Nestled between Western Asia and Eastern Europe, the Republic of Georgia’s strategic location meant it was almost always embittered in great wars throughout its long history. Between Romans, Persians, Ottomans and Mongols, I am surprised how much of ancient Georgia’s identity – its practices, religion and culture – remain.
During one of the tours we did, the tour guide mentioned how the Rose Revolution ushered what tourists now see in its historic capital, Tbilisi and all around the country. In fact, before 2003, most of Tbilisi didn’t even have electricity. You wouldn’t know that though by just looking at the gorgeous ramshackle red roofs, cobblestone roads, charming orthodox churches and a splatter of modern architecture here and there that is Tbilisi.
As a US Citizen, you can visit Georgia visa free and stay for as long as a year. Its permissive visa strategy along with inexpensive the food and lodging are making it very popular with tourists. Surprisingly, I didn’t hear much buzz about it in the travel community and I realized why – when you find a slice of heaven, you want to keep it to yourself and enjoy it, even for a while. It’s a thrifty traveler’s best kept secret (shhh)!
The one major reason I picked this country though is its famous wine and unparalleled wine scene. The oldest wine making tools were discovered here which makes this country the oldest wine producer in the world. Bordered by the great caucus mountains, its fertile valleys make it perfect for wine production. Wine making is so intertwined with Georgian culture – you see it in early church designs, almost everyone grow grapes in their backyard, you can order wine for breakfast (yes even the local dunkin donuts have them!) and locals order wine by the bottle.
We arrived early Monday morning and started our tour of Tbilisi right away. We signed up for a free day tour after a quick bite on our way to Freedom Square. The tour only last about 3 hours but its enough to see most of Tbilisi. The tour took us to various churches (of varying religions) across the city, parks, old town squares, a tunnel market and naturally ended with some wine tasting.
Afterwards, our friend picked us up to visit the town of Mtskheta including a stop at the Jvari Monastery. It was a quick 30 minute drive from Tbilisi and if you did not rent a car, there’s a lot of tours you can join for cheap. I highly recommend booking one when you arrive in Tbilisi, it is much cheaper than booking online!
The most notable monuments in Georgian Christian architecture can be found here in Mtshketa, the former capital of Georgia. During the summer, this town is surrounded by lush greenery and mountain vista. This, along with its close proximity to Tbilisi, makes Mtshketa the most popular day tours from the city.
A UNESCO world heritage, the Javi Monastery stands as an imposing structure at the top of a hill at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers, overlooking the town of Mtskheta. The view from here, especially at sundown, is just spectacular.
By the end of our first day, we were exhausted! We have booked an Airbnb in the center of Tbilisi and chose this one specifically for this view. Imagine having breakfast with this as your background *sigh*. Too bad our schedule was too tight we didn’t get to enjoy this view a lot (we left early daily and arrived at night daily).
It’s too big for just me and my boyfriend but I didn’t mind. The stairs are very narrow though leading to this nook so I don’t recommend this for guests with young kids.
The next day, we joined a tour group to explore the Kazbegi region. We booked this one through getyourguide and for $30 per person, its pretty cheap (although browsing in Tbilisi, I realized they were offering it cheaper there – about $20 per person for the same tour). This is a full day tour since the drive to and from Tbilisi takes about 2-3 hours each way. Our first stop was Jinvali, the largest reservoir of eastern Georgia and then we headed straight to Stepantsminda (Kazbegi) Trinity Church in Gergeti.
This is the view you would see in most tour brochures about Georgia and for good reason! On the slope of the majestic Kazbek Mountain – the very mountain known in Greek mythology as the place Prometheus was chained as punishment for teaching mankind fire- is the ancient Georgian Trinity Church near the small town of Stepantsminda. I originally planned to hike this mountain for a day or two but because we arrived there in late November, it was simply too cold for me.
After lunch, we headed straight to Gudauri, a ski resort situated on a south-facing plateau of the greater Caucasus Mountain and stopped by the People’s Friendship Arch (between Russia and Georgia). Ironically, Russia currently occupies the Georgian territories Abkhazia and South Ossetia (so much for friendship, huh?)
Our last stop was the fortress of Ananuri, another UNESCO World Heritage site, located on the shores of the Zhinvali Reservoir. The fortress has an interesting story but I will leave that for your tour guides to tell. From one of the windows of the tower, you’ll get this view.
On our last full day, we had a choice to visit the ancient cave monasteries of David Gareja, ancient cave dwellings in Uplistsikhe or the wine region of Kakheti.
Unfortunately at the time of our trip, most of David Gareja was closed for tourists due to some local dispute over access to the monastery between Georgian monks and Azerbaijani border guards. I skipped Uplistsikhe because I have already seen cave towns back in Turkey. This left Kakheti but you probably already guessed this was my first choice anyway (heh).
