From: Yerevan, Armenia
Georgia gets a lot of hype. Half the backpackers I've met in Central Asia have gone through here at some point. Almost without exception, they told me that Georgia was the best country they'd ever seen: incredible food, great people, amazing culture, striking scenery, abundant adventure. So my expectations were pretty high. This post is about my first few days in the country; so far, seems like it's living up to the hype.
My first stop in the country was Tbilisi. Thierry and I came here with another traveler -- Dan, an English guy we met in Baku. We took the overnight train and got in late morning.
The capital is charming, a large but relaxed city set over a lazy, grey river. The main drag, Rustavelis Gamziri, just south of the river, has fancy European shops, slick bars, and nice hotels. Very fun place to walk around and people-watch. North of the river, where we're staying, the city is poorer and more cluttered, with multiple houses set up around these big courtyards, just off the streets. It's very busy and charming, however, with fruit vendors and shoppers packed on the sidewalks. Also, I see a lot of expensive-looking, single-breed dogs around here -- none of the strays and mongrels that were more common in Central Asian.
Tbilisi has some stunning views. The city backs onto to a very steep cliff which is pretty dramatic. There are also a lot of old cathedrals which look amazing at night:
Georgia gets a lot of hype. Half the backpackers I've met in Central Asia have gone through here at some point. Almost without exception, they told me that Georgia was the best country they'd ever seen: incredible food, great people, amazing culture, striking scenery, abundant adventure. So my expectations were pretty high. This post is about my first few days in the country; so far, seems like it's living up to the hype.
My first stop in the country was Tbilisi. Thierry and I came here with another traveler -- Dan, an English guy we met in Baku. We took the overnight train and got in late morning.
The capital is charming, a large but relaxed city set over a lazy, grey river. The main drag, Rustavelis Gamziri, just south of the river, has fancy European shops, slick bars, and nice hotels. Very fun place to walk around and people-watch. North of the river, where we're staying, the city is poorer and more cluttered, with multiple houses set up around these big courtyards, just off the streets. It's very busy and charming, however, with fruit vendors and shoppers packed on the sidewalks. Also, I see a lot of expensive-looking, single-breed dogs around here -- none of the strays and mongrels that were more common in Central Asian.
Tbilisi has some stunning views. The city backs onto to a very steep cliff which is pretty dramatic. There are also a lot of old cathedrals which look amazing at night:
Another cool thing: the language. Georgian has one of the coolest, yet weirdest, languages I've ever seen. It's part of the Kartvelian language group, a collection of dialects which, like Basque, is completely unconnected to any other tongues. The alphabet is beautiful but hard to read. For some reason, nothing in this country is printed in Russian or Latin, so you have to decipher the script to use public transport. I'm trying to learn the letters, but it's slow-going. Here's an example from the subway:
Georgia is famous for more than just its capital. East of Tbilisi is the land of Kakheti (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakheti), Georgia's wine country (in fact, according to some experts, wine may have first been cultivated here). We decided to make a day-trip there; it was a long marshrutka ride to Telavi, and then we hired a taxi for the afternoon to take us around all the sights. None of us had any idea what the "sights" actually were, but we lucked out with a taxi driver who took us around all the local hotspots.
We checked out a couple of monasteries, for which Kakheti is famous. Georgia is one of the oldest Christian countries (only Armenia became Christian earlier), having been converted by St. Nino in the 4th century. There are still a lot of very old monasteries and churches in the region (mostly Eastern Orthodox), many going back centuries. We stopped at three. The first was a small working monastery up in the hills. I wasn't allowed inside since I had shorts on. Or maybe I just looked unscrupulous, which is quite possible.
We checked out a couple of monasteries, for which Kakheti is famous. Georgia is one of the oldest Christian countries (only Armenia became Christian earlier), having been converted by St. Nino in the 4th century. There are still a lot of very old monasteries and churches in the region (mostly Eastern Orthodox), many going back centuries. We stopped at three. The first was a small working monastery up in the hills. I wasn't allowed inside since I had shorts on. Or maybe I just looked unscrupulous, which is quite possible.
The second one was a beautiful old church-monastery, further up the same mountain. Although it was undergoind repairs, there was an old man outside selling three handmade prayer candles for a lari (less than $1). I have no idea how he got up the mountain, or who he normally sells the candles to. We bought some and lit them inside the vault-like prayer room.
The last monastery we visited was called Iraklo -- it's an old and famous site close to Telavi. The original site was founded by Zenon, one of the 13 ancient Syrian Fathers (old Christian dudes from when Syria was Christian). Until very recently, it was the leading religious and philosphical academy in the country, and many famous Georgians came here to study (among them, Rustaveli, the national bard).
I was also eager to check out the wine in the region best known for it. We went to the Chavchavadze Estates (a hilariously-named place for anyone familiar with British 'Chav' culture). The C family used to be wealthy landowners, and their former home has been converted into a stately park. It also has an incredible wine cellar, with thousands of old and expensive bottles from around the world. Among the highlights: unopened bottles of pre-1900 Chateau Yquem, expensive Burgundy and even first-growth Bordeaux from the 1880s. Pretty insane to see that stuff just sitting there collecting dust.
The stuff in the estate cellars was a little more than my daily budget, so we went to a local winemaker, GWC, well-regarded for its semi-sweet whites and reds. They offered us a wine "degustatsiya" for around $7, which ended up being good value given the tremendous amount of wine they gave us.
Unlike other, more serious and snobbish tastings I've done, the Kakheti wine-tasting experience is pretty straightforward. There's no talk about mouthfeel, tannin levels, or subtle undertones of hibiscus-blossom. Instead, the owner takes a glass and fills it to the brim out of a giant wine tank coated with insulating foam. You're expected to finish the glass in a couple of minutes, by which point your next glass has already been poured. As you drink, the staff wash out your glass with a hose on the factory floor and the process starts again. We tried four wines in all, and one of them (from the Saperavi grape for which the region is famous) was delicious.
Here, the owner pouring out a generous glass of semi-sweet Georgian white:
I decided to break my Georgian trip into two parts, with a side-trip to Armenia in the middle. Will write more Armenia on my next post, and probably some more about Georgia later on.
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