Travel to Georgia. Personal report about Georgia. Trip to Georgia by car: Georgian military road Local Georgian flavor

This part of the report was written online, so there are a lot of fresh emotions here. For example, about how we watched the duel of bulls, about how Kesha was bitten by dogs, about our impressions of Vladikavkaz, the border of Ossetia and Georgia, and the Georgian Military Highway. And also about how it is customary to lock rooms in local guest houses. Actually, about how our trip around Georgia by car began.

Continuation of day 6, July 23

Leaving Vladikavkaz, we drove 30 kilometers in an hour - that's how much from the aunt's house to the border of Russia and Georgia (the Upper Lars road crossing, known to many). At the border, they saw a tail of cars a kilometer long. Found out that: “Yes, not for long, we’ll pass in two hours.” It is allowed to pass through the border of Russia and Georgia without a queue who has either a child up to a year old in the car (age is determined by a visually strict Ossetian policeman), or a disabled person. A child, a disabled person and a car number are photographed and allowed to pass to the customs terminal. You still have to stand in line at the terminal - there are no benefits here, they apply only to the “tail” at the entrance.

The border has opening hours - from 5 am to 8 pm Moscow time. From the side of Ossetia, the crossing is closed at 19:00, but from the Georgian side, the border works around the clock for entry into Russia.

We stood in line from those wishing to get to Georgia at 14:00, and passed the control at 16:25. By local standards, they passed quickly, usually they stay here for about 4-5 hours.

Between the Ossetian and Georgian checkpoints, there is complete chaos - a narrow road along which everyone travels, whoever wants what. Traffic jams form, angering to a nervous tick.

But we get stamps at the Georgian customs instantly, faster than the Finns. But here, unlike the Finnish border, the driver and passengers pass the control separately, in different booths.

And finally we are in Georgia by car. Gamarjoba! We drive along the Georgian Military Highway and drive to the first attraction - the Gergeti Sameba Church.

You can drive to Gergeti Sameba through the village of Stepantsminda, known as Kazbegi. Most tourists climb to the church on foot (5 km). Locals offer to take us to the top (altitude 2,200 km) in off-road vehicles, but we drove relatively calmly on the Duster. There are tents near the church, cows are grazing and the local flavor is already very strongly felt, although there are not so many Georgians here. The faces of the tourists are internationally smiling with European smiles. The only pity is that clouds are running across the sky, and Kazbek is completely hidden by them.

We set up camp right here - it's already 19:00 and it will soon get dark. We have dinner, go to bed early and sleep under the howling wind. I must say that there are a lot of "tent campers" here. Someone starts or ends a trip to Georgia by car in this very place, someone is going to rise to the sky ...

Two young mature bulls come to visit the camp, just before our lights out, and arrange something like a duel. We are watching.

Day 7, July 24

In the morning the sky is completely clear, and Kesha, leaving me to type these lines, skips away to the nearest hill. He has an itch in all places, and without ascents, even the most primitive ones, he cannot. Go down - have breakfast and go further. We crossed out yesterday's plans to get to Tbilisi on the day of crossing the border - we really do not want to rush. We will drive the way we ride, because we don’t have any armor, just as we don’t have a clear route.

Kesha returns at 8:00, all envious of those who go to Kazbek. He climbed a hill 2500 meters high and really did not want to go down. He told that he greeted a certain group of tourists in Russian. They didn't answer him. Greeted in English. Heard "hello" in response. I. when he moved three meters away from them, he heard a purely Khokhlyatsky dialect. Who doesn't love whom?.. Let's leave this sad topic and go to cook breakfast. If there is Wi-Fi today, these lines will be published.

Continuation of day 7

We are driving along the Georgian Military Highway. You can stop here everywhere, because around the mountain, along the road, there are a lot of villages, colorful to such an extent that it takes your breath away. The promised "periodic road repairs" actually turn into just removed asphalt, which is very scary to drive on. Although everyone goes - both jeeps and puzoters. They go, diligently circling herds of cows roaring from the heat and small herds of horses. These animals do not react at all to cars, or to screams, or to shrill “beeps”.

