TBILISI AND KAKHETI, Georgia – Ukraine and Georgia are often mentioned in the same news headlines as both are petitioning for European Union and NATO integration while facing down military aggression from Russia. Yet traveling through Georgia one would never guess that these two countries have something in common.
Georgia provides visitors with a memorable experience as there are plenty of beautiful landmarks, historical sites, delicious food and explicitly bad driving.
Exiting Tbilisi International Airport, one can find oneself in the middle of a heated argument, as taxi drivers compete for the tourists’ attention. After five minutes of quarreling, the cab price to city center will drop from $40 to slightly below $10 and a taxi driver will carry the arrivals’ luggage into his car without permission.
After a 15-minute ride one ends up in the city center of an old city stretched between mountains with narrow streets, ancient churches and what seems like a million tourists.
Tbilisi
Tbilisi became the capital of the ancient Georgian kingdom of Iberia in the fourth century A.D. and was continuously populated ever since. The city has a number of ancient churches and places worth seeing.
Our journey begins near the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, commonly known as Sameba, an 87-meter-high Georgian style cathedral situated on a mountaintop on the opposite side from the historic city center. The cathedral is surrounded by a garden, beautiful lanterns, a freestanding bell tower, a monastery with a seminary and is guarded by a thick five-meter wall, surrounding the 3,000-square-meter complex.
The seemingly ancient complex was is in fact opened in 2004. The project was designed to become a symbol of Georgian spiritual revival.
A 10-minute walk down the hill towards the river Kura, which divides Tbilisi in half, will bring one past the president’s palace into Rika Park, a vast green open space near the river.
Finishing a stroll through the park, one ends up facing Old Tbilisi, a beautiful historic neighborhood where street vendors are selling spices and carpets, and where restaurants are luring tourists in with traditional Georgian cuisine – khachapuri, a type of cheese-filled bread, khinkali, Georgian dumplings with meat and broth, chakhokhbil, stewed chicken with tomatoes and fresh herbs and lots more.
It is nearly impossible to taste all dishes Georgia has to offer, with Georgian cuisine being one of the main tourist attractions.
The cheap prices are a major plus. Lunch on a popular touristic street with live music and beautiful scenery will cost around $15-20 for two people, including a bottle of fine Georgian wine.
One of the best views of Old Tbilisi, with its narrow streets and rusty houses, opens from the fourth century Narikala fortress, which lies on a hill and requires patience to withstand the hour-long line to the cable car connecting the Rika Park to the fortress.
The other more practical way to take an Instagram picture would be to visit the observation deck near the Metekhi Church of Assumption situated across the street from Rika Park, built in the 13th century during the Golden Age of the Georgian Kingdom under the Bagrationi dynasty.
Vineyards and churches
While Tbilisi has its flair, staying in the city without traveling through the country itself would be putting one’s holiday to waste.
Tour agents, more often kids on the streets, are selling group tours to the ancient Georgian capital of Mtskheta, 20 kilometers northwest from Tbilisi, the Kakheti province, an eastern province where most of the Georgian wine is made, and an expedition to the Kazbek Mountains on the border with Russia.
Traffic regulations are nearly absent outside of Tbilisi.
It becomes an even bigger problem as both right-sided and left-sided steering wheels are permitted and drivers disregard speed limits.
But for those willing to risk driving outside Tbilisi, the best choice would be Mtskheta, serving as the Georgian capital from as early as the 4th century B.C. A 40-minute drive comes with truly breathtaking scenery, ancient markets, medieval churches and lots of carpets.
The Jvari monastery, built in the sixth century on a mountaintop at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers offers the best view of the city, monuments of which are a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The journey to Kakheti province east of Tbilisi requires the whole day and is most definitely worth the time.
After an hour-and-half ride, if the driver’s speed doesn’t drop below 120 kilometers per hour through a beautiful yet dangerous hill road, one ends up in the Alazani Valley, the home of Georgian wine.
Here, tourist-friendly vineyards offer local wine tasting that comes with stories about the region’s history and culture. Those ready for something stronger might be interested in tasting chacha, local grape vodka usually containing about 50 to 70 percent alcohol.
Overlooking the Alazani Valley, is the town of Signagi, a walk through which brings one back to the time of medieval bazaars filled with spices, wine and loud vendors. The medieval walls surrounding the city facilitate the feeling that time had stopped centuries ago, resulting in a strange sensation when a car passes the 17th century Bodbe monastery.
Behind the tourist glare
However, delicious food and cheap wine can’t overshadow the poverty and disparity often seen in Georgia.
Georgia is often credited for its transparency, economic reforms and successfully battling corruption, moving from one of the most to one of the least corrupt countries in the region.
Georgia ranks sixth in the annual World Bank Doing Business ranking, implying that opening a business and maintaining it in fair and competitive environment is relatively easy. Ukraine lags behind in 71st place.
However, after a five-day stay in Georgia the mentioned above statistic seems misguiding. Turning away from the tourist-packed center you end up in front of a completely different setting: old rusty houses, walls which are propped up by logs or metal beams, and poor or nonexistent roads.
Business itself is strictly built around Russian speaking tourists. Tourist landmarks are renovated, yet other parts of the city are neglected. Old Tbilisi is packed with restaurants, yet eating out or even buying water outside peak tourist locations is challenging.
The vast majority of tourists are from post-Soviet countries – Ukraine, Russia and Armenia. Georgia only recently became a tourist destination for neighboring countries, while still relatively unknown for those to whom kindzmarauli or saperavi (types of wine) doesn’t say anything.
The ongoing conflict with Russia and the absence of diplomatic bilateral relations don’t seem to stop Russians from booking vacations in Georgia. All group tours are offered strictly in Russian, while local winemakers say that it’s possible to purchase their wine in almost all Russian cities.
At the same time, tour guides will mention how Russia occupied Georgia in 1800, how the Georgian Orthodox Church was dissolved by the Russian authorities and most Georgian church icons and mosaics where painted over with white paint.
The most recent military conflict between Russia and Georgia occurred in August 2008, when Russia occupied Georgia’s autonomous regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
It is hard to assess, whether the country is moving in the right direction, but there is obviously a number of problems that are far from being solved.
How to get there
A round trip from Kyiv to Tbilisi will cost Hr 4,200 ($140) per person on average.
Where to stay
A hotel through Booking.com in downtown Tbilisi will cost around $30 per night.
Transport in Tbilisi
The subway price is $0.75 for a mandatory travel pass and $0.20 for each trip. A trip to Mtskheta with a group will cost $10-15, Kakheti will account for $15-20 per person, with a guide and wine tasting included.
