over fences and follow Luca. Paulo walked with Luca as bait and I stayed a ‘safe’ distance behind with the new, chilled dog. Paulo had a stick and had to beat the floor in front of the wild dogs and Luca. There were at least four dogs in that pack. After escaping through them, we decided to re-route around the final village to avoid surprise dogs! We reached the cute village of Ushguli tired but pleased. We found a marshutka to take us back and requested twenty minutes to sit and eat cake before we left. We went to a small cafe with hugeee cakes and a gorgeous tiny puppy, which even Luca didn’t take a dislike to, before getting in the van and heading for Mestia, leaving Luca in Ushguli, forlorn, watching us drive away.
We somehow managed to stop the marshutka exactly where we wanted it to stop, at a random point on the main road, at the correct turn for our hostel – hoorah! We got off and walked through the rural village to our hostel. The hostel was beautiful. It was an old traditional Georgian house which had been renovated wonderfully. We chilled on a terrace in hammocks and chatted. We were meant to go out for food, but I was used to Tbilisi’s city time and by the time we wanted to go out at 20.45, the restaurant kitchen was closing. The hostel owner offered to cook for us, but since neither of us were that hungry, we opted for only wine and returned to the hammocks!
Hostel dog Madonna greeted us!!
3/6/22
We had a glorious breakfast at the hostel before deciding to hitchhike around for the day, to the canyons and waterfalls Martvili had to offer. A Belgian guy who was volunteering in the hostel, told us it was easy so we figured we’d try! It took us two cars for a car to stop and take us to the first canyon – what a winner!! It was three guys and the driver drove crazily, racing round every tight bend – we were glad when we had arrived at the canyon! We thanked them and went on our way!!
After speaking to people at the main canyon and with advice from the hostel owner, we decided to skip it and walked down the road to a quieter one that was not marked on the map. When we arrived it was pretty quiet, a group of teens and us. It was beautiful. We swam straight away, shocked by the icy cold rushing river. Afterwards we lay about on the rocks basking in the sun rays before having a last swim (and pose) before heading onwards.
We walked a little way past a dam and then to the turn thay we needed to take off the main road and then hitchhiked again, with the aim of reaching a waterfall. First a man drove us up until his home and then we walked past a school before a kind lady stopped her lift home from work (she was a teacher) to give us a ride. She got out at her house, which looked a whole lot like Miss Honey’s cottage on Matilda. Paulo wanted to take a photo and I noticed it was a guesthouse. I asked if she did food and she said she did. She gave us a tour of her guesthouse, which was beautiful and reminded me of the traditional homes in St Fagan’s! Then we ordered and she got to work making bread from scratch. She said she would be awhile since she was making everything fresh and suggested we go and swim in the river at the bottom of her garden in the mean time. We walked through a meadow down to the river to find not a single soul and a clean, if fast flowing river. We swam, chilled on sunny rocks and floated down the river with the current. Then we dressed back up for lunch. Lunch was quite a spread and was glorious!
After lunch, we walked to another canyon and then to a waterfall. We sat and gazed into the falling flow of the water a long while before walking along the river as far as we could and then getting a coffee. We got a lift with the owners of the coffee shop as far as they were going before walking and trying to hitchhike the rest of the way back. It would take us three hours to walk the whole way back! Hopefully, we would have some luck!! There were not so many cars on the road as it was around 19.00 and most of the cars which were, were full. Eventually we got another two cars to eventually reach Martvili town. One guy even swapped cars at the canyon and then took us to the town just to be nice before turning back to where he was going!
In the town, we bought drinks and snacks before walking the last few kilometres home – what a day!! We arrived home around 9pm, having missed dinner for the second day in a row! We got a litre of wine and chilled in the hammocks for our final night in the beautiful Karma Hostel.
4/6/22
Today was moving day again. We had a final glorious breakfast – I tried the homemade Spanish spinach tortilla which was yummy. Afterwards, we got our things and walked to the main road to try and get to Zugdidi. Our plan was to hitchhike there after getting the ‘hitchhike bug’ the day before!! Initially, nearly all the cars were turning off the main road, so none of them stopped for us. Others were full and other drivers just shook their heads. We were not hopeful. A marshutka eventually came past and took us to the next town. From there, we continued to hitchhike. An old man took us to his house in the middle of nowhere, where all of his dogs greeted us enthusiastically! We thought we would struggle to get our next ride from there but then two guys on their twenties stopped in a beat-up banger and gave us a lift to a fort (also past where they were going!). From there we walked over a bridge and to a straight patch of road where an old man stopped for us and drove us to the bus stop in the next town, where we could get a marshutka to Zugdidi. We stopped a couple of times for him to drop bread off at various houses and he also gave us a bottle of chacha (local alcohol 70%!) to be friendly. What a guy!