We make many stops - at churches, monasteries, we visit villages.

At one of these attractions, near the Friendship Arch, Kesha is attacked by feral dogs and bitten. The shirt is completely torn and the fifth point is bitten through. Somehow it is not very pleasant to start a trip with such incidents.

You can learn more about the sights of the Georgian Military Highway here:

Unlike dogs, the local population is very friendly. Everyone instantly switches to Russian, explains, shows, and just doesn’t get into the car with us.

We arrange lunch away from the highway on the banks of the Zhinvali reservoir opposite the Annauri fortress. AND! If the roads and villages in Georgia are surprisingly clean, then here it is so muddy that the hairs stand on end not only on the head, but also on all other parts of the body. Away from the roads, in organized parking lots, near "cultural" attractions there is a LOT of garbage. It's a shame and sad - after all, all the nations passing by had a hand in these Kazbeks from scattered bottles and bags.

We drive into Mtskheta, check into the first guest house that comes across and go for a walk around the city. At the request to give out the key to the room, the hostess takes a chair, puts it to the door, and assures outrageously:

- No problem! Know!!!

All restaurants in Mtskheta are closed - strange. But we buy Borjomi for 1.20 lari. And the wine was bought in advance for 9 GEL. At such prices, by the end of the trip, we will drink and mineralize up to our ears.

We arrange dinner on the balcony in the guest house - melon, wine and mineral water. And marvel at the darkness. Kesha descends to the owners:

- Why is there no light?

“Listen, darling, the whole city is without light!”

But at night they give light, and it becomes possible to connect to Wi-Fi. We don’t have a local SIM card or a paper map of Georgia yet - there is simply nowhere to buy them. Let's see what will happen in Tbilisi. In the meantime ... So far, the seventh day of the journey has been completed. What will be tomorrow? Traveling in Georgia by car has just begun ...

To help you plan your trip to Georgia:

The whole report on the days and the trek of the trip in Georgia and Armenia

The report will be large and a little chaotic, so to speak, notes of a traveler). And I also google in scrap, sometimes a church or a lake, it will just be a church or a lake. Dare!

Since this kind of trip was the first time, having successfully wised up with the place of arrival and departure (Kyiv-Batumi-Kyiv), we completely relied on the organizers. Then only we already thought that it was worth taking the arrival to Tbilisi, and the departure from Batumi, but oh well.
We arrived at 11 am in Batumi, and we were met by our driver, with whom we managed to make friends during the trip. We flopped into "our" Mitsubishi Delica and collapsed to sleep ... it was a long enough ride. We arrived at the gethouse, in Mestia, at 4-5 in the morning,

We were greeted by the owners and placed in rooms.
After sleeping for 5 hours, we saw that we were still unlucky with the weather. We drank coffee and went to the funicular. In the Gethouse itself, I would stay to live, the atmosphere and quality of the house is the coolest. In our gethouse, on the one hand, after 500 meters, there are Svan towers and mountains immediately begin, and there behind them is occupied Abkhazia. On the other side there is a huge attic overlooking the river, and further on there are several buildings, a hotel, a church and high mountains. We watched them at night ...
There was a thunderstorm and flashes of lightning lit up the silhouettes of massive mountains just like in horror films. It was raining heavily, and from time to time illuminated building structures popped out of the darkness. But still the strongest, simply breathtaking view was near the mountains. It felt like they were stepping on us. And with every flicker of lightning, his breath hitched. You could look at it endlessly, probably because of this you didn’t get enough sleep.
Distracted) arrived .... the funicular is not working… it is raining… we are trying not to lose heart. Although the trip up the mountain entertained us a little, nevertheless, we had a busy schedule and the cable car was not working, which meant that we would not be able to get to the mountain.
In general, the plans for today were to climb the funicular up the mountain and roll down to the foot of another mountain and climb on foot to the glacier. This is where we headed after a hearty breakfast and delicious wine. And we also tried kubdari there - well, a very tasty cheburek)))
To the glacier in good weather, stomp for 40 minutes,

It was pouring rain and we were not prepared for this, but decided to climb up. We could not even imagine what the right thing was, but a cold is a dangerous decision. The ascent begins with the crossing of the river on a suspension bridge, with rains the river was very stormy and rose high, standing above it, it takes your breath away from the raging elements, and the swaying bridge.

