Mtskheta - Tbilisi (Georgia) - Hidden in plain sight

Mtshketa - Tbilisi
17 September - 19 September 2016

Mtskheta is one of the oldest cities in Georgia. Standing at the confluence of the Mtkvari & Aragavi rivers,  this town is an attractive town that contains some of the most significant monuments of Georgian Christian architecture, historically significant for its contribution of medieval architecture throughout the Caucasus.

We spent the best part of a morning discovering the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and finding out a little more about independent producers of Georgian wine. Always good to discover the bootleggers.

Mtskheta - Georgia

Mtskheta - Georgia

Mtskheta - Georgia

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral - Mtskheta - Georgia

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral - Mtskheta - Georgia

This is the moment that Davis got told off by a priest for entering wearing a tank top - LOL

'Get out of my cathedral you punk!'

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral - Mtskheta - Georgia

Georgian wine bootlegger - he looks like one too!

 Mtskheta - Georgia

 Mtskheta - Georgia

The next day we were in more professional & legitimate hands as we attended a winery just outside the lovely town of Signagi. Located in the eastern most region of Georgia the area serves as one of the main tourist destinations as the cradle of Georgian wine making now resides in this area.

Royal sulphur baths - Tbilisi - Georgia

Royal sulphur baths - Tbilisi - Georgia

Royal sulphur baths - Tbilisi - Georgia

Georgian wine - wine not - Tbilisi - Georgia

Answers can always be found at the bottom of your glass

Tbilisi - Georgia

Hard Rock Cafe - Tbilisi - Georgia

Hard Rock Cafe - Tbilisi - Georgia

Hard Rock Cafe - Tbilisi - Georgia

Outside of Signagi - Georgia

Signagi - Georgia

Signagi - Georgia

Signagi - Georgia

Signagi - Georgia

As I mentioned in an earlier entry, Georgian wine making has an 8000 year old history and it’s believe that the famed Georgian clay pots hold the secret to the formulation of their fantastic wines. The ancient Georgian method holds no barrels, or vats or monitoring systems, just the qvevri which imparts a unique taste to the wines. I have to say, after 8000 years of tradition the Georgians have learnt a thing or two about making these precious drops. There are some great Georgian white varietals such as Rkhatsiteli, Kisi, Mtsvane Kakhuri & Tsolikouri but admittedly, for me, the real hits were the reds such as Saperavi, Kindzmarauli & Shavkapito. All of these are varietals that I’d never encountered before coming to Georgia, in fact, never knew existed and least of all knew that they were probably the forerunners to all of the wines around the world! Not a bad claim to fame I’d say, and something that I believe Georgia should make a bigger deal about into the future. Once again, as per an earlier entry, for many reasons I believe Georgia is still off the radar in terms of many peoples travel itineraries. Needless to say, with a bit of self-promotion and a few good words, I believe it will enter a Lonely Planet top 10 soon enough, with a bullet!

Signagi - Georgia

Signagi - Georgia

Signagi - Georgia

Khareba winery - Georgia

Khareba winery - Georgia

Khareba winery - Georgia

Khareba winery - Georgia

Khareba winery - Georgia

Khareba winery - Georgia

Khareba winery - Georgia

Khareba winery - Georgia

Self made churchkela - Khareba winery - Georgia

Khareba winery - Georgia

Our last couple of days was spent in the wonderful city of Tbilisi. Another one of the plethora of attractions in this city is its sulphur baths, a time honoured ritual in the city ever since the King of Georgia discovered the sulphur springs in the area and decided to build his city around them. Of course now it’s very much set up for tourists but how can you go past having a soak, scrub and traditional massage beneath the domed roofs of these baths. An absolute treat.

We had really managed our luck quite nicely with the weather during our stay. Aside from a later afternoon thunderstorm in Batumi we had been blessed with some gorgeous sunshine for most of our stay. Our return to Tbilisi was no different and we took full advantage of the beautiful days to enjoy dining outdoors, partaking in some rooftop tipples and also finding some nice shisha spots. The later was another bonus of Tbilisi. It appears that Georgians are all smokers and their penchant for taking on a bit of nicotine also extended to the good ‘ole hookah, something that both Inga & I are fans off.

Tbilisi - Georgia

Tbilisi - Georgia

Tbilisi - Georgia

Tbilisi - Georgia

Tsiskvili restaurant - Tbilisi - Georgia

Tsiskvili restaurant - Tbilisi - Georgia

Tsiskvili restaurant - Tbilisi - Georgia

It looks completely 'desolate' here but we were the early arrivals. One hour later this place was full

Tsiskvili restaurant - Tbilisi - Georgia

Tsiskvili restaurant - Tbilisi - Georgia

Tsiskvili restaurant - Tbilisi - Georgia

Tsiskvili restaurant - Tbilisi - Georgia

On our last evening Inga & I went to wonderful restaurant named the Tsiskvili, http://tsiskvili.ge/english/home, located a little drive outside of the city centre, the set up was a real pleasure, with a natural waterfall, water mill, Georgian antiquities, funicular and national folk dance, all with delicious Georgian cuisine thrown into the mix, it ended up being a fantastic way to round out our time in a country that surprised at nearly every turn.

Even the long wait for the 3am flight out of Tbilisi to Istanbul was made a breeze with some late night shisha and a few drinks on Shardeni Street to help us on our way.