From there to Zugdidi it was plain sailing and then we waited maybe an hour for the next marshutka to leave to Svaneti. In this time, we ran around the market and bought hiking stuff – I bought a fishing coat (since they had no regular raincoats), and Paulo bought grippy trainers and a sunhat. We got cheese pastries before leaving for Svaneti.
The bus was absolutely packed out!! 16 people for 13 seats and 3 fold out ones! Full House! We stopped halfway for a food stop and tried the famous Kubdari (meat bread) offered to us by the bus drivers – it was pretty nice! Traditionally, kubdari was made with weed as well as meat and herbs and therefore has got its own UNESCO status!
When I arrived in my hostel, after a bit of a faffy check-in, I was asked if I wanted to join a wine tour with a sulphur hot springs. Since my day had been filled with travel, I decided to go for it to brighten my day! Back on the road I went!!
We arrived at a beautiful family run vineyard an hour later, had a tour of the land at sunset, before settling down to a big Georgian dinner with lots of different wines to try. The sun made the vineyard glow golden and it was really beautiful!! At dinner, there was a new toast for each new wine, each toast got longer than the previous – apparently long toasts are traditional in Georgia! Also on the tour was the hostel owner (an Italian), a British/German couple, a Dutch guy, a Russian guy, who also served as our translator for the wine tour (and toasts!), and an awful Italian man, who loved the sound of his own voice!! It was a fun night even with the awful Italian!!
After dinner, the Russian guy, David played some piano before we got back in our car and drove quite some time to a hot spring at the end of a very long dark track!! It was pitch black there and the stars were amazing!! The baths were also nice and hot, but they stank of egg because of the sulphur!! After getting in, I remembered I still had ALL my silver still on (ten rings!), but by the time I looked down, they were all already black due to the sulphur – too late!! The other girl, British Caitlin and I got an unfortunate amount of attention purely for being female and we laughed at the fact that every time we switched which pool we sat in, a group of Georgian men also switched – oh, the power of the woman!! I was glad to be there with other chill guys from the hostel!! After a hot hour or so, lounging and star gazing – we even saw shooting stars – we headed home to the hostel. A good night!!
30/5/22
After a communal hostel breakfast, I rang my mum for a catch up. Sadly, it was shorter than intended since I had made plans to go out with some of the other hostel folk and they were going sooner than I thought! We were going to Tskaltubo, an abandoned Soviet spa town, which had been recommended to me by Gabby. I went with a British girl I had met at breakfast, Zola, and two guys Nathaniel and Kilian, one Swiss, one German.
We got a taxi there before roaming around. There were many once-fancy buildings, all dilapidated and now forgotten. We went into one and walked through it, heading for the roof. There was some sketchy bits of walking on corrugated metal roof in my shitty no-grip trainers, but we all made it in one piece, with only minor stress from me!! Afterwards, we tried to go to another building, but the locals had clearly cottoned on to the fact that backpackers liked to come to visit the old spa town and tried to charge us an entry fee to a building that was not theirs. We turned around and instead got snacks and went to sit in a park and chatted.
We gained a friendly dog that followed us and ate some snacks. We moved to a different park by a lake before getting a marshutka back to Kutaisi. While we were walking towards the lake, the dog that had been following us joined another dog and ran at a babushka, biting at her shopping bag of food. She was short and old, but strong and she managed to keep hold of her bag while Nathaniel ran over, shouted and clapped to chase them away. The babushka kept on her way. What a turn of events!! Dogs are wild!!
Once back in Kutaisi, we bought dinner ingredients since the others were good at cooking while travelling and I bought wine. Then we wandered back through the town stopping for ice-cream on the way, passing by an abandoned water park, before eventually arriving home and collapsing on the sofa. Nathaniel and I didn’t move for two hours!! Then we showered, drank some wine before Zola kindly made us all dinner. We sat on the terrace and watched the sunset as we ate our pasta.
1/6/22
How is it June already?! Five months of travel has flown by!!
Today was going to be my last day in Kutaisi, so I needed to see the town itself. Zola also planned to go to the town so we went together along with a Russian guy. We wandered around the town with no real agenda and discovered a biiig local covered market as well as making it all the way to the monastery on the hill. Inside the monastery, they were doing some renovations!! After the monastery, we got lunch in a beautiful cafe with a terrace (of course!).
