This is an
encouragement for Russian-speaking people! If you speak Russian, you’ll never
ever feel lonely in Georgia of Armenia. Those two countries are way too amazing
to describe them at once. So now I’ll say about Georgia:
Georgia – around 4,5 million people,
capital city – Tbilisi. Beautiful county with strong cultural background. When
you go across the street or open market place you always see old ladies “so
called babushki” selling chebureki, khachapuri, mandarins, gold apples… For me,
no surprise cause in Russia or Ukraine there are always babushki selling something,
but for my friend it was unique. Streets are busy and people are not used to
see tourists. Georgians do not treat Russians as friends, so sometimes it’s
better to underline that you are Polish – as for me I told I’m Ukrainian and
suddenly their face went shiny. We came in first days of December – the weather
was good, no snow. Of course we took our favorite Wizzair and paid a little bit
less than 300 zlotys. We took direct flight from Katowice to Kutaisi. The time
difference with Poland is 3 hours, so basically we landed at midday.
First day
Kutaisi: We landed, took the bus which was going to the city but not to center.
There were only Polish passengers so the driver took all of us directly to
exchange office – good business. Then, we took marshrutka no. 1 and went to the
city center. Marshrutka is a small bus. The approximate cost of marshrutka is
less than one zloty. The currency called LARI is weaker than zloty, so we could
afford to eat in a restaurant in the city center and take taxi from time to
time. After the meal consisted on soup and coffee we went to visit Bagrati Cathedral,
Georgian orthodox church which belong to UNESCO. The view to beautiful mountain
and the entire city from the hill is really terrific. We took a lot of picks
and decided to catch marshrutka to Tbilisi. It was around 6 p.m. It took us 5
hours to get to Tbilisi. Small bus for around 17, but somehow there were 21
people – quite extreme but I’m Ukrainian and I know the “marshrutka system”. I don’t
like it but what can I tell, “no pain no gain”…
Second day –
Tbilisi: We went to the city center. Passing the National museum I couldn’t help
myself not to enter. I am the museum lover so I enjoyed it a lot. We took a
walk through Rustaveli avenue, where we could buy some souvenirs. We visited
the old presidential palace – it looks unique cause the from side of the alley
looks so fancy, but it’s only “the dummy” because right behind are the old,
ruined houses. As we took a walk up to presidential palace, we reached
Cathedral of the Holy Trinity – very fancy place, looked more like huge park.
Third day –
Tbilisi: Sneaking around the restaurants and trying local food. When it started
to get dark we went to take a gondola to Narikala fortress. Of course the place
wasn’t protected or there were no warnings signs, we started to climb up on those
ruins – a bit dumb but the view was breathtaking.
Fourth and fifth
day we spent in Erevan in Armenia. I’ll describe it next time. Actually we didn’t
plan to go to Armenia, we wanted to take the helicopter and go to Mestia but
according to the weather condition there were not available flights.
Day sixth – Way from
Tbilisi to Batumi: 7 hours in marshrutka. When we got to Batumi it was already
a bit dark. We saw the sea or rather to say we heard it. We took a walk and
enjoyed the nice summer resort covered by snow. It was really cold and even local
people were amazed and not well prepared to the weather. I bet Batumi is
beautiful in summer but we saw the other face of the city.
Day seventh and
go back to Poland: We walk up around 7 a.m. and took our favourite transport marshrutka
to Kutaisi. It took us around 3 hours. What I know about Georgia now is that “puri”
bread is very popular and there are a lot of dished made with puri. Georgian
dumplings are delicious but I refer Russian pielmeni made according to my grandma’s
recipe . As our host in Tbilisi explained – Younger generation while drinking alcohol
is trying to cover the glass with the hand so the older person won’t see. Girls
are not allowed to smoke in a public place – they need to hide in a restaurant.
And the heritage of Georgia is really huge and worth to discover by travelers.
Pictures will
come later when my friend finally send it to me. So far one picture taken in
Rustaveli avenue and one in front of the cathedral in Tbilisi.
