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Trip to Georgia, 2011

29 February 2012 • Travel time: with 06 October 2011 on 16 October 2011
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A fresh report on the trip to Georgia of guests from Moscow. As always, no cuts.

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The trip to Georgia happened unexpectedly quickly. Having planned almost nothing, only after reading a few reviews and finding a guide on the Internet, we took tickets and flew to Tbilisi.

Disclaimer: I remind you that everything described in my report is just a personal view of what is happening.

Travel plan.

Georgia is a small country, you can cross it from east to west in 6 hours, from north to south and even shorter. It takes longer to get to the mountainous regions, the roads to which leave much to be desired.

What to see in Georgia?

The whole country is divided into 12 districts (see map).

It is not worth going to Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia.

Eastern Georgia (Kakheti) or the wine valley is famous for its wineries and ancient churches.


In North-Eastern Georgia (Mtskheta-Ananuri-Kazbeki) - the Georgian Military Highway, which starts in Tbilisi and ends in Vladikavkaz (North Ossetia), is a must-see.

In Central Georgia there are large cities of Kutaisi, Gori, Borjomi and ancient cities in the rocks of Vardzia and Uplistsikhe.

North-western Georgia (Svaneti)) is famous for its mountain landscapes (they say that Switzerland pales in comparison with Svaneti : ))

And, of course, they go to the west for oranges, Adjarian khachapuri and the waves of the Black Sea.

a) Preferred type of recreation.

It can be civilized, with day trips from Tbilisi and overnight stays in guesthouses, or it can be done in an "adult" way - with backpacks, overnight stays in tents, and so on.

b) Get there.

There are direct flights from Moscow to Tbilisi from Domodedovo, but they are expensive, about 16-18 thousand rubles. You can fly much cheaper with a transfer in Kyiv, Minsk, Riga, Yerevan, etc. You can buy a ticket for 8-9 thousand rubles there and back.

c) Language problems.

The population of cities (especially people over 40) speaks Russian well. Young people rarely know him and communicate in English more easily. In remote villages, both are worse.

d) Well, of course, the budget.

Getting around the country by public transport and food are still cheap. Upgrading to organized excursions or a car / guide, of course, increases the expense items. More details later.

Russians receive a Georgian visa at Tbilisi airport or other airports. To do this, you need to fill out a questionnaire (be sure to write down the address in Georgia in advance, which you write in the questionnaire. No one will check it. You can simply write the address of any large Tbilisi hotel that you will never see). , pay 35 dollars or in rubles or Lari and the border guard tells you personally - Welcome to Georgia (good manners work even for persons on duty).

What to take with you.


If you are just going to get acquainted with the nature and architecture of Georgia, bring casual, simple clothes, a sweater and jacket in case of a trip to the mountains, and most importantly, shoes that are comfortable for long hikes. Don't forget your sunglasses too!

If the purpose of your trip is trekking, bring everything with you, from good shoes and fleeces to tents, sleeping bags and gas burners.

Guide and maps.

Strange as it may sound, finding high-quality information sources about Georgia proved to be difficult.

After the latest military events, Russian search engines "do not find" Georgian sources (for example, Georgia does not exist in the list of countries at all), otherwise what they manage to find is dated 2007 and may turn out to be outdated.

English sources slip references to their state of Georgia.

The 2008 Lonely Planet guidebook has the main important information and inscriptions in Georgian, if you need them, you can buy it in tourist bookstores in Tbilisi, for example, on Rustaveli Avenue in Prospero Books. There is also a rare edition of the 2009 BRADT guide in Russian, and we used it.

The Russian-speaking Georgian forum Nukri was very useful.

The Adjarian region has a good site with maps and distance tables, but we did not have time to see this part of Georgia.

New colorful website of the Department of Tourism at the Ministry of Economic Development of Georgia(English).

The biggest plus of this site found is a high-quality map of Georgia, which could not be found anywhere else on the Web.

And, of course, no one canceled Wikitravel.

National features of Georgia.

It is difficult to run into low-quality food - Georgians cook with feeling and dedication.

They will feed you tasty and plentiful food both in an expensive restaurant and in a cheap cafe, in the basement. The difference will be in the well-trainedness of the waiters and in the bill for the meal.

It is better, of course, if a guide will communicate for you, who will make an order and make sure that there are no problems.

Accommodation.

In some large cities (I counted only 5 of them) there are expensive hotels. If your budget is not designed for this, then the most suitable option both in the capital and on the periphery is "Home stay" - widespread in this country.


You are received by the family in their house, equipped as a boarding house with rooms for tourists.

