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Published: November 8th 2015
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First breakfast
with wine, of course 2015 Georgia
Georgia, the cradle of wine culture!
Depart for Tbilisi, Georgia: 11:10 pm; Arrive: 3:00 am!
Surprisingly, the airport is swarming with people
as there are 6 international arrivals at this time,
and just as many departures an hour or so later.
Our previously arranged driver greets us and takes us to his car.
I almost hop in the right side, but see the steering wheel there.
My questioning look was met with the explanation:
Many cars in Georgia are bought cheaply from Japan;
therefore, some right hand and some left hand driving.
Car horns are used extensively here; driving lanes are not.
All this adds to chaotic traffic in Tbilisi.
We met our host for the week, friendly Irakli,
at his guesthouse in the heart of old town Tbilisi.
The 4 rooms open onto a roomy balcony
leading to the kitchen and shared bathroom.
The place was spotless. I have never seen windows so clean.
The guesthouse is located in a real Georgian neighborhood -
with people going about their lives, kicking soccer balls
in the streets,
baker selling yummy breads out of a ground floor window,
a delightful woman with a small produce stand
in a small space right on the street. We sampled her fresh cheeses.
A street sweeping girl not taking criticism from an older woman.
People here are loud, love to laugh, and argue passionately.
We rested until late morning when our stomachs tell us to find food.
Irakli marks up our maps with recommended restaurants and sights.
Off to find khacapuri acharuli, an egg and cheese filled bread delight
Nice with beer or wine and extremely filling.
Ellen Register, our teacher friend in Minsk
and traveling partner for the week,
was a delight and added greatly to our experiences.
Sunny and warm Saturday and Sunday
followed by rain and clouds the rest of the week
The rain kept us in Tbilisi more days than we planned,
but the food, wine and friendly Georgian people kept our spirits high
Our Sunday highlight was an Urban Adventures visit
to a Georgian family’s home where they showed us
making khinkhali
in the home of a lovely Georgian family, arranged by Urban Adventures how to cook traditional foods,
khinkali – pouch shaped dumplings filled with spiced meat
khachapuri Imeruli – round, flat bread with farmers cheese baked inside,
and then we ate and drank wine until we were bursting!
Of course we were pleased that Tbilisi had thermal springs and baths.
We took in 3 baths during the week. They rent private rooms
with own small thermal pool and a sauna. Very relaxing!
They were a bit sulfur smelling, but hair oh so soft.
One afternoon we visited another QSI school.
Josh was a great host, showing us their purpose built school.
They have around 200 students which is similar to our school.
The atmosphere was warm and friendly.
We think it would be a nice place to teach.
When the weather broke (a little)
we ventured east into the Kakheti wine country.
We rode the marshrutky (small public bus)
and the driver delivered right to the doorway of Nana’s guesthouse.
She was so happy to have us as guests
as we were there outside the regular season.
She fixed us an authentic dinner with some homemade wine.
We spent a cold but delightful day and night in Sighnaghi,
the ancient walled mountain city shrouded in fog.
We hiked the cobblestone streets to the small bazaar,
and found the cozy Pheasant’s Tears wine tasting.
When the fog finally lifted
we could see the snowcapped Caucasus to the north.
Next day Nana arranged a driver, Tomas, to take us to Telavi.
Once he discovered that we could understand a little Russian
he lost his stoic exterior and got very excited
and talked to us the entire way, showing and explaining.
We got the gist mainly from context and the few words we know.
Rural Georgia is rural! We drove past shepherds and their sheep flocks,
muddy side roads, dried field corn piled on porches, horse-drawn wagons.
Tomas took us to two wine factories (their word for winery)
The first was a wine tasting in a 7 km tunnel complex excavated by the Soviets
to store and age their terrible mass produced wines back in the 1960s.
bread made the traditional way
stuck to the inside of a hot oven The second wine factory led us on a short tour of their production facility.
Georgian wineries produce wine in two ways:
fermented underground in kvervi, clay vessels,
filled with crushed grapes, juice and bottled unfiltered;
and fermented European (and US) style
in stainless steel tanks with temperature control and filtered
We love both the distinctive red and white dry wines produced using the Georgian style!
One of our favorites was a dry red fermented in kvervi, but aged European style.
The whites have a gorgeous amber color and the reds are called black.
Tomas delivered us to Nelly’s guesthouse.
She and her husband, Mekos, greeted us warmly
into their big beautiful, but cold home.
The dinner and Meko’s wine that flowed were amazing!
We bought a plastic liter bottle of Meko’s wine to take with us.
Telavi is the region’s main city and
did not offer much in the way of sights or restaurants.
though we did find an interesting bazaar.
We braved the rain as Mekos took on a wine tasting tour
the next morning
to two wine factories.
Next time I would like to visit smaller producers
as the large ones are a bit pretentious.
A taxi ride back to Tbilisi with Misha
took us on a winding road through the hills
and a mosaic of red, orange, yellow, and green leaved trees.
A sleepless night to repair a pipeline under our guesthouse window.
A final bath and then the night trip back home.
Goodbye Georgia. It is great to travel and experience new things,
but always good to get our routine back until the next time.
Sri Lanka!
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Kim Kalberg
non-member comment
Adventurous Trip
Hey George, The streets sound like Almaty. We have set up our Sri Lanka trip and look forward to comparing trips. You and Kevin really move around a lot during your trips. I can only wonder what more you would have done if the weather had been more pleasant. The Fall break was wonderful. I am getting the hang of this mastery learning?