We parted ways with our Russian pal, when we headed in hunt of secondhand shops. Zola wanted tops and I really needed trainers with grip for my three day hike! I found trainers before we made it to the secondhand shops – got myself a pair of fake Nikes for a tenner!! Then we hit the secondhand shops which turned out to be a bit bizarre – they’ve got nothing on Harborne’s charity shops, that’s for sure!!! After the shops, we headed back to the hostel. I said my goodbyes and headed off to my new guesthouse. I was going to meet a friend, Paolo, I had met in Nepal, who had come from Armenia, and we were going to travel the last part of my Georgia trip together.
The guest house was cute, with its own wine cellar and a cute courtyard. When Paulo arrived we drank wine in the courtyard before heading out for dinner in the recommended restaurant Palaty. We ate a lot of good food before heading home. We had both had long days!
2/6/22
Paolo had selected a brunch spot which we headed to for a fab Western breakfast and then we strolled back to our guest house through the park. There was a lot of bustle in the park, with various stalls and stages! Apparently, it was International Children’s Day! There were sports contests, easels for painting, stalls selling candyfloss and tat, and a stage for dancing and singing. We stayed to watch awhile. We watched traditional Georgian dance, which entails a lot of stamping and bells, some ballet, a few choirs as well as a couple of solo singers. One girl stood at the front and the backing track for Adele came on – I was nervous for her. She started pretty well, but I was still nervous for the chorus! The chorus came, and she absolutely killlllled it – wowwww! She should be scouted – mad pair of lungs for a young girl! When she finished she was cheered very loudly, and I was pleased that she walked through the crowds past me so I could tell her how fab she was!! We left after her performance – how could it be topped?!
We stopped by the market to get some food before grabbing our stuff from the guest house and getting a taxi to the marshutka. We didn’t have to wait long before we were on our way to Martvili!
Today was moving day. I’d already spent over a week total in Tbilisi and it was time to see something different. I headed from Didube bus station to Kazbegi, the second highest mountain in the area after Elbrus in Russia. I tried to find better hiking shoes in the market since the grip on my trainers has long since worn away. I had no luck and headed to my shared taxi to leave. It was a taxi full of girls and we set off stopping to see a monastery beside a beautiful reservoir, a Russian – Georgian friendship mosaic with a great view, and of course, for hundreds of sheep being shepherded down the road. One of the girls in the taxi was also solo and started talking to me. We exchanged numbers and decided to meet for dinner in the evening.
When we arrived in Kazbegi (Stepantsminda), I went to ditch my stuff in my guest house before going for a walk along the valley to the next village. It was very pretty, if industrial in parts, and I was surprised to find a natural spring pool for swimming. I didn’t opt for it since one, I did not have my swimmers and two, I was alone. There was a couple with a van enjoying the pool though – it looked refreshing!
I met my new friend, Natalie, (a Ukrainian who’s office had relocated her to Georgia a week before the war), at a recommended local restaurant. It had a great view of Kazbegi mountain from the terrace. We drank wine, chatted, ate and drank more wine. At some point, the owner came to wrap us in fleece blankets since it got pretty chilly at night!! After dinner, we headed to Natalie’s terrace for another wine and chocolate with a different view of Kazbegi. The hotel had a supply of blankets which we used all of! I headed home in one of the blankets at around 22.30 since I had a biiiiig hike planned for the next day!
28/5/22
I got up early and ate my breakfast I had bought the day before, before leaving the guest house at 08.30 – not a bad effort I thought!! I hoped to reach the glacier next to Kazbegi, but it was early in the season so I was unsure how snowy it would be. Apparently, the hike took 7-9 hours so I figured if I allowed 10 hours, all should be well!
First I hiked up a valley past the famous Gergeti church, which is as much as most people see of Kazbegi! Bizarrely, although Georgia has amazing hiking, most people (Georgians and tourists alike) don’t hike. The majority of people drive or get a taxi to the church, which is an hour walk from the town, and nearly noone goes any closer to Kazbegi mountain!
I saw two girls going up, who disappeared after the first hill or so. Later, I chatted to a friendly Russian couple just as we met the snow line and since I was dressed without a coat, they were a little concerned for me and even offered me a hot drink!! On the way down I saw more walkers, an Israeli couple, a German couple and solo German guy, named Herman. The Israeli couple offered cookies around, which I obviously accepted (gratefully of course!), and I chatted to the German guy awhile since he was trying to figure out his Georgia route.
I returned to visit the church around 3pm to find it packed out. The view was nice, but obviously not as good as in the mountains. I walked back down the valley, stopping at the first cafe on the edge of the town for a tea and kachapuri. The guy spoke no English, but was very friendly and in the end, he was so keen that I tried his family wine, he gave me a large glass for free! It was nice for free wine, and the garden had a gorgeous view!