For this short period you live their life, eat homemade food, become witnesses of ordinary everyday home joys.

In Tbilisi, "Home stay" usually includes breakfast, outside of it, the price may include two meals a day (breakfast and dinner).

There is a certain color and a certain lack of personal space in this.

On the one hand, in the evening you can easily ask for a cup of hot tea, on the other hand, it is embarrassing to return home late, because the hostess does not go to bed until you have returned, waiting to open the door and let you into the house.

I would like to believe that this hospitality will not dry up and will not be exploited by evil tourists.

Despite the fact that the country is small, the complex terrain makes it difficult to easily move around it. The most common travel option in Georgia is a star-shaped trajectory: leaving one point and returning to Tbilisi, leaving for the next and returning, and so on.

The most budgetary way to travel around the country is local minibuses. Inexpensive, but not very comfortable. They reach many popular tourist places, but, of course, not all.

Another way, independent - a car for hire. If you are going to go to the mountains, then you can not do without a jeep. Expensive. Gasoline is also not cheap.

On this trip, of course, we managed to see only a small part of this beautiful and generous country. But I think we'll be back...

It would be unforgivable to write about a trip to Georgia without touching on the topic of the feast. Moreover, in my opinion, it deserves a separate post.

Toastmaster

The word "Tamada" was familiar to us from childhood, but in some distorted concept. The master of ceremonies was usually called the host of wedding celebrations. No, we in no way detract from its importance, but the difference between the script of an average wedding host and the sincere speech of a Georgian toastmaster (who, of course, can also lead a wedding) is huge, so let's dig deeper.


"Tamada" ("toastmasters") comes from the Georgian "tamadoba", and in translation literally means - "seniority during the feast. " The choice of toastmaster largely determines the success of the event, and even if it is a dinner in a very small circle, the attitude remains serious and responsible.

The tamada is usually assigned to an older man for several reasons: it is an honorary title; the older the toastmaster, the more experience he has and there is much to learn from him; and no less important - the toastmaster should be more sober than all his guests until the end of the meal, : ).

The art of toastmaster in Georgia is absorbed by young men from childhood. First, carefully listening to the grandfather, father and older brothers. Later, making independent attempts (each of his toasts toastmaster can ask any of the guests to continue). The leader's virtuosity is determined not so much by eloquence as by sincerity. “You can be brief, but speak from the heart, ” said the toastmaster at the table, passing the toast to the guest from abroad.

The main task of the toastmaster is to skillfully manage the feast, the order at the table, the sequence of toasts so that the guests are full, satisfied and moderately drunk, and not fall under the table after several toasts.

Toasts made at the table always take on a personal character. Georgians do not drink for slogans, they drink with their guests for topics dear to their hearts. A skilled toastmaster should lead the meal in such a way as not to offend anyone at the table, even those people whom he sees for the first time. Therefore, if he has a few minutes before the start of the meal, he makes inquiries about the guests, who often find themselves in a slight shock from the wishes and praises uttered to them.

There are obligatory posts (the order and obligation vary depending on the geographical area).


It is impossible for an inexperienced person to remember them (not always a beginner is able to hear them all, more often falls under the table earlier), so we drank little, wrote down more: a toast greeting, congratulations on the meeting, a wish for general well-being; then - a toast-congratulation on the celebrated event; toasts to the world; for parents; for brothers and sisters; for children; for friends; for those who have left this world (standing); for a life; for love; for women; for the owners.

A Georgian feast without wine is not a feast. A Georgian without home-made, own-made wine is not a Georgian. This statement on my part may sound too loud, but go to Georgia and you will be convinced of its correctness.

For a traditional Georgian feast, wine is served in jugs. It can be a beautiful clay vessel, or maybe glass, the point is not in the material of the jug, but in its volume - on average, 2-4 liters. Such a vessel is usually drunk for two.

Of course, it is accompanied by a plentiful meal, long eloquent toasts and so on. Yes, and wine is usually drunk white, it is easier for perception, especially by untrained tourists.

And now the simple math that one of the guides taught us: on average, we invite guests 2-4 times a week, we drink 3-4 jugs, which means we need to harvest 2 tons of grapes a year. You heard right, from 2 tons of grapes, the average Georgian prepares wine for a year for the consumption of his family and close friends!

Of course, there are exceptions, but whenever possible, everyone tries to make their own wine, at least 500 kg : ).

It should be noted that in order to process 2 tons of grapes (which are not grown, but purchased in season), it does not require too much area or many tools, it requires great desire and, of course, skill.