To you Georgia I say thank you. Unexpectedly wonderful, you’re a treasure hidden in plain sight.

Kutaisi (Georgia) - meanwhile, 137 miles west of Tbilisi

Kutaisi (Georgia) - Gori (Georgia)
15 September - 16 September 2016

Now it was time for us to hit the road. We headed east out of Batumi, making a few stops for waterfalls and parks along the way. The countryside here, and in actual fact, the whole country, is quite attractive and small gems can be found frequently.

In Batumi - on the way to Kutaisi - Georgia

On the way to Kutaisi - Georgia

Makhunseti Bridge - Georgia

Makhunseti Bridge - Georgia

Makhunseti waterfall - Georgia

Our first major stop of the day was Borjomi, a resort town in the south-central part of the country, known primarily for its mineral water industry. Borjomi mineral water itself is very well known throughout the old Soviet Union. A naturally carbonated mineral water whose taste is a little salty and minerally and not entirely to my taste, but who the hell knows, Mineral Waters of the world rates them 13th out of the hundreds of waters for bicarbonate levels - meaning that it's GREAT for hangovers (apparently). Still, the water is sold to 40 countries around the world and in 2012 appeared on the Fortune 500 list, so, successful enough.

We spent a few hours in Borjomi before making our way a few hours further east to what's traditionally known the second most important town in Georgia, Kutaisi.

Makhunseti waterfall - Georgia

Makhunseti waterfall - Georgia

Don't have a cow...man

Borjomi - Georgia

Borjomi - Georgia

Borjomi - Georgia

Borjomi - Georgia

Borjomi - Georgia

As I have come to recognise in Georgia, Kutaisi is another attractive looking destination. With elegant tree lined streets, and 19th century houses stretching down the banks of the Rioni River, plus a plethora of attractive parks, its an entirely pleasing place to walk through and appreciate. Serene, chilled, attractive. It's an inviting place without having any 'big gun' attractions to draw in the real masses.

The city is really known for the medieval monastic complex near the city, Gelati, which we went to investigate the next day. 

Gelati monastery sits atop of a hill with commanding regional views, but here its what's on the inside that really counts. Filled with murals and an abundance of imagery surrounding both the interior and exterior, I always am amazed by the gravity and atmosphere in these places. I never really understand how a building can exude that weighty presence. Is it the sense of request for quiet that does it or is it really a distinctive energy that collectively builds over the centuries. I never can understand how that transference works but Gelati monastery had it in spade.

Galeti Monastery - Kutaisi - Georgia

Galeti Monastery - Kutaisi - Georgia

Galeti Monastery - Kutaisi - Georgia

Galeti Monastery - Kutaisi - Georgia

Built during the age of the Byzantine Empire, it is known for its gold aesthetic in both the paintings and in the building, and to me, a it appears as a very typical style of Christian orthodox churches. It's known to be masterpiece of the Georgian Golden Age and of course is recognised as being a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Galeti Monastery - Kutaisi - Georgia

Galeti Monastery - Kutaisi - Georgia

Galeti Monastery - Kutaisi - Georgia

Galeti Monastery - Kutaisi - Georgia

Making our way to Gori I finally got the opportunity to drive and show myself as the ambi-laned driver in a world of bidirectional traffic. Somehow we Australians sit in the 35% minority of countries that drive on the left-hand side of the road.

Out of interest I did look up countries that chose to switch over from LHT to RHT relatively late in the piece and discovered to my surprise that Sweden actually did the switch over in 1967 with Iceland topping them by switching over the next year. An interesting side point to my ambi-lane driving skill and only support me in the fact that I have managed RHT quite well in most countries, even in Georgia, until such time that the 4WD we’d been utilising decided to come to an uneasy halt on the highway about 80kms out of Gori. All on my watch.

For some reason I felt responsible. Of course I wasn’t but damn, sometimes the stars just align and sometimes they conspire against you.

We spent something like 3 hours in the car waiting for support from Gori and damn me if Annija didn’t nearly drive me to a nervous breakdown by introducing a game where I needed to guess the rules of engagement simply by asking questions. The game, My nearest neighbour on my right, is one where one person gets to ask questions from individuals in the group who in turn can only respond on behalf of the traits of the person on their right hand side. The discovery phase nearly killed me. I almost flipped out trying to figure out the key to this game.  What sort of evil torture was this???

Several hours later we had a substitute vehicle delivered to us and we ended up arriving in Gori later in the evening.

The intensity and vibrancy of Gori - Georgia

Gori - Georgia

What else can you do in Gori? - Georgia

Honestly I didn’t know too much about Gori before arriving. I was told that it had been the birthplace of Joseph Stalin, and the number of times we were advised to go to the J.Stalin museum was testimony enough that he was a big kahuna here. Additionally I did know that Gori was browbeaten during the Russo-Georgian war of 2008 with Russian military doing quite a bit of damage in the town, suppressing a Georgian uprising.

History aside, Gori gained a small place of notoriety in my mind by making the list of boring as bat-shit places that I had visited in my travels, and admittedly that’s not an extensive list but I have placed it at #3 on the list after Phonsovan (Laos) & Rio Turbio (Argentina). Congratulations Gori, your one open bar, one strange reception and bland on bland on bland has earned you a place in eternal boredom.