En Route

An eight hour layover in Munich meant we got to have the experience of leaving the airport for the first time mid travel. We went to check out the nearby town of Freising, Germany. In Freising, they have the oldest brewery in the world (Weihenstephan Brewery)! A serendipitous discovery and it was a delight to give it a try. We also checked out the local church. It’s amazing how much money and history there is in a small town church. We also strolled through the botanical garden and listened to the birds. The most exciting bird I spotted was a White Stork flying over the main plaza!

     

Day 1

We then took a redeye into Tbilisi and met up with my grandparents. On the flight, I had started to read “Hard by a Great Forest” which is set in Georgia. The first chapter goes through the stark changes Tbilisi has gone through over the years and one of the changed places pointed out was the futuristic, glass police station. As we were driving to Gori, the station was one of the first sites we passed. I thought I was an art museum.

We arrived just in time to watch the sunrise and grab a snack at the grocery store next door. My choice - Borjomi Lemonade and twisted cheese.

   

Everywhere that there are people, there are dogs! Though they’re all strays, they are well taken care of by the community. The grocery store even built dog houses for them, and covers the dog houses in plastic when it rains so they stay dry.

 

Our first day was an event filled day. I think we checked every touristy “must see” in Gori on this day. We started with the Gori Fortress. The fortresses are super cool - however after seeing 3+… maybe you’ve seen enough? This one was cool though because it’s right in the middle of town, there were 3 puppies at the top, and the Memorial of Georgian War Heroes.

     

On the way back to the apartment, we stopped by the Stalin museum in town. Stalin was originally born in Gori. I was intrigued, as it was highly praiseful and didn’t mention anything harmful or negative. It was a cultural experience.

Between each destination, we hired drivers. From a tourist perspective, it’s actually quite an affordable way to get around for the day. The driving was always thrilling - seatbelts are optional, lanes are optional, and speeding and risky passing are normal. Our next stop was the St. George church in Gori. Getting out of the car, we saw a sheep’s head on the ground. After a short walk, and a beautiful view of town, we turned back and saw sheep being brought up for sacrifice. I found it surprising; I wasn’t aware that sacrifice was still being practiced.

   

We then drove to Uplistsikhe which is a rock-cut town dating back to the Iron Age.

   

 

   

Throughout our day, we encountered many creatures (not to mention the birds I was adding to my lifer list on Merlin).

     

We wrapped up day 1 with a walk to Biisi waterfall by Atensi Sioni church. The waterfall looks ice climable in the winter.

   

Day 2

Our second day started with a morning jog with my dad. Reddit says no one runs in Georgia because of all of the stray dogs. Sure enough, we didn’t run though town because the dogs were out and barking. As soon as we cleared town and started hitting dirt, we were able to jog the steep hill up to the sacrificial church. The morning glow on the flowers and humid air made this run magical.

   

The driver today stopped at this cafe twice to grab a coffee and smoke a cig. I think he just had friends he wanted to chat with!

   

Our destination of the day was Borjomi. We swam in the infamous hot sulfur pools (which, were actually quite pool temperature) and took a few dips in the ice cold river. On the walk out, we passed Prometheus.

     

In the town of Borjomi, you can drink the sulfur water and “they say” it cures all.

   

   

We continued our long day of driving out towards Akhaltsikhe. This town has the Rabati Fortress which was built in the 9th century.

   

   

Day 3

We tried to start the day with another run. This time, we tried a slow jog through town, and were quickly slowed by a local warning us of the dogs again. Immediately after, we were adopted by a sweet dog that followed us on our walk until it was time to go separate ways.

 

Today, our travels took us to Tbilisi. We happened to accidentally be in the city as the new patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church was chosen. There was dense traffic through the city as we drove up to Jvari Monastery to look at the confluence of the rivers. This is where the White and Black Aragvi meet and don’t mix.

     

We then checked off the Chronicles of Georgia. The gossip around the sculptor is that “it has been said that he had been involved with the Russia Government”. While he was building the Chronicles of Georgia, he was simultaneously working on the Friendship Forever monument in Moscow’s Tishinskaya square. The intention is to tell the history of Georgia and to symbolize the friendship between Russia and Georgia. Highly controversial given recent history.

 

Dogs aren’t the only friends you can find in town.

   

We then walked up to the Mother of Georgia statue and through the botanical gardens back to town. The Mother holds a sword in her right hand for enemies and a bowl of wine in her left for welcomed guests. Why choose the sword when you can have some of the oldest and tastiest wine in the world?

   

   

There was also a cheap open air museum that walked through a brief history of Georgia. The highlight for me was the dog of course.

   

Day 4

On day four, we wanted a break from sitting in the car. We decided to explore some of the nearby trails. There aren’t many, but of course, there is a trail to another fortress. It was a lot of fun hiking with my grandparents because they know almost every plant and can tell you about it.

   

 

   

They then took us to a fish hatchery and its restaurant. This place exceeded expectations.

   

 

   

Day 5

Day five through us back into the car to drive east of Tbilisi over to Kvareli. On the way, we stopped by the Ujarma fortress and by Nekresi fortress. In Nekresi, we walked up instead of waiting for the bus which was a nice way to stretch our legs. We also stopped in Telavi to check out the 900 year old giant sycamore tree.

   

   

Our final destination was the Kvareli wine cave. In the Soviet era, winemaking became a leading sector in Georgia. As production scaled, the need for better storage grew. To solve the problem, a group of winemakers and architects decided to build a large network of wine storage tunnels within the Caucasus mountains. The Kvareli Wine Tunnel was opened in 1962 consisting of 15 interconnected tunnels 7.7km long. Only a portion of these tunnels are still in use.

The primary historic way to make Georgian wine is in kvevris. They are large clay vessels ranging from 20 to 10,000 liters in size that are buried in the earth. Some are so big that to clean them, people crawl inside to scrub them. Oxygen may be low inside so to stay safe, whoever was cleaning was required to sing the whole time so that people would know someone was in there and safe.

   

Day 6

The day before our travels back home, we were back in Tbilisi. We hiked around the Turtle Lake hiking area. We walked from town to Mtatsminda Park (an amusement park, haha!), and then traversed the hillside until we dropped by Turtle Lake.

   

   

Besides the stork, the Chukar was my favorite lifer of the trip.

   

   

We even found some mountain bike trails! Georgia has so much riding potential. This country could really capitalize on adventure tourism. This was just a small trail network.

   

   

Fin.