Georgia on my mind

We had a relatively quick border crossing into Georgia and met our local guide, Nutsa, who will accompany us throughout this country.

Appropriately, we entered Georgia on St. George’s Day, although they actually celebrate it on May 6^th and November 23^rd here.

Remember - no photos at the border (except this one)

Steven - clearly thrilled with winning the "border game" prize

Paul and Penelope celebrate St George's Day (April 23) in Georgia!

Rain stayed with us right into the seaside city of Batumi but a warm hotel and hot showers perked everyone’s spirits right up! We had a short walk in the rain along the promenade to The Ship Restaurant, a boat on land, for our first Georgian feast… and first try of Georgian wine and the dangerous local fire-water, chacha.

After a few drinks, the entire group was ready to hit the dance floor! Many locals joined in and a great time was had by all!

On the way home, some played rainy night giant chess or checked out the dancing musical fountains!

Batumi seaside sculpture

Dinner at the Old Ship restaurant

Batumi at night

Our first Georgian feast with our local guide, Nutsa

Everyone tries the Georgian dishes

Jodie is happy with khachapuri (cheese bread) and local homemade wine!

Louise and Jonathan are happy with their feast!

Time for dancing (again!)

Juan, Angela & Vai make a train

Everyone hits the dance floor

The musical fountains are dancing too

Jodie and the fountains

Batumi at night in lights

Jonathan & Louise find giant chess

The next day was free to relax, explore or find new adventures. Some walked along the promenade to see the wonderful displays of art and statues, some took their travels to the sky on the cable car to get good city views, some admired the unique architecture and buildings.

Paul and Dave had the dubious ‘pleasure’ of a visit to the dentist.

Dave goes to the dentist and has to wear plastic booties

Paul getting a wisdom tooth pulled

Another sculpture... nope, it's McDonalds!

Some steak found in Batumi

Steak and 4 chips... yes, 4

Lindsay is definitely the winner on chips

Woke up to a strange yellow ball in the sky…. Oh, the sun!!! Happy days! We drove on to Georgia’s second largest city, Kutaisi with a stop en route to see the Prometheus Caves…. Yes, it was sunny and we explored underground! That figures!

While the sun was still out, we decided to dry out our wet tents that were packed away in Sumela. The locals probably thought we were setting up our camp in the parking lot!

Christine and Steven getting Penelope cleaned up for her drive to Kutaisi

Bye bye Batumi

On our way to Kutaisi

Paul enjoying the scenic drive

Leaving the snow where it belongs

Dave & Jodie enjoy our local lunch stop

Prometheus caves

Making the most of the sunshine - drying the tents as the group visits the caves

Road works prevented us from taking our truck up to the homestay the normal way so we struggled with even narrower, windy, and extremely busy, cobblestone streets but we made it!

The group enjoyed 2 nights at our home overlooking the city. Georgian food and wine kept everyone happy! Some tried khinkali (dumplings) and all tackled more khachapuri (cheese bread).

The usual road to homestay was dug up... so we had to find an alternative...

The great view of Kutaisi from our homestay made the tricky drive worthwhile.

Kutaisi

The group got into a serious game of Uno

The Uno winners podium

Our local guide, Nutsa, showed the group the nearby Bagrati Cathedral while the crew shopped for fresh food for camping at the interesting local market.

Some had fun at the ‘fun fair’, getting great views from the rickety Ferris wheel, while others enjoyed relaxing at the homestay or getting into a loud and competitive card game!

Morning visit to Bagrati Cathedral

The ladies don their headscarves to visit the Cathedral

Jodie and the molesting minstrel!

Emma, Steven, Vai and Angela ride the ferris wheel

At the local fun fair

Some went on a cable car ride

Angela, Vai & Victoria ride the cable car

Dave getting a new hat in Kutaisi

Steven goes into cardiac arrest at the mere sight of his Acharuli khachapuri!

