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Planning our trip inside Georgia

So my husband, Irakli Natsvlishvili, despite being a native Georgian, has thoughtfully researched hiring a local guide to take us on a one week discovery tour of the South and Southwest of Georgia. Of course, his Georgian friends were outraged at the idea, and offered to escort us personally or have their relatives escort us. They were also outraged at the price (which seemed reasonable to us, both confirmed tightwads). One of his friends is the founder of a back packer's online forum and couldn't understand why we wouldn't take advantage of various lower-cost alternatives, such as camping or staying with friends of friends of friends.

"My cousin's mother in law has an aunt living in that town. Let's call her and tell her that my classmate from University will be arriving on June 20th with his new American wife! She'll be thrilled to host you! They'll even roast a pig! Oh, so you don't eat meat? Not to worry, they'll roast a lamb instead!"

Now I'm not the typical American, having lived with my family in a cabin on a remote island in Puget Sound, WA every summer, with no electricity or running water. So I have no problem 'roughing it" but I do like to have the luxury of hot running water at least once per day. And, my husband said 'Nix' to the camping. Thus, the guide, who also handles all logistics including lodging, food, 4x4 jeep transportation and ensuring we see all the most interesting sights. So we are seriously considering doing our part in stimulating the Georgian economy and possibly hire the guide and driver. No doubt the guide and driver have cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews, neices and old classmates across the entire country. Remember 6 Degrees of Separation? Well, in a small country like Georgia, with only 4.7 million people, it's more like two degrees, everyone either knows everyone else or knows someone who knows.

For instance, my application for Georgian citizenship had to be signed by the President of Georgia. I submitted it last year and heard nothing. How to expedite? No problem, one of Irakli's friends, Sandro, staying with us as a houseguest, would be in a meeting with some Georgian ministers in New York within a few weeks. He would take my application, and it would be passed from hand to hand until it landed up on the President's desk for signing. Within 6 weeks, I received back all my documents! It's good to have connections, in this case, half the country.

Anyway, back to the trip. It's a good thing we'll have a 4x4 jeep, because with all the feasting that accompanies any trip to Georgia, I'll need the 4 wheel drive just to tote my ever increasing girth from point to point. On my last trip in 2007, I gained 8 lbs in 7 days, and that's on my 5'5, 128lb frame. Of course, the hiking will help offset the effects of the feasting, but there's no point in going to Georgia without enjoying the food.

In case you're interested in all the spots we'll be seeing, below is a partial list and here are a couple of links. In addition to enjoying sight-seeing, we'll also be meeting with some potential partners for expanding our charity work into Georgia.

About Georgia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Georgia

Georgia is thought to be the home of the legend of the Golden Fleece. The myth may have derived from the local practice of using fleeces to sift gold dust from rivers. We'll

Anchient golden jewelry from Vani

be visiting Vani, historical center of the Colchis lowlands and the site of some amazing golden jewelry finds:

http://www.great-adventures.com/destinations/rep_georgia/colchis.html


Our itinerary

Locations/ Destinations: Tbilisi-Borjomi-Akhaltsikhe-Vardzia-Gori

*Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia.
*Borjomi is a town famous for it's parks, several varieties of mineral water and healing spas.
*Akhaltsikhe is a small city of about 25,000 people, close to the border with Turkey.

*Vardzia is the site of the most famous cave city in Georgia. Founded by King George III in 1156, and expanded by his daughter Queen Tamar into a monastery, it became the chief seminary of southwestern Georgia, eventually housing 2,000 monks in 3,000 chambers.

*Gori is a fairly large city which was besieged by Roman General Pompey in 65BC but there was no real civilian settlement here until 1123 when King David the Builder (an important Georgian king who built many cities, castles and churches) established a fortress. It’s also known as the birthplace of Stalin and was bombed by the Russians during last year’s Georgian-Russian war.

After this tour of southwest Georgia, we will spend a few days in Tblisi and then several days in the Caucasian Mountains.

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