After showering and changing, I headed back out to meet Natalie for our second dinner date, and to return the blanket she had lent me the day before!! We ordered shashlil, Georgian kebabs with salad and bread, which was very tasty, and if course more homemade wine. Once the sun had gone down, we went our separate ways as I was very ready to sleep after a long day of being outdoors!!
29/5/22
I met Natalie early in Stepantsminda as we were going to travel back to Tbilisi together. Luckily, there was a marshutka about to leave as we got to the bus ‘station’. We grabbed a bakery breakfast before beginning our journey back. It was going to be a long day for me – once I arrived in Tbilisi, I would change buses and continue on to Kutaisi!
In Tbilisi, I said goodbye to Natalie and headed in search of my next bus. I found one and got in. We left within the hour. I arrived in Kutaisi a longggg while later, fed up of buses!!
Today I headed back to Tbilisi after a good breakfast at the guest house with fried egg on some sort of vermicelli noodles with homemade tomato sauce – strange but tasty. Frustratingly, we went the long way round to Tbilisi on the big road, which meant going nearly all the way back to Sighnaghi first, instead of going directly through the mountains.
When I returned to Tbilisi, I left my stuff in my hostel before heading back out. There was lots of preparation in the street – Georgia would celebrate Independence day the following day. I decided to extend my stay so I could celebrate Independence day too. Then I headed to Mtskheta, specifically Jvari Monastery at the top of the hill by Bolt taxi, so I could walk down again. The view of Mtskheta from the top was very nice with the meandering river cutting the mountains from the old city. There was also a huge church which could be seen from far and wide and a modern building which looked like teletubby hill which turned out to be the local police station!
IThe walk down was pretty, down through a valley and I met only one Georgian couple along the way. It was a little shorter than I would’ve liked to the town so I decoded to extend the route and cross the dual carriageway and then the river at the further point, not the closer one. This sounded like a good plan but after awhile, it started to feel like one of mine and Clare’s Birmingham walks in which we use a route that noone has used in years and there’s evidence of fly-tipping and industrial bits and pieces! I continued past various paraphernalia to a farm before heading down to the river crossing. There were many fishermen sat on either side of the fishing but sadly the bridge was no more, having been washed away by the river at some point. After trying to find a different way across, I turned back defeated and had to add another 5km on my walk to go back to the original route. I stopped at a converted old bus to get a takeaway coffee before making it all the way around, under the road and finally to a bridge that was still functional. On the bridge I met a friendly fisherman and we started talking both in our own languages to each other. He was surprised that I had walked all the way from the monastery and then the far away bridge. I asked to make his photo and he showed me his catch of the day. We shook hands and went our separate ways.
The walk riverside was beautiful, with the current heading to the town, the green gentle hills and the stone monastery atop. I saw a dead turtle/terrapin which I’m never sure how to feel about – shame it didn’t make it but good to know they’re about?! Maybe?! I walked past a farmer and his herd, past the teletubby police station and into an old walled town. It was very pretty. The cathedral had many graduating students milling around and taking photos. I wandered round before catching the marshutka back to Tbilisi.
Love a church with equal expectations
I had a quick shower and change before heading out to meet my previous couchsurfing host Gabby and her friends for a night of drinks and jazz. We met and walked to 1984, a jazz bar and ordered cocktails (a margarita for me of course) and a cheeseboard. We were nearly a full compliment of English speaker – an Irish, two Welsh – ayayyy, the other girl was from Pembrokeshire, a Kiwi and an American. The band was real good with the bassist the key member of the band. Afterwards, Gabby and I got brushetta before walking home.
Almost as soon as I turned off the main road, a guy started talking to me, mainly via his friend since his English was not so good. He seemed friendly enough, but a little drunk so I chatted to him. When we reached my hostel I said bye and went inside. Maybe five minutes later, the hostel bell rang and he appeared in the hostel reception. Someone had buzzed him in at 1am in the morning without checking!! Madness! I left the hostel staff to get rid of him since they had let him in in the first place and I went to sleep!
26/5/22
Happy Independence day to Georgia!! I got a khachapuri from the local bakery for breakfast before heading to my fave coffee shop via my old hostel, Funicular. They had no space for me to stay but I still knew people there so figured I’d pop by. When I arrived, Mus was cooking shashuka for the first time – the egg was all scrambled on top and looked a terrible mess! I sent a photo to my Israeli friend Gil – of course he was not impressed! Mus invited me to eat with him so we ate shashuka with fresh Georgian bread and tea. (I never made it to my favourite coffee shop). Then French Raphael and a new Aussie guy, Chris appeared and we chatted awhile. We watched jets stream red and white steam in the sky and then Raphael went to work and we (Mus, Chris and I) headed out to see the independence day festivities.