So the rise - we go ourselves, following the signs, we spent two and a half hours round trip, and almost all the time in good rain. The rain here is also special, how can I explain it, it is even, there is almost no wind, nowhere in Mestia, and it goes in an even canvas, like in the shower, yes, when we went back down we seemed to have been under a shower, under a mountain, Svan shower . Climb.

First, sharply uphill, in some places clinging with our hands, we go along the path, in some places just along the roots and stones. Breathing goes astray even in the most healthy. We pass by a whole canvas of stones in the forest, they are all covered with moss and create the appearance of such a voluminous and dangerous lawn. The mountains are slowly surrounding us. We hear a stormy stream, we are approaching the river, already almost wet to the skin, only Olya has a leather jacket, the rest are in bikes. The jacket later came in handy for taking photos. Somehow they climb here with horses - everything around is “mined”, it becomes more and more dangerous to go)) . We turn to the river and go along it, and because of the spill, even along it, it all goes uphill, plus slippery, water from all sides. The river goes a little to the side and we go out into a huge gorge, which is filled with a river on one side, and where you can go stones from pebbles to huge boulders the size of a KamAZ. And all this is fenced on both sides by the slopes of the mountains. From the side where we make our way up and down, following the signs and looking under our feet, stepping over stone “tombstones” and “mines”, the mountainside from which no yes no, a stone begins to roll down.

It is difficult to judge the height of the slope, about a kilometer or so, and somewhere a small pebble slips and rolls down the slope, catching another one and another one. And now several stones with the noise of billiard balls are jumping down the slope and rushing towards us. Well, at least they never got caught. We already see the tongue of the glacier, and we are getting closer, jumping over stones, stones from the mountains, rain, river, mountains around - the adrenaline is going through the roof. Come to the stop sign. An invisible frosty dragon breathes directly on us without stopping, after 2 minutes it starts to break the knuckles, the temperature seems to be below zero, we are standing about three hundred meters from the first ice, from under which water breaks out with frantic force and brings cold with it. Just an indescribable sight and emotions. We won’t go further, it’s too cold, if it weren’t for the rain, and it’s blowing, let’s go back, we need dry clothes and a “hot” chacha. Came back faster

although we took pictures along the way, the clothes weighed twice as much. Wet arrived, dried up and at the table. We arranged a Georgian feast with the driver almost until dawn.
Day 2

Hooray!!! Sun!!

What a beauty around, this is never forgotten! We're taking the funicular! (The organizers decided that such views should not be missed and shifted the schedule) Not very high above the ground but 2.5 kilometers long, higher and higher into the mountains.

There is a viewing platform at the top and we also walked up the hill. You can feel the wild beauty of the ancient mountains, the genuine beauty of nature. We just walk in circles and look in different directions, the driver gave us binoculars, we even saw the glacier we went to yesterday from many kilometers away - it looks even bigger and scarier. Photos can only help bring back memories. It's impossible to describe. We get down and eat in the direction of Tbilisi. But no, we still went to yesterday's cafe and drank tea. Leaving this area, I want to say that you need to return here and live here longer. Clean air, friendly people, excellent, simply cool housing, at least the organizers picked it up for us. There are also winter resorts here, of course, but personally I prefer summer or spring. And yet the strongest impression is given by the Svan towers, ancient buildings and giant mountains, right above your head.
Road to Tbilisi.

