Hello there! Today we’re reporting from far away – from Tbilisi, Georgia. We already spent 5 days in Georgia, visited Kutaisi, highland Mestia and the coast of the Black Sea with Batumi that you may remember from the famous Polish song. What are our first impressions? Georgia is beautiful, khatchapuri is delicious but the roads are quite difficult and the country is not the best one to travel with a child. But the views such as these in Mestia are quite rewarding. 🙂 That’s where we’re going to start our Georgian report…
We arrived in Georgia on Sunday, after a flight from Warsaw to Kutaisi. It was one of the first Wizzair flights on this route, so we got a royal welcome at the airport with journalists from Polsat News, Georgian food at 5 am, etc. Good start!
On the next day, we went to the mountains with friends we accidentally met at the airport, whose knowledge of Russian language was a great advantage on our way 🙂
in a land far far away…
First destination: Mestia, the capital of Svaneti region.
Svaneti is a remote region inhabited by the Svans. Their culture was long isolated from the rest of the country and maintained its distinctive characteristics. Today, we can still see the medieval defensive towers that prevented the land from the conquerors, who very often came from nearby lands.
The capital Mestia is a tiny picturesque town in the mountains with the above-mentioned towers and snowy mountain peaks in the background. The views are fantastic! It’s located 250 km from Kutaisi with more than 100 km of mountain roads. The road is quite good but also curvy and with obstacles such as rocks and cows which sometimes seem to treat the road as their private territory.
cows — the most common obstacle on our way
Those cows, however, made our trip more interesting for Maks. Unfortunately, even though he already travelled a lot, this time he struggled with motion sickness. So be aware: either you’re a really tough guy or rememeber about taking some relevant medicine with you!
a small crisis
Fortunately, despite the crisis on our way, we reached Mestia and its magnificent views, Georgian food and our accommodation at Roza’s Guest House… I have to say that the trip the Guest House wasn’t nice. A hike on a rocky path, with cow poop everywhere and a curious kid holding your hand isn’t a dream-like situation.
inconspicuous entrance to Roza’s Guest House
Fortunately, Roza’s Guest House is a great place with nice rooms, hot water and a host, who will serve you breakfast, dinner and delicious lemon jam.
For lunch we decided to go to Tetnuldi hotel restaurant – we went all the way here as Lonely Planet said it’s the best restaurant in town (there wasn’t too many to choose from though). Tetnuldi probably holds its prestigious title because of the amazing views – sitting on the terrace, drinking wine and enjoying the sun you can see such surroundings…
postcard-like views will make any lunch taste better 🙂
We waited ages for our lunch at the restaurant and the service seemed to be buying the ingredients in the nearby shop real-time 🙂 We finally got kubdari, a pastry with lamb, onions and mushrooms also known as the meaty equivalent of the basic Georgian meal – the khachapuri. We also got aubergines with garlic and so called mashed potatoes with cheese… Maks ate a bit of the pastry without meat – it was too stiff for his baby teeth. He also tried the chicken soup, a completely different one than the Polish version but also good… Feeding a little one in Georgia is much more difficult than in Thailand for instance… But I’ll get to that later.
meaty pastry
a starter
potatoes with cheese — a “light” side dish
Mestia is a beautiful place to take a walk, it’s also a great trekking spot. You can go up the mountains or organise a trip to Ushguli located 50 km further. We skipped further trips because of Maks being with us and decided to enjoy Mestia. On the next day we left for the Black Sea coast. The views on the way are truly magnificent and that’s one reason to visit Georgia… Also, great road “companions” who make the little traveller laugh…
beautiful Georgia
a small church we came upon on our way
happiness!
Some practical advice: if you’re planning to travel through Georgia by car, choose an off road model 🙂 Ours was a dozen years old and a bit worn… happily, it made it through the mountains 🙂
essential in the mountains
That’s it about Svaneti, an absolute must see in Georgia. Coming up: our culinary impressions, Batumi, Tbilisi and Maks’s impressions of Georgia 🙂 Time to go out now!
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