Possibly one of the best kept secrets in the world-for Food!!!
What can I say about Georgia, from my first time arriving there in the Tbilisi Airport to my departure with a new friend I made that drove us around, I fell in love with this country, the food, the simple way of life, and the people…..I really believe that next to Greek food, that Georgian food could be one of my favorites. Every meal you will find dumplings, pork, beef, beans etc etc etc…the list goes on. Here is a gallery of food and drink pics in my time here. Dont forget about the wine either. It is unbelievable….
The scenery is also lovely out in the country. It has such contrasting regions that it keeps you guessing, every turn you take around the bend. I have a few snapshots of it….
I was here for quite a long time as I was with my friend Janne first and then with my friend Daniel. I was in Tbilisi most of the time then in Kutaisi on two different occasions and then to Batumi by the Black Sea.
They say that first impressions are everything, and that was the case with being in Tbilisi. I stayed at a hostel with Janne first time around, but quickly figured out that we are too old for hostels, so we booked possibly one of the better hotels that I stayed at with great food and customer service and centrally located. The hotel is called Sultan David Hotel. Here you can book any excursion you want and also get a driver for short excursions or taking you to longer destinations. When Daniel showed up we also stayed in that hotel and I will never stay anywhere else again next time I go to Georgia. We pretty much walked around the city and saw all the sites. We took the funicular up to the mountain where there was a rather odd amusement park and got a good view of the city. We tried restaurants all the time and sat at cafe’s to sample beer and wine. I will never forget this city as long as I am still able to remember!!!!
We did do some excursions outside of the city, which were mostly monasteries, some cave dwellings, and Mtskheta which is a UNESCO site. The highlight of the visit for me was going to Gori which was the birthplace of Stalin and going to the Stalin Museum and just walking around the small yet quaint town!!!
I went to quite possibly my most relaxed and favorite small town in the world called Kutaisi. The whole town is easy to walk around and there have two UNESCO sites-Galati and Bagrati Cathedral. In addition there is also two very nice underground caverns to be visited and I went to them two times each!!!! Other than that, the only thing to do in the town is relax, go sit in the park and have a beer and walk around. A truly relaxing time…
We also took a car from Kutaisi to the seaside town of Batumi which is located close to the Turkish border on the Black Sea. Again this was a relaxing time. While our hotel was a long walk to the beach, it was a nice walk. It is a very laid out city that could become the next big resort town in this region. They have cleaned up the town quite a bit and it looks like a modern city. It was fun taking the teleferico up to the top of the city and see everything. It is also nice just to take a walk down the boardwalk near the sea and just people watch. Oh yea, don’t forget about a relaxing time by the sea….
Overall this was a damn good vacation, even though I did many sites twice, I never ever got tired of them at all. I met some great people along the way that drove us around or just toured us around and it was great having conversations with locals about life there…..