I will not even try to give a list of Georgian wines produced here, I will give only a few tested ones: Sapiravi, Tsinandali, Akhasheni, Kindzmarauli, Khvanchkara, Mukuzani, Kakhuri, Ojaleshi, Napareuli, Kondoli, Rkatsiteli and others.

For me personally, it was a discovery that Khvanchkara is a blend of Alexandrouli and Mujuretuli grapes grown in a certain area, in Racha, and not a grape variety.

And Kindzmarauli is made from the Saperavi grape variety cultivated in the Kindzmarauli microzone of the Kvareli region of Kakheti.


So the chances of drinking real Khvanchkara in Russia, especially now, you understand, are small. And it tastes divine! Red wine is drunk just like that with friends, but a little, a couple of glasses. At the meal they drink white, and straw-colored.

We also managed to find out that 2 methods of winemaking are practiced in Georgia - European, to which we are accustomed, and Kakhetian (in this case, along with the pulp of grapes, both seeds and small branches of a bunch go into wine). The second method is easier for home production, it tastes a little bitter.

In the villages, wine is stored in huge jugs buried in cellars. Every year before the opening of the season, the youngest member of the family has a great responsibility to wash these jugs clean, otherwise the wine will turn sour. Why the youngest - to crawl into the throat of a jug : ).

To be honest, before the trip to Georgia, we were already familiar with the national cuisine.

Georgian feast is generous. The hostess rarely cooks everything herself, she is usually helped by relatives / friends. The table is laid plentifully and does not empty until the guests reach the state of filling in the truest sense of the word.

It is difficult to imagine a traditional feast without:

Lavash, suluguni cheese, khachapuri (Imeretian or Adjarian) - puff pastry flavored with suluguni cheese, butter and egg.

Khinkali (something between dumplings and manti). Local sources claim that the right khinkali is made from lamb, tail fat, herbs and spices. In cafes and restaurants, they are usually served with mixed minced beef and pork, you can also order beef and lamb.

At home (in Tbilisi at least) khinkali is no longer cooked, it's much easier to go down to khinkali : ).

PHOTO ABOUT KHINKALI

The secret of making khinkali turned out to be the skill of sculpting them quickly. The fact is that the juiciness of this dish lies in the liquid minced meat, which must be quickly wrapped in the arms of rolled dough and just as quickly boiled and eaten.

Meat is also served on the table without fail - it can be shish kebab (veal or pork) or a meat dish in a pot (I was taught to cook Chanakh).


Chicken dishes are also present - Satsivi (chicken in nut sauce), Chekmeruli (chicken in garlic sauce) and there are probably many more.

Beans (lobio) are very popular - Lobio soup or Lobio salad, as well as various snacks from eggplant, mushrooms. Tkemali sauce (from small plum or cherry plum) and an abundance of fresh herbs are a must on the Georgian table.

Of course, it is impossible to try all the variety of national cuisine in a few days. Everything described above is what we managed to try during several visits to restaurants and cafes : )

Vadim picked us up from the airport, he or his car meets all the guests, this is included in the price, even if the plane arrives at night.

He is “a man of Slavic appearance in the prime of life, ” as he jokingly wrote about himself.

We learned about Vadim from the reports of his former guests, all the reviews are absolutely positive, looking ahead, I will say that we agree with all the positive characteristics given by the predecessors to him personally and to their entire wonderful family (he and his wife Inga, their parents and already adults children. Their houses are warm and cozy. His house almost always has guests from all over our former huge friendly country. It is just as interesting to communicate with them, and you will feel at home, while being in the city on the veranda with a vineyard. Now we also have friends in Georgia.

An important nuance - Vadim does not impose his excursions, but we are waiting, so to speak, for a request from guests. Therefore, you should not be shy, but discuss your plans and expectations with him, what you can and should see and how to do it better. And then you can do a lot in that short time of your trip to Georgia.

Now, following the results of our trip, I can say with confidence that without his participation we would not have been able to do and see even half of the same.

We watched Tbilisi with Vadim's son - he conducts walking tours of old Tbilisi.


Tbilisi is a warm city, that's how its name is translated. And it is true. The city is really full of unexpected and pleasant impressions, there are old streets with many balconies, and new modern buildings of this millennium.

Tbilisi is a rather large city, but in the center, where the most interesting things are concentrated, you can walk on foot. Shota Rustaveli Avenue begins with the monument of the same name and ends with Freedom Square. Fringed with trees, it is in no way inferior to European avenues and it is very pleasant to walk along it. Theaters, museums, cafes, shops, evening concerts of "live" jazz - everything to spend the morning, afternoon or evening interesting.

There are many functioning churches in the city.