We walked down the main street Rustaveli to Freedom Square which was filled with army vehicles with kids hanging off them! Then we got bevs and went to sit in a park. After awhile, Mus headed back to the hostel and Chris and I headed to a different spot to drink more bevs and eat snacks with a nice view over Tbilisi. Afterwards we listened to an orchestra and choir in the main street on a huge stage before going for food and wine in Pasanauri. As we were finishing, we heard a series of loud bangs. We ran outside (after paying) to watch the biiiiig and fabulous fireworks!! What a way to end the day!
Today was monastery day. I was pretty tired but since the weather was meant to be awful the next day, I decided I should do the monastery walk today. I had a great breakfast at the guest house with soctch pancakes with jam amongst other things before heading out. Even the walk along the road was beautiful, with a great view of the Caucasus mountains.
Bodbe monastery
Of course, when I arrived at the monastery I discovered many people there since most people just hop in a car and drive there. The vibe of the place though was beautiful chilled but respectful and also non-judgemental. I walked down to a holy spring and many people waited in line to be able to drink from this place. Afterwards I headed back up to the monastery before heading home. I stopped on the way home to get an iced coffee in one place with a ridiculous view. It was gorgeous!! I asked one couple to take a photo of me with the old town of Sighnaghi in the background and the guy reached for my phone before taking pictures only of my legs because ‘they’re better than the background’. Wowww.
I headed to the next thing on my itinerary which was wine tasting. I sat in Okro’s Natural Wines and ordered the wine tasting menu with cracker and cheese and a soup to go with it. It was all delicious and the wine tasting lady was friendly and told me all about the history of Georgian wine. I walked home late and enjoyed beautifully lit views of the mountains.
OKRO’S Natural WinesBeautiful Sighnaghi
23/5/22
Today I fancied a chill day after a few days of hiking. Also, the weather forecast was pretty poor so didn’t fancy doing anything major. I headed out in search of a perfect brunch spot but after a but of wandering about I gave up and got a kachapuri (cheese bread) for the road. I followed signs up a winding road to a cafe called ‘Panorama Cafe’ – how can I resist with a ne like that?! When I eventually made it to the cafe, there was a man and his son chasing a dog in the road. A car drove past, beeped and swerved round the dog. It became apparent that the people were trying to round up the dog put of the road, but the more they chased him, the more he ran!!
The cafe entrance led straight to the glorious terrace with views over Sighnaghi but it was bizarrely empty. Apparently it didn’t open til 12 noon – another half an hour. They let me read in a squashy chair until opening time and then I ordered a Georgian tea, followed by coffee and a diviiiine chocolate lava cake with ice cream. I chilled here quite awhile but then the sky changed and it looked like a storm was imminent. I decided to try and race the storm down the hill. Of course, I lost.
Maybe a hundred and fifty metres from the start of the town, the heavens opened and then the storm came bringing evermore torrential rain, thunder and impressive fork and sheet lightning alike. I stood under a balcony ledge with two Georgian guys on a quad bike and waited. We laughed and joked a little in our different languages as we waited. Maybe after twenty minutes, and when the rain had calmed to some form of drizzle, I made a dash for the nearest cafe before deciding against and carrying on down the street to make a photo of some traditional Georgian houses with covered balconies over the road with blurred car lights. While I was taking the photos, a man who was also trying to escape the rain invited me for coffee in broken English. Since there was pretty much nil to do in the rain, and the guy seemed friendly, not creepy, I accepted. Why not?!
We sat in a big cafe-restaurant and drank coffee and then we ordered khinkali (Georgian dumplings) on his persistent offering. We spoke only via Google Translate, but he was a lovely man, who was from Tbilisi and had a wife and kids (around my age) there, and he was only in Sighnaghi for work. After we finished our khinkali, he paid and we headed our separate ways. What a guy!!
The rain had cleared by now so I headed to try and find the old town walls. After a while, I got up onto the walls after a cat chased me for some time, trying to bit my maxi skirt, which was blowing in the wind. I passed by a church with an old nun reading a bible outside, sat on a sunny step before admiring the views from the town walls as well as some arched grape vines trained over trellace. There was quite some noise due to graduation celebrations consisting of many kids driving full cars crazily round small windy roads and beeping the horn continuously! After the walls, I headed back to my wine spot from the day before, ordered a wine and cheeseboard with Georgian fresh bread. I had a good catch up with my friend Andrew on the phone. The storm restarted and the electric cut out so I sat by candlelight for my phone call catch up. After my wine, I headed back to my guest house.
