Georgia with a child. Again I heard stuff like: “You must be crazy!” (my friend), “Have you read about Georgia and thought about this trip?” (my mom), “Isn’t it dangerous out there?” (somebody)… We already visited Istanbul, Mexico, Thailand and lots of other, less exotic places, so why not go to Georgia? If we can’t do it, no-one can 😉
What surprised us as travelling parents the most in Georgia? What was the biggest challenge and what turned out to be easier than expected? Read on and find out yourselves. The little one invites you to read as well 🙂
BEFORE THE DEPARTURE
I have to admit that I was a bit afraid of going to Georgia with Maks.
First thing: what will he eat? When we were in Mexico, a 7 month old Maks fed on his mother’s milk and food jars brought from Poland or bought locally. I wasn’t worried about Thailand, as I knew Maks loves fried rice (at least right now). When it came to Georgia, the only thing I knew about its cuisine was the famous khachapuri, and therefore I was a little bit concerned… Even after paying for extra luggage our Wizzair flight didn’t let us take as much food as we wanted.
Second thing: after getting to know with hotel and hostel offers, I knew that the accommodation situation in Georgia isn’t too good. Even the high standard hotels still have the communist hint… Forget about a baby’s bed… We’re quite oversensitive about it, remembering the hollow sound of Maks hitting the floor after falling from our bed in Mexico…
Third thing: the weather. The forecast indicated rain, which terrified me. No cosy hotel room to take shelter in. And Maks just got well after ear inflammation… How are we going to survive this?
Fortunately, all of my fears turned out to be a bit exaggerated. We took the baby’s bed with us (bought an extra luggage) and the weather was great with blue sky and sun shining all the time. We managed to solve the food situation as well, which wasn’t that easy though – details to follow! 🙂
Maks enjoying the weather 🙂
WHAT TO TAKE WITH YOU
I took diapers, wet wipes and lots of formula milk. It was convenient but not really necessary. It’s easy to buy all of this things in Georgia, even in smaller cities (mainly in pharmacies). Wet wipes are usually also available on market stands. The same goes for toys. We usually don’t take too many as there’s no space and buy a teddy bear here and a toy car there. This way Maks gets his own souvenirs 🙂
Milk, cereals, juices, jars – you could by it all in various kinds in large pharmacies. In Batumi I even got wooden puzzle in a pharmacy – the Georgians love children! 🙂 But don’t expect anything to be cheaper. Kid’s stuff seems to cost more or less the same as in Poland…
Apart from the hygienic and food products, we took the above-mentioned bed, milk bottle, sealable cup (essential) and sealable bowl – ideal for taking breakfast leftovers for a walk with Maks. It works both as a hunger and boredom killer 😉 The pram. We never really got into carrycots or baby carrying scarves and became faithful to Maclaren Techno XT pram – perfect for travellers, restaurant goers and all others who need a compact, easily foldable pram…
in the streets of Tbilisi
MAKS’S GEORGIAN MENU
Recently we started feeding Maks from our meals or buying him dishes from a kids menu. We stopped ordering regular dishes for him as you can never say if he’ll eat it or not. And the bill keeps getting bigger with every order… It worked in Ireland (seafood, chips, fish) and a bit in Madrid. We tried it in Georgia as well. Maybe he’ll eat a bit of that khachapuri, maybe a few khinkali dumplings or an aubergine?
Unfortunately it didn’t work this time. The khachapuri was probably too salty, as Maks only nibbled on it a little with no enthusiasm at all. It was better with khinkali, but only those with salmon, which we found in only one restaurant in Tbilisi. So, the menu consisted of delicious Georgian bread, chips and… fish. I repeated the phrase “fried trout” in every restaurant. Fortunately they had trout everywhere! Maks had it with tomatoes and an occasional chicken soup – chikhirtma – shame on me for not writing down the name)…
“Mom, give me a bite!”
Maks’s standard: fried trout
Maks was mainly interested in fishing out the chicken
What if the little one doesn’t like fish? Maybe khachapuri or chicken will suit him or her better? Pork and lamb are also available, but the meat seemed a bit too hard for a 2-year-old. Chicken was served Georgian style, meaning chkmeruli which turned out to be a little bit too garlicky. And so trout was the king of each lunch! At least it was healthy! 🙂
How did other meals look like? We got quite independent in the breakfast area, after buying Nesquik and a boxed milk. We bought it in a shop in Kutaisi, just after arrival. The shop only offered family packs, so we’re still eating Georgian Nesquik 🙂 Smaller shops offer yoghurts (not so many flavours) mainly in big containers or drinkable versions. There weren’t too many other dairy products such as flavoured milks that Maks loved in Thailand.
That’s why Lubisie bear-shaped chocolate candy bars turned out to be our best friends. We never tried them in Poland, but here Maks fell in love with them and welcomed every bear with “Hello little bear!” before proceeding to eat his ears, legs and arms…
Warning: look out for Georgian corn crisps! I bought a whole bag for Maks, so he had something to nibble on, on our way after, we ran out of our stock. I gave him the bag, but he started complaining. I tried to persuade him: “Maks, my love, these are the corn crisps you love so much!” but he kept complaining… “Ok, give me a try!”… I tried and almost spat it out: they turned out to be sweetened and tasted absolutely awful. I don’t know if it was just this one pack, or a general tendency in Georgia. Look out!
When it comes to fruits, we mainly ate bananas which were available pretty much everywhere…
a convenient snack on the way
While we stayed at the hotel with breakfast (Tbilisi), the food issues were not that important. An open buffet always offered something appropriate: the abovementioned Nesquik, potato or cheese pancakes and various egg-based meals (omelette and fried eggs – no scrambled eggs though). The egg “business” raised some difficulties though. When we ordered scrambled eggs – we got an omelette and fried eggs mixed together… Later on, someone aware of Georgian customs told me that scrambled eggs aren’t too popular here…
FUN
the beach wasn’t too good — Ureki
We got the food, the accommodation and the supplies – it’s time to have some fun. Maks liked Georgia. There weren’t as many animals (monkeys especially!) as in Thailand, there was no sandy beaches, but we managed to find a new cool playground pretty much every day. “Playground” was a catchall to encourage Maks to a) go sightseeing, b) stay in the pram if parents wanted him to, c) stay calm during a car ride that was sometimes boring.
Maks enjoyed the rocky mountain cities such as Uplistsikhe or David Gareja the most, as there’s nothing more enjoyable for him now than a hike on his own feet. He also liked the stairs to Bodbe monastery around Sighnaghi.
a hike in the rocky town of Uplistsikhe
the conqueror of David Gareja
ok, daddy helped me 😉
in the area of Uplistsikhe
stairs — a favourite fun place
Maks and a horse in Signagi
with his old folks 🙂
After sightseeing Maks must get his prize 🙂 That’s his favourite playground near the beach in Batumi. Amazing!
peek-a-boo!
on his way to the slide
with a pirate from the Caribbean 🙂
running around on the beach is also fun
best thing in the evening? dancing fountains!
What do you think after reading? Is it possible? 🙂 Of course it is! It may be a little more challenging than on Canary Islands but full of great memories! 🙂 I love Spain and the Canary Islands, but there’s much more to see in the world than that so why wait!
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