Kutaisi opera house

Steven spends his free time ironing

Jodie goes wine shopping

Chacha, the local firewater

Steve & Angela meet a new friend

Kutaisi market is a wonderful place to explore

Yum, fresh local vegetables purchased by the crew

How about chicken for dinner...

Or pork?

Pork it is - Jodie buys fresh meat for sweet and sour pork camp dinner

Local Georgian fruit and nut treats

Local vendor

Now the big task - to carry it all to the truck

Next we had a scenic drive to Gori, birthplace of Joseph Stalin, where the group were whisked round the Stalin Museum by a guide and given their version of history. A short drive later, we explored the unique Uplistsikhe cave ‘city’ before finding a bush camp nearby. Sheep dogs kept us safe and the local police stopped by… to offer us cheap homemade wine…only in Georgia!

A brief rain shower prompted us to set up our awning which was also good practice for future use! Dinner was oriental themed followed by a lovely campfire under the moon and clear star-filled sky.

En route from Kutaisi to Gori

Fancy gas station and impromptu lunch stop, outside Gori

Gori fort

Gori was the birthplace of Stalin

Steven & Amanda check out Stalin's deck

Joe & Juan

Stalin's train carriage

Paul finds some interesting souvenirs

Uplistsikhe cave city

We can see you Louise

Steve cleaning out his cave

Queen Kathie

Local lizards

Juan impressed by the carved cave

Jonathan, Emma & Angela jump for joy at the cave city

Mark at Uplistsikhe

Jodie gets photobombed by Jonathan

Amanda finds the not-so-secret "secret tunnel"

Our bush camp at the foot of Uplistsikhe cave city

Just a brief shower, but we get to test out our cook awning

Jodie and Nutsa perform the ancient Chinese magic trick of turning plastic chips into prawn crackers!

Ruth collects some firewood

The local authorities drop by... to sell us some wine!

Cheers!

Jodie & Victoria serve up the sweet & sour pork...

...to feed the hungry hordes

Campfire "flapping" - good exercise and gets the dishes dry

An evening by the campfire

'French eggy toast bread' and rice pudding for breakfast, courtesy of Ruth and Mark

Amanda trying the local Georgian honey

Breakfast included homemade Georgian honey (yum!) before we set off our on very scenic drive north on the Georgian Military Highway up into the Caucasus Mountains. Lakes, rivers and farms dotted the landscape and we stopped at the old fortress of Ananuri. We found a roadside lunch spot by the river with a statue of ‘Gandalf’ and tried the local Georgian “snickers” and fruit leather/rollups.

Ruth, Lindsay, Mark, Jodie & Paul at Ananuri fortress

Kathie, Jonathan & Louise explore Ananuri

View from the tower

Victoria descends the tower

Juan, Ruth & Jodie at Ananuri

Steven goes native

Group 'selfie' on board the truck

Old Russian vehicles in Pasanauri

Watching the Georgian "Gandalf" perform at our lunch stop

As we continued north, snow fell and it made our mountainous drive even more magical. We took a group photo at the Georgian/Russian ‘friendship’ monument.

Driving up into the mountains

The group at the Georgia-Russian monument

Jonathan juggles

Playing in the snow

Heavy snowfall had closed the summer roads and the alternative tunnels were only wide enough for one direction of trucks at a time so we were delayed waiting for a convoy, but the group made great use of the time making snow angels and two snowmen with using bits from the roadside to build faces!

Heading up to the pass

Penelope on the pass

Nutsa and Victoria make a snowman

Hoping the tunnels are high enough!

Snowfall and rockfalls make for interesting driving

We arrived into Kazbegi (or Stepantsminda) with the sun shining over the hilltop Gergeti Trinity church and the spectacular snow-covered peak of Mt. Kazbek. Our lovely local homestay was very cosy and people enjoyed the great views over this small village and surrounding mountains. We feasted on Georgian dishes while the wine and chacha flowed. We had several ‘toasts’ throughout the evening and there was much sentiment, love and laughter.