I returned to my triple room, which was meant to be a dorm, to find the light already on. I had a new roomie. He was a friendly Chinese guy who couldn’t speak any English. Today was the day of Google Translate! We spoke via Google Translate before he offered me wine and then we danced about the room, since he was keen to dance! It was very bizarre, but fun and of course the one song we both knew was ‘Gangnam style’, so out it came from the archives!! I decided Gangnam style would be hard to beat so called it quits after that and went to bed!!
24/5/22
Today was a transfer day. I would leave Sighnaghi and head to Telavi, a different town known for its wine. The marshutka picked me up from the guest house door – the VIP treatment was very nice!! The marshutka stopped a few times but one time on the road it stopped and an old lady put her daughter and grandkids on the ‘bus’. Afterwards, she made the cross sign over her chest three times to bless each of their journeys – it was very cute!
When I arrived in Telavi an hour or two later, I headed to a guest house I had looked up and ditched my bag. Then I headed back out after a quick bit of research on what to do in Telavi, first hitting the local market. The market sold fresh fruit and veg as well as many pickles, huge rounds of cheese, assorted useful items such as nail varnish remover, which I bought since my ‘wedding nails’ were looking very tatty! I did a quick reccy afterwards to figure out the marshutkas for the next day before heading to the old town, famous only for being traditional and beautiful. Then I stopped for a coffee and cake pitstop before going to see the main sights like the fort and palace as well as a really old plane tree.
On my way to see the main sights, I got way-laid after spotting a sign for wine tastings. After enquiring, the owner said they were not properly geared up for wine tastings yet, but that she could show me the cellar and could give me an informal tour.
Bangin’ piece of fish
I walked around the fort grounds before heading towards a fancy looking building. When I arrived there they asked if I had a ticket. Apparently it was the palace and I needed a ticket from the museum to go. I paid and walked round the museum a bit, saw some traditional Georgian clothes and some Georgian and European art before heading to the palace. It looked quite like a hammam baths with gorgeous coloured glass windows.
I headed to the park afterwards which I’d read had great views over the town. I sat in a cafe in the park and sipped tea before grabbing khinkali (dumplings) in a recommended restaurant before heading home. I watched Netflix in bed and slept. I wanted to be up early ish to figure out the marshutkas.
I was finally escaping Tbilisi! I planned to go to Sighnaghi, but when I got to Isani Metro station, where the marshutkas were meant to be, I only found the one going to Lagodekhi. I could get off early and switch, but I decided that I’d just go to Lagodekhi because, why not?! There was still twenty minutes before it left, so I wandered down the road and got a coffee before we started the journey to the town less than 20km from the Azerbaijan border.
We arrived in the sleepy town in the afternoon, having been slowed down by many sheep in the road, and I made my way past many a barking dog to the guest house I had booked on route, At Nana’s. It was a small bit cute town with pretty buildings and brightly coloured flowers. When I got to Nana’s, the door was unlocked as is typical in Georgia, but no one was in. I rang the number left online and Nana said she was coming. In the meantime, a guy wandered in silently, followed by a friendly Polish girl. We sat and chatted awhile and then Nana came back and made me coffee. The Polish girl, the guy, who was Mexican and I all decided to eat at Nana’s that night since the reviews were good, and home cooked food is always a nice change! We sat and chatted.
Nana made us a feast! We sat, ate and drank wine. They had both travelled through at least a few of the Stan countries and understood a little Russian. The Polish girl was pretty good a t Russian, working in translation for various languages! It was strange to be the one who had travelled the least on the surrounding countries! They were not impressed that I had not brought walking boots to Georgia even though I had been going for months, they both said they’d never dream of going anywhere without hiking boots! 🤣🤣 (I guess they wouldn’t have slipped about in Nepal so much!!). After dinner, I went to my room to Netflix. I had a big double to myself and it was super comfy with down pillows – glorious!!
21/5/22
When I got up, I packed up my stuff and then went out for a hike. The Polish girl had said the original walk I had wanted to do to a small waterfall was tricky due to high water levels and having to cross the river so I had decided to do a walk on the border of Azerbaijan to a fort instead, which was meant to be easier.
I decided I would walk to the town that the walk started in which was a few kilometres away. When I arrived at the building that was marked tourist information on maps.me, it turned out that it was not a tourist information but a rangers’ hut. I knocked and I asked the ranger how I get the pass I needed to do the walk in the Protected Areas. He said I should have got it somewhere in the town and rang another ranger who spoke better English. This guy was very chatty and tolde that I could get my pass on route so long as I had my passport with me (which I did). He also told me he had lived in UK awhile and told me other things which I have forgotten. The ranger that was presebt was making actions to say that the guy and n the bone was talking too much!! I held the phone away on loud speaker and we laughed together. After the ranger had said by the ranger on the phone, he started walking with me a little to set me in the right direction – this was unnecessary but was very sweet and was definitely just to be nice, which I appreciated.