Kakheti is ‘ground zero’ of georgian wine making accounting for 3/4 of the country’s wine production. Georgians take wine-making and love of wine to the next level – one that I think beats Italy and France BY A MILE. They are so proud of this heritage, of this culture and you can feel it in the way they talk about it and their reverence to a true wine experience (read: Tamada – google it).
This was another day-long tour and this time I hired a private car and driver (who was also the tour guide). One of my brilliant ideas in hindsight, because I didn’t realize how tired I was for the last couple of days and having our own car meant I can sleep between each destination (which I did!).
Our first stop was in a Badiauri Village where we watched how Georgian people bake their special bread. This ended up being a short stop-over instead of a full experience because they already made the bread by the time we got there.
I cannot tell you how long our drive was to our next stop, the Bodbe monastery because I was out of it the whole trip (lol). Situated on a steep hillside overlooking a valley, this monastery provides great views of the Greater Caucasus mountains. It is one of the major pilgrimage sites in Georgia, due to its association with St. Nino whose relics are kept there.
From there, we drove to Sighnaghi the city of love. Despite traveling in November, the weather was surprisingly warm. With its cobbled streets, medieval architecture (complete with a fortress and ‘great wall’!), red roofs and grapevines in every house, and majestic views of the caucus mountain, this city is definitely instagram worthy!
Our last stop was the wine tour (and late lunch) at the Khareba Tunnel winery. With more than a thousand hectares of vineyards, Khareba is a must see when doing your wine tours in Georgia.
It is famous for its man-made wine tunnel built at the side of a mountain. This winery combines Georgia’s ancient tradition of producing wines by fermenting it in huge clay amphorae (qvevri) buried in the ground and modern technologies.
There are several other wineries in the area and if you plan to just do wine-tasting the whole day, I recommend asking your driver to skip the other stops and go straight to all these wineries within the area (see below). That is the beauty of having a private tour – you can dictate how it goes!
For our last full day, we decided to stay put and just walk around Tbilisi. I was very excited to boulder at the botanical garden so we started our day there. Unfortunately, a few yards away from the boulders, we were turned down and the hike to the rocks were closed for repairs [I later learned there was a different entrance to the rock climbing area (-_-)]. It wasn’t such a bad thing though because the botanical garden was still in full autumn colors which made for amazing photo shoots!
From the botanical garden, there is a pathway to get to the top of Mother Georgia. You can take the cable car or you can hike up. Because we decided walking 5 miles wasn’t enough, we hiked it up and took the cable car down to the other side of the river. Don’t miss this when you visit Tbilisi! Definitely an experience!
After a short lunch break with our friend, we went straight to an uphill walk to The Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, the main cathedral of the Georgian Orthodox Church. It is the third highest Eastern Orthodox cathedral in the world and the finest one in Georgia. This is the church in my airbnb’s window view marvelously lit every sunrise and sunset.
In truth, it would’ve been easier to take Taxify (their version of uber, which you can easily download on your phone!) because at this point our legs hurt and we consider ourselves fit already. But part of getting to know a city for me is seeing its back alleys, watching its people at and about, getting lost, taking a short-cut, crossing that bridge, eating breakfast at a local restaurant, sitting down in one of their plazas while drinking coffee (or wine), going to a small art studio, and just absorbing it all. So yeah, if given a choice, I would walk those long miles again.
Our flight was scheduled in the early evening the next day so after a nice farewell/Thanksgiving dinner with our friend and his family at their home, I started packing before calling it a night.
We can’t leave Tbilisi though without trying their sulphur baths. Tbilisi actually earned its name from the natural hot springs that run under this part of the city. Many years ago, the King of Georgia discovered the sulphur springs when he was out hunting with his eagle. He promptly decided to build a city surrounding them and so, Tbilisi (warm place) was born. There’s about 10 in the area and we didn’t know which one was open so we walked around and found the first one with a private bath for me and my boyfriend.
It’s quite an experience and I assume more so if we did the public baths. Safe to say, I felt the cleanest I’ve been that whole trip after all that scrubbing!
I was skeptical when I booked this trip for us because it was too good to be true – the flights and accommodations are cheap, the food looks amazing, the castles and fortresses with the caucus mountains as background so picturesque, and its wine culture so unique and ancient. I want to see it to believe it and boy did I left Tbilisi a believer.
If you are currently on the fence about whether or not to skip Georgia in your travel bucket list, I hope this blog entry tipped you in their favor. No need to thank me (and you will when you get back from Georgia 😉 ), you’re welcome!
The Travelling Accountant 