გამარჯობა (hello) from Tbilisi, Georgia
Tbilisi established in c.479 A.D.
Tbilisi Population: 1,118,035
Country of Georgia Population: 3,720,400
Together with our Swedish friends (Jan & Lilli) and our Polish-American friends (Piotr & Ania) we traveled to Tbilisi, Georgia for a weekend getaway and it was awesome!
We arrived at our very unique hotel (The Old Tiflis Boutique Hotel - www.tiflis.ge) in the heart of Old Tbilisi and enjoyed a few drinks on the balcony with an amazing view of the Narikala Fortress, the ancient, sulfur bath houses and quaint homes along the mountainside. Fantastic spot! Our hotel, if anyone wants to go was a quaint place in a fantastic location. I mean, just look at this view from our hotel!
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| photo from internet |
Bath house roof with the domes and the Narikala Fortress lit up on top of the hill. Absolutely gorgeous!
Upon recommendations from friends who had previously been to Tbilisi, we went out to dinner at Tsiskvili Restaurant - highly recommend it. Great atmosphere, food and show.
The waterfalls within the restaurant grounds
The fabulous dancers and singers entertaining us during dinner
Great food with reasonable prices
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| We put the "fun" in funicular (within the restaurant grounds) |
The gang finished off the evening back on our balcony for a night cap... or two.
Day 2: Saturday, May 13th - private tour
While we waited for our driver we couldn't help but snap some shots of the gorgeous area surrounding our hotel... I really loved this area with the roof of the bath houses - so unique.
View of fortress from balcony
Our interesting hotel
Craig posing on our balcony... the two rooms above us shared a balcony, but their balconies were quite a bit larger than ours. Still, we all managed to enjoy ourselves up on our little balcony - just enough room for the 6 of us.
The balcony - the brick on this building was unique - a very narrow brick with lots of mortar. We need to know the formula for their mortar way back when - seems to last way longer than the mortar today.
Road trip! Off to Sighnaghi and Telavi to see 2 wineries and a monastery
Cows on the road - a common site here
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| Meat for sale, get your meat here (on the side of the road) |
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| Thanks Ania for the cute picture! |
Below is a "Tone" - a circular brick-lined oven dug into the floor with a gas or wood fire at the bottom to cook the bread that is slapped onto the sides. It is the Georgian version of the tandoor. The tone makes long, flat loaves of bread called Shoti. Lilli bought 3 loaves for us at this little hut on the side of the road on our way to Sighnaghi. Yum!
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| The dough - not sure how sanitary, but ok, we'll go with it. |
This lady was awesome!
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| She was a sweet lady - grabbing me for a photo | |
love, love, love this field with the poppies growing in among the grapevines!
Ania's shot of the same field - gorgeous! We wished we had stopped and taken a photo with us standing in this field... 😢
There are SO many stray dogs in Georgia...😕 we were, of course, sad to see so many homeless dogs, but they actually appeared to be fairly well-fed. We stole some meat from each breakfast to give to the dogs near our hotel.
On our way to Sighnaghi I had to use the washroom, so we stopped at a gas station where Jan just HAD to buy some wine to get the day started - it was BAD, but he enjoyed that and his chocolate croissants!
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| Here we are drinking our "gas station" wine in the parking lot! |
One of the first main stops was a town called Sighnaghi - otherwise known as the City of Love because many people come from all over just to get married here. It's a town in the easternmost part of the wine-growing region of Kakheti. It overlooks the Caucasus Mountains and on a clear day has beautiful views. Unfortunately, we had a cloudy day, but this is what the view would have looked like on a clearer day
Bodbe Monastery complex above and below
Above is the Bodbe Monastery of St. Nino - a Georgian Orthodox monastic complex. Originally built in the 9th century, but the present day structure has been significantly remodeled. It now functions as a nunnery and is a major pilgrimage site in Georgia due to it's association with St. Nino, the 4th century female evangelist of Georgians (she baptized Georgians), whose relics are shrined here.
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| Lovely felt slippers for sale |
Next stop: Khareba Winery
In this winery is a 7.7 km (according to their website - I think the guide said 8 km's) tunnel carved in the granite/shale Caucasus Mountain range. The tunnel ("gvirabi" in Georgian) was opened in 1962 as a winery. Prior to that it was government owned and wine from the entire Kakheti region was stored here. The tunnels consist of two main parallel tunnels and 13 smaller, perpendicular ones. The temperature holds steady in the tunnels at 10-11 degrees C. Wine is aged here in oak barrels, but traditionally in Georgia, the wine was kept in specially-shaped clay pots. We enjoyed a short wine-tasting here. Although the tunnel was wonderful to see, we weren't so impressed with the actual wine here.
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| This is a large pot used for making chacha - a very strong (between 40-65%) Georgian grape-pomace brandy. It is said to have medicinal purposes - rub it on your stomach for a stomach ache or rub it on your face to cure acne. |
Next we were taken to a 2nd winery where we enjoyed a traditional Georgian lunch outside. Because we just hired a guide off the street and didn't have a written itinerary (this is so unlike what Craig & I usually do, but we went with the flow and it worked out) I'm still not 100% sure what this place is called...Duruji Valley Winery - or Kindzmarauli Corporation.
We skipped the winery tour, but truly enjoyed the wine tasting here - also a much better price for tasting. We all purchased some wine after this tasting.