I walked through luscious green woods, with the sun bursting through the vegetation in certain patches. I had to cross a river many times – sometimes there was bridges but other times I had to walk across tree logs as if they were a tightrope and other times, I just jumped. I heard a loud knocking notice echoing through the woods. It sounded like a workman hammering, but it was in fact, a woodpecker!!! The woodpecker was peck-pecking away when it saw me looking and flew a little further away before flying far away into the woods.
Awhile later, I reached the checkpoint and a man dressed in kharki with an AK-47 slung over his shoulder came over to me. He showed me to a table in amidst the woods which he bwas to sit at. Then he got another army guy to get the paperwork. Since this other guy was not on patrol, he was wearing shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops with socks. It was a strange look but I was glad, as another civvy dressed man came out too and if they all were dressed up with their uniform and guns I think it would have felt more scary!! I got my permit and headed onwards.
As I got closer, I passed a sign which said that the path was perilously steep. I found a stick to use as a hiking pole and headed onwards. It was fairly steep and slidey, but I made it down and up and down and up to the Fort. It had a pretty view of the river and of Azerbaijan on the other side. I sat and had lunch before heading back again.
When I returned to the village, I miraculously saw a taxi who took me the last few kilometres back to Lagodekhi. He dropped me at the marshutka stand so I could see when the next one went to Sighnaghi. He told me twenty, which I thought meant in twenty minutes, so I dashed off to get my big rucksack as it took ten minutes to walk each way. When I came back to the marshutka, I realised he had meant twenty past and actually I had had less than fifteen minutes to walk to the guest house and back. Luckily, I hadn’t known at the time and having rushed, I made it just in time!!
I got off at Snori and then got a taxi back the last 10km to Sighnaghi. I checked in and headed out for a mooch about. I sat in a Mexican restaurant, drank a margarita and read my book. I chatted to the owner/chef about Georgia and salsa music. He used to do traditional Georgian dancing and toured around the world, but he said he knew when it was time to stop! Afterwards, I headed to a restaurant recommended by my guest house, Maia’s, for dinner. I sat on the roof terrace in the sunshine. The view was beautiful, but it was busy and it took an hour to be served and then my food came sporadically which was annoying, but apparently normal here in Georgia. I watched the sunset over the mountains and then headed home to Netflix.
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!
Gabby’s balcony views ✨
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.
So my flight (via Athens) was overnight, which meant one, I nearly slept, and two, I arrived into Tbilisi at a crazy time in the morning, maybe 04.30?! I met a guy in the immigration queue, who asked if he could use my earring to open the sim slot in his phone, and we got talking. We shared a taxi (they have Bolt here!) to the main square, Freedom Square and wandered off in our own directions. Considering it was maybe 05.20 at most, the city was calm and serene, not dodgy, no drunks or oddballs roaming. I walked the cobbled streets, up and up I went, towards the nearest hill. My hostel was just next to the hill. I let myself in – the door was unlocked, and there was a man sleeping in the living room. He woke up and waved at another sofa for me to rest on, since I hadn’t booked until the coming evening. Then he got a blanket for me and placed it on top of me. I dozed. Ava, the owner came around 8/9am and showed me to my bed. I slept until 12pm ish before ringing my mother and heading out.
I roamed the city, first looking for somewhere good to eat. Mus, one of the many nomads in my hostel (another Jordanian actually!), recommended me a street to look on. I found a cute cafe in a small square and ordered a cheesy pastry and a coffee. The woman was very cute. I sat there and read before heading across the river to see the cathedral with the golden roof. The roads in Tbilisi are crazy, the cars drive fast and there’s two to three lanes going each way, always. It makes crossing roads almost impossible!! Some places they have underpasses and other places, I guess they just don’t think people will cross. This made my walk to the cathedral somewhat more difficult since the direct way would require me to cross one of these aforementioned crazy roads. Another problem was that it was a hot day, and I had dressed accordingly – short shorts and a crop top (of course!). Sadly for me, the people of Georgia do not dress according to the weather. If anything, once it gets colder in the evening, the clothing becomes more sparse. Anyway, since I was rather scantily clad, I got a fair amount of unwanted attention, which at times was mad. At some points, cars would pull over to beep at me, the worst being three at once. This would cause the road to be blocked and the cars behind to beep to get them to move! It must’ve be quite the sight for other to watch play out!!