I will not list the squares and temples that have attracted our attention. Just walk along the avenue, admire the works of local artists on the banks of the Mtkvari, have breakfast khachapuri in the waters of Lagidze, and then do not forget to explore the small streets - they have all the local flavor. For lunch, go to the Khinkali house, and in the evening listen to jazz on Chardin Street.

The next day, in order not to get hung up on the center, visit the central church of the Holy Trinity (sameba), climb the old fortress of Narikala and refresh yourself in a sulfur bath.

We also recommend looking at the Pantheon (the burial place of many famous figures, an old church and an excellent view of the city) and miasminda park (around the television tower, we have not mastered it).

We went to explore different regions of Georgia in the company of two more tourists from Ukraine, Sergey and his son Matvey, a big hello to them too!

Our itinerary for the first day was as follows:

Tbilisi - Fortress - Telavi - Ikalto - Alaverdi - Gremi - Kindzmarauli factory in Kvareli - Sighnaghi - Tbilisi.

It is clear that it is impossible to see everything in one day, it is better to rent a house in a Georgian village for a month in the summer, eat fruit and try wine from all the neighbors of the village, but that's for another time. This time we had only one day, but we managed a lot.


There was an option to go on our own, but I wouldn’t dare to carry a car in Georgia, unpredictable drivers come across and large holes can unexpectedly come across on the roads.

You can’t get around everything on minibuses in one day, you just don’t have time.

Our route that day ran through the historical part of Georgia - Kakheti, the birthplace of winemaking on a global scale.

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Personally, I have one very vivid association with this city - a phone call from the film by George Danelia Mimino : ). Of course, we looked at it again upon arrival.

We saw a lot of acquaintances from the trip in the film again.

The ruins of the ancient academy of the 6th century, where Sh. Rustaveli studied, the church of the 6th century, the grave of Zenon Ikaltoysky and Arsen Ikaltoysky, the mentor of David the Builder.

Monastery for men, the central cathedral church of Kakheti St. George 11th century The interior space is the grandest in the cargo. architecture. An outstanding monument of Georgian architecture.

A stunningly beautiful building. Unfortunately, they are not allowed to take pictures from the inside, we must act quickly before anyone sees ...But you can from the outside.

Archangel Church, 16th century , fortress, residence of Kakhetian kings. Tower of Queen Darejan.

Kindzmarauli factory in Kvareli.

Wine tasting:

It's a taste! Remembered for a long time! You can sit and sit and sit! As always it was fast! We chose and bought several bottles of excellent wine and also local cognac and grape vodka.

A tour of the factory - in the company of the director of the factory, we quickly looked at the workshops, and the cellars with different containers of wine, I wanted to go to the table already! ...

After that we went to have a meal. We ate right in the restaurant on the territory of the plant, it has a separate entrance from the street. The workers of the plant, who remained after the previous shift, also had a snack there.

it was a real celebration of the stomach - the wine was brought immediately from the winery, and the owners of the refectory pleased us with wonderful appetizers and main dishes.


After a hearty meal, we moved on.

We arrived there already at night, so we only looked at the central streets.

The city is famous for its fortress of the same name, which is included in the list of the most famous and largest fortresses in Georgia. The walls of the Signakh fortress miraculously survived and today surround the old part of the city and go far beyond the city boundaries.

Here Griboyedov in 1829 played the piano to his future wife Nina Chavchavadze ...

But we did not have time to get there, probably next time.

Church of Kvelatsminda

The provincial town of Gurjaani near Telavi is famous for a unique monument of medieval Georgian architecture - the Kvelatsminda Church - the only two-domed church in Georgia. She looks rather modest. A gray stone temple with a cruciform facade and a rectangular plan. In the middle of the temple, right from the roof, two small square towers covered with umbrella domes rise absolutely symmetrically. The only entrance to the church - a small door in an arched opening - is located from the cruciform facade and is raised quite high above the ground. Even without external decoration, the temple looks very impressive, because, having practically retained its original appearance, it carries the spirit of antiquity.

In many places, massive reconstruction has taken place or is underway. It should be noted that many cultural monuments in Georgia are in need of reconstruction and it is encouraging that this is slowly starting to be done.

And a few words about the huge jugs that often appear in photographs. In earlier periods, certain family events (such as the birth of a child or a funeral) were celebrated in churches. Huge jugs of wine were also brought there. After they were emptied by the guests, either because of laziness or for some other reason, they were left there. And so they are to this day...

We returned home at midnight...