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| Cheers Jan & Lilli! |
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| Part of the winery complex - inner courtyard |
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| Craig didn't like that wine apparently! lol |
Hmmm... wine tasting
Our lovely guide for the tasting
Who could resist sticking their head in the barrel for a photo??? Apparently everyone else but me!
Why not feed a stray dog on our way back?
Nekresi Monastery Complex - aerial view from internet
Lastly we stopped at a fantastic place on the top of a hill with wonderful views - Nekresi Monastery Complex. We took a shuttle up VERY steep switch-backs and had the place to ourselves. The monastery is located in the Kakheti region of Eastern Georgia on the slopes of Mt. Gareja. Apparently the border of part of the complex is being disputed between Georgia and Azerbaijan. It was founded in the 6th century. This is the kind of places I love to see - so unique.
Gorgeous views across the valley
The clay wine pots buried in the ground - apparently this is extremely common in most people's homes in Georgia - very interesting and wonderful!
Craig crawled into where the grapes are smashed to make the wine
I just love ancient architecture and in particular I seem to like monasteries
Craig catered to my love of this type of doorway to take these shots
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| The dudes |
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| It wasn't that high Dad, I promise |
We encountered sheep or cows on the road several times on our journey - absolutely love it - so interesting to Canadians - we would never see this. The farmers seemed to be out for a walk with the animals a lot on our journey back to Tbilisi.
Ahhh, there's the white-capped mountains we wanted to see!
It was a long, 12-hour journey to see the wineries and monasteries, but it was a fantastic day spent with fun people!
Day 3: self-guided tour around Tbilisi
Jan & Lilli did their own, less hectic tour and we met up with them on our balcony at 5 pm
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| Ania took this adorable shot - I'm not exactly sure where, but I really love it - so authentic and sweet |
View of our hotel through the gardens
Same gardens looking away from hotel
Random statue around town
Feeding more dogs - this one was adorable and so gentle, but he wanted to follow Craig home
They followed Craig for quite a while...
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| 2 guys and their maps get us around the city |
Yay! More things to climb on!
Yikes! Scary stairs to an apartment building
Craig getting his $3 haircut by TWO ladies! lol
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| Love ya Ania for your spontaneity and your ability to make your own fun everywhere you go! |
Ania's flea market find - linen table runner
The beautiful couple
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| Craig buys his hat |
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| Ania joins a chess match on the street |
Ania, you're awesome just grabbing this little guy out of his group of friends to take a picture with him! He was embarrassed, but did it anyhow.
Another interesting Ania shot of a lady selling her produce
Our lunch - with the crabby waitress. Ania was NOT happy with her "Greek" salad
Another great shot by Ania of the fruit being sold on the streets and the "churchkhela" - candle-shaped candy sold everywhere. It is nuts (almonds, walnuts, hazel nuts and sometimes raisens) threaded on a string then dipped in thickened grape juice and dried in the shape of a sausage.
The Georgian version of the Hollywood walk of fame starring Craig & Piotr
Another Ania shot - a bit of a museum of old wagons with the clay wine pots near the flea market
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| This was the sign for the restaurant near our hotel that we went to after our self-guided tour of Tbilisi. It's a great place with a nice patio and live entertainment. They also make all their own alcohol. Eating out and drinking in restaurants in Tbilisi is SO inexpensive! |
Dancer at the restaurant - she's on the roof of the sulfur bath house
The patio area we at a fabulous meal in.
The show continued into the evening with the great view of the church in the background
Craig and his new friend, one of the dancers
The roof of the bath house - you could look down into the bathhouse and potentially see naked people! Yes, I looked! 😱
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| It got a little chilly walking back to our hotel |
Kinkali anyone? The felt version of a traditional Georgian dumpling called a Kinkali. It's a pasta with minced meat filling. The meat filing is uncooked when assembled, so when it is cooked the juices of the meat are trapped inside the dumpling. So, to eat it, you must hold the nub, bite into it (never use a knife and fork - it is considered impolite) and suck the juice out. You do not eat the part that you hold on to. It is discarded and is also a way of showing how many you've eaten.
More cocktails were consumed on the balcony following the fabulous dinner and show
Can't beat the view. Jan and the ladies I mean! lol
Getting a little later in the evening on our last night in Tbilisi
Last day in Georgia...plane leaves at 6 pm
Craig & I took off on our own to explore the church and the Narikala fortress
View of some of the modern structures of Tbilisi from the church - the part in the middle is the cable car embarkation area
Modern pedestrian bridge
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| I thought this brick & stone wall was really interesting |
Picture taken by a man from Kuwait inside the cable car. We actually got up in the cable car for free. We saved the cost of the card you have to buy (which includes public transport) and then the 1 USD pp to ride the cable car. The Kuwait men were on a tour and their guide paid for us - how nice of her! We tried to pay her, but she wouldn't let us. There are wonderful people in this world!
Guess what Mom & Dad?? Yes, you guessed it, I'm going to climb up on that wall behind me
Here I go!
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| Ok, that WAS pretty high! |
We met back up with our friends to go have a bite to eat before heading to the airport
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| Why didn't you tell me we were bending our left knee??!! 😸 |
A great lunch in the square by our hotel and then it was time to go. Sad to leave Tbilisi... :(
Next we were taken to a 2nd winery where we enjoyed a traditional Georgian lunch outside. Because we just hired a guide off the street and didn't have a written itinerary (this is so unlike what Craig & I usually do, but we went with the flow and it worked out) I'm still not 100% sure what this place is called...Duruji Valley Winery - or Kindzmarauli Corporation. 