The organizers are great and the trip to Tbilisi was decorated, in addition to the beautiful mountain road, already a little autumn - the Inguri hydroelectric power station, a variety of waterfalls, and at our request, we ended up in the kennel of Caucasian Shepherd Dogs,

they are so cool.

Breakfast at 8 pm - either we didn’t want to eat after the feast, or we forgot, but we remembered the food only in the evening and ate in a restaurant along the way. Even a roadside restaurant, as in general, and all the rest, except for the beach, we were pleased. On the road again. Little by little, we've been shaking for 8 hours, knocking everyone down, I want to warm up a bit in Tbilisi, for an hour. I want to note that if I had been driving, we would probably have been driving for 3 hours longer, because as it turns out, the traffic rules are almost the same, but with Caucasian flavors. And overtaking on a single-lane road in the mountains on bends is a standard skill. It was creepy in places, but apparently in vain, we just had to get used to it, in the end we didn’t even pay attention.

They settled us in a 3-room apartment with a good euro-repair and amenities, a long balcony, it was a chic addition.
There was no more strength left to walk around the city, while we stopped by, it was clear that the city was quite clean and lit in the dark.
Day 3. Tbilisi.
We picked us up at 9 am, of course, it’s too early for a vacation — but we still want to see everything) A couple of stops along the way

to Narikala Fortress. Tbilisi is a large but relatively calm city. Only drivers are constantly buzzing and driving like crazy, there are almost no rules, red is sometimes not even that red, but in defense it is worth noting that we have not seen accidents, and apparently they are rare, mostly among young people. On the cable car we went up to the fortress, a large, ruined one.

Climbing the walls is only by trodden paths, no one does anything specifically for tourists, there are no railings, like steps, you can easily slip and reunite with the history of Tbilisi. A beautiful view of the city opens from a height, and the cable car itself passes to the mountain through part of the city and the river, an interesting solution, you float above the city and admire the beauty. They used to say that the floor was glass, too) We walked around the castle and went to the sulfur baths. Sulfur baths - located near sources with hot, HOT, healing water. We rented a separate bath for ourselves 60 GEL. The specificity is that from above you can see the sky as in the “Pantheon”, only smaller in size. And the smell of sulfur, or rather rotten eggs, but you quickly stop noticing it. the bathhouse is weaker than ours, the pool with cold water, and the most charming thing is the pool with very hot water, very well. You lie down in it and get an incredible buzz. We stayed there for two hours, the bath attendant had nothing to say, the guys who took the bath attendant left with strange faces in the spirit - and that's it ?. Then we dried off and went to the funicular to an even higher mountain in Tbilisi.

Cool new wagons raised us so high that even on such hilly terrain we could see the horizon of 80-100 kilometers. But this is not a chapel of height, and in the amusement park on the mountain itself, we rode a Ferris wheel. The city is big and beautiful

and so it was at a glance, and from the wheel, in general, we were at an altitude of about 800 meters, all the buildings turned into small matchboxes, which randomly began to light up in evening Tbilisi. Just before the descent, we managed to capture Tbilisi at night.

On this, our superficial acquaintance with the city ended and we returned home.
Day 4. Mtskheta, Ananuri.

We left at 10 am. We stopped at a large hypermarket and took a walk. We bought all sorts of goodies, the prices are excellent, lower than Minsk ones. We got to wine tasting, wine - Khvanchkara and Kindzmarauli, as always, on top, even very young ones. Let's go to the first church

(it’s hard to call it a church, seeing the impressive and modern ones in our homeland, but this is how the houses of believers look then) 6th century, stands on a mountain and the whole of Mtskheta and the Georgian military road are visible from it. The guide told how, at the foot of the mountain, along the Georgian military road, the Russian troops left mines and civilians subsequently ran into them. The church is beautiful, old, not restored. UNESCO, according to the guide,

removes from the list those objects that are undergoing major repairs, and so the church stands, little by little turning into dust. Then we went to Mtskheta, walked along the streets of the old town, went into an even more ancient church surrounded by a fortress wall. Very beautifully restored around, inside, if anything is being restored, it is tasteful and imperceptible. They were asked to leave the church, they were wearing shorts, with this strictly, in Georgia there are many believers in general, but they did not meet the violence of faith.

