Glorious Georgia

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We thought the drama on the bus from Thesseloniki to Istanbul would be hard to top but we were unfortunately wrong. The bus drive from Istanbul to Tbilisi is very chaotic. We have no idea what the drama is about but there are a lot of people screaming at each other, a few tears and an intimidated attendee trying to keep the peace. We try to sleep but the man near us starts thrashing around violently. We jump up to help him, thinking he is having a heart attack but he eventually comes around and explains that he suffers from bad night terrors. He falls asleep again and during another episode his neighbour accidently gets a good punch in the face. The bus ride is supposed to take twenty five hours but ends up taking thirty one. We arrive pretty exhausted and too late to check into a hostel. We eventually find a very tacky but reasonably cheap hotel that will let us in. We hope the capital, Tbilisi, has more to show then what we have seen finding the hotel but in all honesty we have no idea what to expect.

The next morning we still have no response on couch surfing for a place to stay so we venture further into town to find a hostel. The city is actually really nice. Parks full of art and good quality cafes. We find a cosy and inexpensive hostel that’s great. We meet a lot of other travellers on similar journeys who have many suggestions on where we should go, but our first job is to sort out our visas for Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. First we go to the Kazakhstan Embassy and after running around frantically to make sure we have everything we get our applications in. Regrettably we are also a bit thick and realize that while we are applying for Kazakhstan they will obviously need to keep our passports so we will have to wait before we can do Azerbaijan. After further research we realise we also need an invitation for Azerbaijan and it will be the whole China Visa nightmare all over again. After a long brainstorming of what we should do we conclude our only option is to end our overland travel and fly to Kazakhstan in a few weeks. This gives us more time to explore Georgia and also lets us go to Armenia. We keep hearing good things about Armenia but because Azerbaijan and Armenia are enemies we wouldn’t have been allowed through Azerbaijan with an Armenian stamp. Now with Azerbaijan off the list we have an opportunity.

We surprisingly don´t feel too downhearted that we won’t be sticking to our original plan of travelling solely overland. We both feel it was starting to feel like a race and we were missing out on really taking things in.

Content, we head off for a swim in a nearby lake. Eric spots a Georgian man wearing a T shirt with the German flag on it and strikes up a conversation. He is very friendly and enthusiastic to discuss his country’s history with us.. He is deeply religious and very proud of the long standing history of Christianity in Georgia. We tell him we will go to Gori tomorrow, It is the birthplace of Stalin which a few Georgians state quite enthusiastically but we are going primarily to see Uplistsihke, a cave city in the mountains with a few of the structures dating as far back as around 1000 B.C. Our new friend Nugo is apparently from a village near from the caves and will also be in the area tomorrow celebrating his family’s name day. We are invited to attend. We accept his kind offer and organize a meeting spot for the next day.

The next day we get up early to find the marshutka that will take us to Gori. It´s very cheap, around one euro for a two hour drive. The taxis are only a bit more so most tourists seem to stick with them but it’s getting on in our trip and we are now trying to make every cent count.

Gori is nothing special. There is a castle with a view to the Caucusus, the area of Georgia which is occupied by the Russians and which is extremely dangerous for Georgians to go near. It´s surprising to see how close we are. Our trip out to Uplistsihke is fantastic. We grab another marshutka which drops us off at the last village before the caves but it is still a bit of walk to get to them. It´s definitely worth it to walk, as opposed to getting a taxi directly there, as the view is incredible and has landscape that neither of us have seen before; large canyons surrounded by lush green fields. All the Georgians we have talked to have raved about the diversity of landscapes within Georgia and now we really see why. It´s sweltering so we stop at a river in a dramatic Gorge for a dip. All the local kids are fixated on Eric so we spend a while playing with them before taking the last stretch to the caves. Tourist attractions are very cheap in Georgia. It only costs us one Euro to explore the caves and they are outstanding, with an extensive history. The view is also a huge bonus.

The next morning, Nugo and his three very sweet kids pick us up to take us to the celebrations. We stop at couple of very old churches hidden in the hills on the way to Atheni, his village, to pray. He insists on buying Eric a cross and me a picture of mother Maria to keep us safe on the rest of our trip. He seems to really want us to share his beliefs and we struggle to be completely honest about our own. We arrive at his mother’s house where we meet the extended family. While his mother prepares a delicious looking feast we are told we will be going to the mountains with Nugo, his kids, and his brother- in- law to pray. We jump into an ancient Jeep and find we have a companion, a sheep. We realize quickly that the sheep is to be sacrificed to God but we learn that the sheep will also be eaten (Not by God). I am silent on the way up to the hill as even though I occasionally eat mutton, I have not actually seen a sheep be killed for human consumption. I hope it will be a quick and reasonably painless death.

When we get to the top of the hill we see we are not the only group there. There are around fifty other people and each family has a sheep, though most of them have already been sacrificed.

Our group, including the sheep, enter a tiny church where we break bread, drink wine ( I sneak a couple of extra glasses - to calm my nerves of course) and pray before walking the sheep around the church a few times and up to the culling zone. They don´t make a big show about it, It´s neck is quickly cut, the sheep gasps a few times and in about a minute, it´s over.

Even though it isn’t what we would usually choose to participate in, we are pleased to be with Nugo and his affectionate family and to be joining in on the celebrations. The food is by far the best we have eaten on our trip and everyone is incredibly kind to us.

We finally find a place to couch surf for our last two days in Georgia. Our host Joe is from the U.S and has been teaching English in Tbilisi for the last year. He knows some great places to eat and we spend the next two days gorging on all the delicious food Tbilisi has to offer. Georgian food is truly amazing! Especially kinkali, Georgian dumplings.

Overall, our time in Georgia is unexpectedly great and we recommend it to anybody wanting to go somewhere a little different, in a good way.

Next Armenia!

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