Our itinerary for the second day:

Tbilisi-Jvavi-Mtskheta-Ananuri-Gudauri-Kazbeki-Tbilisi


In the morning we leave Tbilisi by car, visit the temple in Jvavi, a temple on the top of a mountain at the confluence of the Kura and Aragvi rivers, near Mtskheta (Georgia). One of the outstanding monuments of medieval Georgian architecture (built in 586/587).

It was in this place that Nino of Cappadocia placed the Holy Cross, which marked the adoption of Christianity by Georgia

This place was described by Lermontov in his poem "Mtsyri". Today, everything in Jvari has remained the same as during the visit of the Russian classic.

"...A few years ago,

Where, merging, they make noise,

Hugging like two sisters

Jets of Aragva and Kura,

There was a monastery.

Because of the mountain

And now he sees a pedestrian

Collapsed gate pillars

And the towers, and the church vault ..."

Then we visited Mtskheta, a nice little town with the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. It was built in the 11th century (1010.1029) Under the large arch is the legendary “Life-Giving Pillar”, which, according to legend, stands over the Chiton of Jesus Christ. In front of the altar there is a burial place of Georgian kings, kings of the Bagrationi dynasty and others.

Further, our path lay along the Georgian Military Highway, built by Russian engineers at the end of the 18th century to connect Georgia with the Russian Empire.

Ananuri is a fortress built in the 16th-17th centuries for the defense of the Georgian Military Highway.

Gudauri - ski resort

Observation deck on the Cross Pass (altitude 2395m), the narrowest point for crossing on the Caucasus Range.

At this moment, the rivers begin to flow in the other direction, and then we drove parallel to the young Terek, which was already going north towards Russia. Less than 50 km remained to Vladikavkaz.

The end point of our trip was the village of Kazbeki and the Trinity Church in Gergeti, standing at the foot of Kazbek at an altitude of 2170 meters (built in the 14th century).

Georgians generally like to build churches and crosses on the hills and high in the mountains, so that they can be seen from afar. And the Gergeti Church is an ideal example of this. From here you have a fantastic view of the surrounding mountains, on the settlement far below. Pilgrims climb here on a steep mountain on foot and some even barefoot.


It was no longer Vadim who drove us up the mountain to the church, but the jeep of his local driver friend, because the road up was already very steep and in some places covered with large boulders.

There we met the sunset.

Then there was already dinner in a small village on the way back, where everything was prepared especially for us fresh and, of course, with Kakhetian straw wine.

The way back again through the pass passed under the moonlight. Mountains, moon, romance...

In principle, you can come to Kazbeki yourself by minibus or by taxi from the Didube metro station in Tbilisi (about 130 km one way, but the second half of the road is in poor condition). Now you can spend the night, in a cafe we ​ ​ met tourists from Europe, who enthusiastically drank and ate mountain food ...

Next, we had a rest day in Tbilisi, which we used to visit the Ethnographic Museum, where houses from different parts of Georgia are collected.

Several wooden houses were brought here from western Georgia, and stone ones from eastern Georgia. Inside the houses, the original decoration of village life is collected. There are few visitors and tourists, women, having learned that we are from Russia, opened all the houses to us with great cordiality and showed us how Georgian women lived ...

The next day, Vadim drove us south from Tbilisi to the border with Turkey.

Tbilisi–Vardzia-Abasturmani-Borjomi-Gori-Uplistsikhe – Tbilisi

Vardzia is a cave city carved into the rock in 1150-1200. Unfortunately, most of what was built was destroyed by an earthquake around 1200. However, now monks have settled here and tourists are open (there is even a hotel and a restaurant at the foot of the mountain). Do not forget to bring a flashlight with you so that you can walk through the labyrinths not in complete darkness!...

Abasturmani

We spent the night in a guesthouse in this fabulous place, where there is also an observatory, but we could not see it there, because.


5 hours toured the living and utility rooms of those years, the royal hall of Queen Tamara, fragments of the theater. Without a guide, little could be understood from the local architecture of 1000 years ago ...There are only a small handful of such cities hollowed out in the rock in the world, and there are not even one of them in Georgia!

In the evening we had dinner in Tbilisi at the Taglaura restaurant, just lick your fingers! Barely left? We could sit at the table all night ...

Travel Tips:

-Schedule more time! In one week, you won’t even see half of Georgia, even a fast move, we saw only eastern Georgia, the western one is still ahead of us!

I advise everyone to discuss and plan the route together with those who know the country and where and when to go.

Special thanks to our guide Vadim for his interesting stories and cheerful mood, and especially for planning and implementing trips outside of Tbilisi, without him we would not have been able to see and enjoy half of what we had time!...

All good impressions and see you in Georgia!

Vasily and Ekaterina

Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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