Only if there are beggars at temples and churches, but this is everywhere. Bought mead -

woke up in the morning.) just kidding. Let's go in the direction of Russia, the views along the road are gorgeous, photographs cannot be conveyed. We examined another ancient church, a hydroelectric power station and a reservoir,

I didn’t write it down right away, and now the names have been erased from my memory, but the atmosphere itself and the world around us were worth these trips anyway.
Day 5. And we are still strong!!! Borjomi, Vardzia.

Before reaching Borjomi, the guys know, but I won’t say for sure, we stopped at a roadside restaurant,

and ate freshly caught trout with homemade wine and all sorts of goodies ... I could not help but write about it.
Arrived in Borjomi

water is disgusting - you can drink it from a source, you can either start or for the sake of experiment, basically everyone drinks based on the second reason. But bottled Borjomi is very tasty, and they drank only it, or analogues, during the whole vacation.

We tried the local spruce gum. The same song as with water, only minus the fillings. Borjomi met us with fine rain! The harmony and comfort of this region, it should be noted especially,

here you feel more protected, being completely in the hollow of the mountains, and at the same time you breathe here in a completely different way. In Svaneti, the air was slightly rarefied, but here you can feel the softness and healing of the mountain-forest air. The cable car is very spectacle,

especially down, when it literally starts to fall for half a second, I don’t even know if I would climb it a second time. There is another Ferris wheel on the mountain, oh, these views, you will never get bored. It's a pity it's time to leave, but we're going to Vardzia!

Aaa Vardzia cave city! (why am I so glad, it’s just that this is the most ancient building I found in Georgia, and plus, the cave city is worth seeing) On the way, we stopped near some kind of castle,

not according to the program, the views are just super and on the road and in it. Nothing was restored there at all - super. Plunged into the atmosphere of the Middle Ages and savagery.
Cave city - on a high cliff

minks where people used to live, now there is a fenced-off area for the monastery and, as we understand, monks live there. Many passages and manholes, various cutouts for some needs, cellars, bedrooms. The view from this city is stunning.

We made our way through one manhole and went out from the lower part into the inside of the monastery, into which the entrance from the outside was closed for us due to the dress code. Lots of beautiful landscapes. It is interesting to walk through these no longer inhabited cells and imagine how life could develop here, how they stored food, defended themselves from enemies.

Now we went to the guest house, to a real Georgian family with their feast. Let's see how and what is here.
The family met us with a mega-cool dinner and had an excellent breakfast. Even Denis and Pasha ate (probably the second time in 6 days), and there was still a lot on the table. This family has a license and every year a check comes to them to assess the quality and naturalness of the products. They have a test dog and small cats, in general, a lot of different living creatures. In the evening in this wilderness, I personally watched the stars, under a glass of wine, oh, nostalgia usually develops for this. We tried very interesting dishes there, and chatted with the hostess, to whom many guests leave souvenirs. Including the white and red flag))
We leave for Kvariarti, our place of stay for the next 7 nights. On the way we stop to see the caves of Prometheus,

they are called that because they were called that), that's all we learned from the tour, and the length is 1400 meters. The guide got on the treadmill and flew to the exit, this is how conveyor tours should be carried out, we are approaching the sea. We stopped at a cafe, already on the coast, but not yet where we will live, prices are higher, portions are smaller - oh the sea, what are you doing with people. The sea is restless, but tomorrow after the last excursions I hope to get there already. With housing, I advise you to suffer, I want to say thanks to Nadia, she dragged everyone to residential buildings and hotels, and we still ran into excellent housing on the coast. Basically, they offer furniture and a toilet from the century before last - but if you want to pay the same money for comfort, then it’s better to suffer.
The next day we went to the bridge of Queen Tamar and the waterfall.