I made it to a beautiful park, with many cafe bars in it and headed through it to the cathedral. I bought a sim card on route before dressing up and heading into the cathedral. The first time I went in I looked around quickly and headed out again. All the women I could see had coverings on the head. I asked a lady working in the gifts hop if I should cover my head, and while she didn’t seem to have a strong opinion on the matter, she waved me to a box of clothes on the floor. When I struggled to tie these things on my head, she leant me one from behind the counter. I thanked her and headed back in. There was some kind of 5pm service going on. The singing was beautiful, holy, heartfelt. Then the scripture came. Many people blessed themselves in front of each painting and altar possible – it was a long process!
I headed out of the cathedral a different way and wandered through Tbilisi. I found a cute pedestrianised street with cafes either side of the path, with lots of outdoor seating. It felt European and glorious. I picked one with a pianist playing and ordered Georgian wine, olives and soup. The pianist in the restaurant played every other half an hour, swapping with the guitarist/singer in the place next door. Their music was fab! Afterwards, I wandered back, via a cute coffee and plant shop, and caught up with my nomad pals at the hostel. I was all ready for bed, when a Belarusian invited me to join them at his girlfriend’s house to watch Eurovision. While I was tempted, I was shattered from a night of not sleeping, so decided against. I slept.
15/5/22
Sunday, a day of rest. I wasn’t quite sure what Tbilisi would be like on a Sunday since it was an Orthodox place. Would everything be closed? Who knew?!
Ava served me breakfast before I headed out on a walk. I wanted to walk up the nearby hill, maybe stop at the cafe at the top and then come back down again.
I did exactly that, walking past the church nestled on the hillside, past the funicular which was not yet running up to the cafe at the top. I sat on the terrace outside with a coffee and a pontiki creme – a doughnut with a sweet custardy filling. Then I wandered around the fairground that was at the top, with dodgems and a big wheel amongst other things. You could see snowcapped mountains from some bits of the park!! I headed along the ridge to go down a different way and eventually ended up at a glorious but unfriendly bakery for a very late lunch in Tbilisi old town. I headed down to the same pedestrianised street as the night before to get a margarita.
I selected a place and was sipping my margarita when a couple invited me to their table. Why not, ayyy?! They were an English/Irish couple that had met while both teaching in Dubai. They had come to Georgia for a cheeky holiday and a cheaper boozey weekend than at home! Fairs fair. Impressively, English Chelsea was a way better drinker than snooze Irish Craig. To be fair, they had spent the last seven hours in the same bar – pretty impressive really. After Craig had woken from his nap and walked a little wine off, I said goodbye and headed to a local Georgian restaurant, Pasanauri, for food. I walked through a cute night market to get there. I ordered a bean stew and some khinkali. Sadly, I had not been educated on how to eat khinkali, and I tucked in with my knife and fork, meaning that the sauce inside the dumpling with the meat was not slurped up, but wasted on my plate!! Afterwards, I headed back to the hostel to chat and chill with Mus and the other nomads.
16/5/22
Today I had to change hostels since my hostel was completely booked out. The weather was dodgy, so I chilled in my old hostel chatting awhile and then got a Bolt taxi across town to my new hostel. After being dropped off in a random spot, I eventually found the correct building and after knocking on two old ladies’ doors, I found the hostel. The owner, Charlie, was a Brit, (ayayy!), and we also chatted awhile before I headed out for food. I walked down another cute pedestrianised street and past some beautiful buildings as well as a Soviet mosaic. I waited in line for the restaurant I had been recommended by Charlie before ordering what seemed to be the Georgian version of a chicken korma. It was called chicken in nut sauce and I got bread with it. The chicken was cut African style into random squares with bones and all, with some bits entirely inedible and some bits delicious! After lunch, I had a Georgian tea, which tastes like a weak black tea mixed with some herby stuff, and is surprisingly nice! Then I wandered about and went into a baklava place for a coffee and a read.
Awhile later, Daniel, the German airport guy came and we caught up over another coffee before we went on a mission to find a bitcoin cash machine. Daniel had come to Georgia specifically to research bitcoin and see if he could make a business out of it here. He was on a paid trip but was paid, of course in bitcoin. After traipsing round the central station, we found the bitcoin machine, before heading to Fabrika, a popular bar area. Fabrika was just like Digbeth!! A big outdoor area with bars either side in old warehouse buildings. We went into a chacha place and tried a shot – it was absolutely awful!! After one shot, I felt like I needed a biiiiig plate of chips!! We headed to a bar and sat about drinking and chatting. I got a G&T which was nice since its not really a thing out here and eventually I ordered ‘Mexican’ potatoes. They were pretty much spiced wedges but were really delicious! Afterwards, we walked home, splitting off at the bridge.
wanderingwelshie travels 