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As soon as we cross the border from Turkey to Georgia it feels different. On the Turkish side we were in snow covered mountains with temperatures of -2.5C passing small stone houses with turf roofs. In Georgia we suddenly seem to be in amongst very green mountains, riding along tree lined avenues past grand old houses which have seen better days. Everything is very neat and tidy and most of the houses have frame works out front for growing vines.
Georgia is where Stalin was born and his house is not far off our official route so we sneak off the 'motorway' into Gori for a quick look. Gori is a big town and there's a strange reaction for the locals when we ask for directions. They are almost trying to pretend we are not there, they seem scared of us “they are foreigners, we wont understand them”, when we insist and they recognise 'Stalin' they very timidly point us in the right direction. We ask 4 times and always get the same response but each time they send us the right way and we end up by a large park at the centre of which is the tiny cottage,
where Stalin spent the 1st 4 years of his life. They really glorify Stalin in Georgia, its a case of poor local boy make it, his statue is everywhere.
Its a glorious day so we decide to circle south of Gori to Uplistsikhe an enormous cave city from 1000BC complete with ancient sun temples and more 10th century churches. What's most impressive is the view from the top out over the Mtkvari River plains with mountains in the distance.
Its now 4:00 and about 80km to our hotel in Tbilisi. There's two choices; backtrack 15km to Gori to pick up the main highway or continue along this back-road which will take us past Mtskheta, the spiritual heart of Georgia and on into Tbilisi. The locals seem happy that this road goes to Tbilisi so we continue along it. Initially its nice fast tarmac trough neat little villages but then splits with the tarmac section heading off to a totally different location and no signs for Tbilisi. The locals out here in the countryside and much more friendly than those in Gori and there's a lot of internal debate as to whether we should take the tarmac road or
Gori - Stalin's house
well where he spent the first 4 years of his lifethe dirt road, eventually the majority agree on the dirt road so off we go looking for a left turn in 4km. We never really find it.
The next group of helpful locals are very enthusiastically pointing at our map and trying to tell us something complicated but with our extensive Russian vocabulary of 3 words we cant quite understand what they are saying. Finally one of them leaps into his Lada and tells us to follow him. He should be in the World Rally Championship - at one hell of a speed, performing impressive slides round the bends he takes us along the big dirt road, to a little dirt road to a grass track across the rolling green plains. At the top of a small rise he stops and indicates that we needed to continue along the grass track and that eventually we will join the Tbilisi road. We must look very sceptical because he keeps repeating it and insisting its right. Anyhow we are now in one big rut heading across the grass so turning the bike round to backtrack will be a challenge so we just shrug our shoulders and keep heading off into the
distance through a couple of herds of sheep with very sharp twisty horns. Sure enough after a couple of km we come to a gravel road and as instructed turn right towards Tbilisi. This is the absolute middle of nowhere, there is no other traffic on the road but round the next corner we come across a police car & 3 police men who look exceedingly surprised to see us. After establishing that (a) we are English (b) we seem to know that this is the road to Tbilisi they just send us on our way.
The gravel road just keeps on and on going, at least its a good road and we are making reasonable speed. However, its getting late and we have no idea how far it is to Tbilisi so we decide to stop and phone the others to let them know we are ok but will be a bit late. Two local kids come to sit and watch the funny foreigners making a phone call. As we go to set off they are waving wildly at us and pointing at the bike. We hesitate and they are very, very insistent so we get off to
check it out - yes we have a puncture in the rear tyre. Out comes the puncture repair kit we have carried for 30,000 miles but it turns out 'we' have never used it or had a practice run so I'm stood reading out the instructions while Edwin tried to follow with each step being closely monitored by our two local helpers. After 15 minutes we have a plugged tyre and are ready to roll. After another couple of km the road turns to tarmac and a few km further we get to a junction and, at long last, a sign to Tbilisi
We pass Mtskheta, the ancient capital and spiritual heart of Georgia. Its two grand churches are clearly visible but its starting to get dark and the traffic chaos of Tbilisi awaits us so there's no time to explore. Our little diversions means we don't roll into Tbilisi until 7:30. We can see the road down to our hotel but its on the opposite side of the road, across 4 lanes of traffic and we are by a no left turn sign. There's 2 options: re-enter the one way system and have another try or plant the
... then deteriorates a lot...
that's the rally driving Lada up ahead of us - we were struggling to keep up with him bike in the middle of the road next to the policeman and say we want to go down there. We go for option 2 and the very nice police man just steps out, stops the 4 lanes of traffic and waves us through.
Tbilisi seems like quite a modern happening place. Of course arriving at 19:30 and leaving at 08:00 we didn't get to see much of it. The Old Town has narrow cobbled, twisty streets with grand old buildings and lots of domed churches all illuminated at night. They provide a magnificent backdrop to the G&T terrace. Its definitely a place to come back to.
That's it one day in Georgia and we are headed for the Azerbaijan border in the poring rain so we don't see much of the countryside. Rather worryingly the sign approaching the border says “Azerbaijan Border - Good Luck” !!!
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Paul
non-member comment
Just don't tell Jeff...
... that you didn't need his help with the puncture!