Bought crappy wine and chacha. On the sea only and swim in the sea, everything else gets worse. We traveled all over Georgia, saw expensive and cheap hotels, poor and rich areas, greedy merchants and hospitable Georgians. We tried real shawarma (7 fire-breathing dragons in the car)))), a lot of national dishes, excellent wine. We saw ancient Georgia, and new, modern. Much of what I forgot to tell will remain in our memory, as the warmth and comfort of your ancient land. Thank you for giving us these unforgettable days!”
Rest on the sea, the night sea, walks in Batumi and the Botanical Garden ... this is a completely different story ...

In this country, everything seemed unusual to me at first. Or at least not the way I expected. Absolutely calm and balanced people, friendly policemen, clean city streets and a variety of natural landscapes. But even before I discovered all this, I was impressed by the unobtrusive taxi drivers at the airport. They correctly answered all questions and were ready to take to the center of the capital according to the meter for a very reasonable price. Well, the taxi driver, who was returning home and agreed to give me and my huge backpack for free, surprised even more than the young border guard who spoke to me in good English and at the end with a smile proclaimed: “Welcome to Georgia!”

Mother Georgia

I have been going to this country for a long time. I have already visited neighboring Armenia and Azerbaijan, and I really liked them. Georgia promised to be even more interesting. Month after month, I postponed the trip, preferring to explore the African and Balkan distances. In the end, the economic crisis intervened, and I easily and without regret exchanged the idea of ​​​​an expedition to one curious tropical island for an air ticket to Tbilisi.
The taxi driver who took me aboard his battered Volkswagen bragged along the way about the absence of corruption and Russian cars in Georgia, and also that his little daughter did not know a word of Russian. When I told him that I came from Belarus, and not from Russia, he was somehow even offended: “I should have said right away. Well, yes. You're good there." In the end, we said goodbye near the Didube station, where I planned to transfer to the minibus to the city of Mtskheta, just twenty-five kilometers from the capital. In Tbilisi, as in any big city, hotel prices are high, but in small Mtskheta it is just right for a budget traveler. But I never found the right minibus, and all because I could not read Georgian. He asked for help from the driver of the first minibus he came across. He studied me with a serious look for about five minutes, and when I was about to look for some other assistant, he said sedately: “I am not going to Mtskheta, but near Mtskheta. If you want, I'll take you." Of course I wanted to.
The minibus was carrying workers to a suburban enterprise, so that, besides me, there were thirty more people in it. Do you think I'm exaggerating? No matter how! The driver checked the workers against the list. Some of them didn't like the foreigner with the backpack. He said something sharply in my direction. "Where are you from? - the driver asked me and, having received an answer, he said in Russian to the indignant one: - You see, he is from Minsk. So a good person." I think that if I was from Kostanay or Tokyo, I would still be good, because Georgians treat everyone well. Anyway, the issue was dropped. They even put me in the most convenient place next to the driver, and when he tried to drop me off a kilometer from Mtskheta, they became indignant and insisted on taking me to my destination. Of course they didn't take the money.
On the way, everyone tried to talk to me. I answered questions, although it was difficult because half of the fellow travelers were talking at the same time. I was surprised to learn from them that they all served in the army in Belarus or with Belarusians, visited Brest, and the youngest listened to the songs of the Belarusian singer Bianca. By the way, it was from them that I learned about the existence of this very singer.
It didn't take long to look in Mtskheta. On one of the fences, I saw a handwritten announcement in English, went in and was immediately greeted by a hospitable host who was ready to rent a room with a kitchen, bathroom and toilet for only twenty-five lari (about fifteen dollars). The fact that I wanted to stay for a week made him very happy, and while the household was in a hurry to clean the accommodation allotted for a guest, he treated me to coffee and cheese pie. When the coffee was drunk and the cake was eaten, I left my backpack in his care and went for a walk.