Arriving at our homestay in Kazbegi

The view from our homestay

Our host brings the chacha and Mark starts the round of toasts

Christine & Dave "enjoying" the chacha

Louise gets in on the action

And it all gets too much for Jonathan!

After a hearty breakfast, most people hiked up the hillside to the Gergeti Trinity church. As the weather is still ‘unseasonal’, the trek up was tough with mud and snow to plough through. But the church was interesting and the views were fantastic.

Waking to the beautiful views of Mt Kazbek

The group get ready to hike to Gergeti church

Vai hiking through the snow

Trekking to the church

Almost there Christine!

Victoria, Juan & Vai at the Gergeti Trinity church

Great views

Gergeti Trinity church (or Tsminda Sameba)

Louise & Jonathan at the top

Don't forget your skirts and headscarves ladies...

...and, er, gents...

The hills are alive...

Most were quite exhausted upon their return to the homestay but that soon changed when our host ladies showed us how to make local dumplings (khinkali) and filled breads (khachapuri). We then devoured our own makings at lunch.

Georgian cookery lessons back at the homestay

Paul tries his hand at making khachapuri

Our hostess and cookery teacher tries to look impressed

Jodie, Dave & Chris enjoying the finished product

No rest for the wicked, we were then off to the Russian border by local transport. We visited a new monastery and had a peek at the border in the distance. We went into 4x4 action up a boulder trail to a point from where we hiked up to visit Gveleti waterfall.

The Georgia - Russia border post

Archangel monastery near the border

These 4x4 Lada taxis can go anywhere!

Jodie & Paul with the Lada driver

Dave, Paul & Steven work on their catalogue poses at Gveleti waterfall

Mark & Juan at the falls

Yet another Georgian feast

There was time for relaxation before our next feast and more wine and chacha. Time to leave Kazbegi or we may never do so, thanks to our lovely homestay and all their wonderful food.

Christine takes her floor mopping very seriously

Leaving Kazbegi

Heading back through the mountains...

...and the tunnels

Driving back down to the Georgia-Russia monument and Gudauri

Returning back down from the mountains we went on our way to Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital city. En route we stopped at Mtskheta, the religious heart of Georgia, to wander through the holiest of churches.

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral at Mtskheta

Inside the cathedral

Priest reading out prayers

Jvari Monastery

We arrived in to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, for our two night stay in the historical district. Torrential rain fall occurred in the early evening which made for some interesting sights and experiences for those already exploring and wi-fi outages for those who stayed in the hotel (or maybe it was them that caused the black-outs in town by overloading the system?!).

Flooded streets in Tbilisi

Tbilisi by night

The sun came out the next day in time for our walking tour by Nutsa. We visited many sights followed by a free afternoon to do our own exploring! The sunshine made a real difference… some donning summer wear while catching a few precious rays!

View from the hotel to our truck and some of the sights of Tbilisi

Penelope at the Metekhi church

Metekhi Church

Nutsa took everyone on a city tour

Interesting architecture

View across Tbilisi

Looking over the river to Tbilisi's old town and fortress

Kathie discovers a waterfall in the middle of the city

Great views from the fortress

Nutsa guides us around her home town

Beautiful Tbilisi

Chris and Angela find a friend

The unusual puppet theatre clock tower

Juan, Jonathan, Lindsay and Mark hanging out in Tbilisi

Streets of Tbilisi

It looks like Mr Cadbury has been out with his spray paint

Freedom Square

St George

Jodie at Vinomania

Many people didn’t know what to expect from this small, South Caucasus nation, but all have been impressed with how much Georgia has to offer – the warm hospitality of its friendly people, the slightly excessive amounts of delicious food and drink, the spectacular scenery, the churches, monasteries and monuments, and the fascinating mix of old and new architecture, and there’s still more to see…

We’re to Armenia next for a short visit but will be returning to beautiful Georgia soon.