I lived on this street in Mtskheta

Svetitskhoveli

At first it seemed to me that Mtskheta could be compared with our Zaslavl. The same small ancient town next to a large metropolis. But in fact, Mtskheta for Georgians is much more than Zaslavl for Belarusians. Located at the confluence of the Aragvi and Kura rivers, it served as the capital of the Kingdom of Kartli for a long time. In Mtskheta, the baptist of Georgia, St. Nino, preached. And even when the capital was moved to Tbilisi recaptured from the Persians, famous scientists, poets and just monks settled in this city. The main attraction of Mtskheta is the medieval Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. It was built in the eleventh century in the cross-domed style borrowed from neighboring Byzantium and later surrounded by a powerful fortress wall. According to legend, under the temple lies a rag, in which Christ ascended Golgotha. Orthodox Georgians are very religious people, and therefore there are always many pilgrims in Svetitskhoveli. They are joined by foreign tourists. In cafes and on the streets you can hear English, Spanish and even Persian speech. Now the cathedral and the quarters around it are being actively restored at the expense of the state and international organizations, and from afar they resemble a Mediterranean town with a leisurely way of life.
Another important sacral center of Mtskheta is the convent of Shiomgvime. It was built in the twelfth century. The monastery is adjacent to the central square and is its main decoration. When photographing Shiomgvime, I almost missed the nearby archaeological museum. Fortunately, the janitor, who was watering the flowers, suggested where to go. To be honest, the museum was a little disappointing. The room is small, there are not so many finds on display, so the main attraction is a map of the excavations with an explanation in Georgian and English.
A little away on the banks of the Aragvi is a city park. The hand of benefactors has not yet reached him. It looks a little rundown, but not without charm. The ruins of buildings from the middle of the last century, strange stone sculptures in the cubist style, as well as good views of the dilapidated castle, located on one of the hills above the city, give it a special attraction. The guidebook recommends that low-budget travelers stay overnight in the park. I did not notice tents in it, but I met a company with huge backpacks, calling to each other in Russian. By the way, these were the only Russian-speaking tourists I met in Georgia.
On the opposite bank, on the mountain rises the Church of the Holy Cross Jvari - the oldest and holiest in Georgia. It was built in the 6th century on the site where St. Nino placed the first wooden cross. It is believed that the cross still rests under the church. In the Middle Ages and today, a small monastic community lived in Jvari. By the way, it was in her that the legendary Lermontov Mtsyri was brought up. The bustling Tbilisi-Gori highway passes under the mountain. More than once I had to see how, at the sight of the church, dashing minibus drivers threw the steering wheel and began to cross themselves. Fortunately, there were no accidents. But an inexperienced passenger like me still experienced unsettling feelings.

Shiomghvime

Park and cubist figures

The city of Mtskheta where I stayed was the perfect place to visit other interesting places - Tbilisi, Kazbegi and Gori.
Tbilisi could be reached by shuttle bus. Fortunately, he went every half an hour. Special mention should be made of Georgian minibuses. As in Belarus, Georgian road carriers mainly use German Mercedes. There are always many passengers. You often have to ride standing up. Ordinary drivers in Tbilisi and beyond are calm and not reckless. But not minibuses! They easily break all possible traffic rules. If anyone decides to overtake high-speed sports cars or cut heavy Hummers, then these are minibuses. From Mtskheta to Didube, I traveled in just ten minutes. A taxi would have taken longer.
Didube Station served as the gateway to Tbilisi for me. This is a rather chaotic place, where parking lots of buses and minibuses coexist with a bustling market and numerous cheap eateries in the style of "eat khachapuri and drink beer." But there are always a lot of cheap vegetables and fruits on the market. Curiously, potatoes and bananas are four times cheaper in Georgia than in Belarus.

Center of Tbilisi

The easiest way to get from Didube to the city center is by metro. It is very old in Tbilisi. There are not many stations. Advertisements inside too. To use it, you need to buy a special card, which is charged separately for each trip. Station names are announced in Georgian and English, which is very convenient for foreigners. For them, an information center has been created at the Tbilisi City Hall, where you can get a map of the city, an avenue with a list of attractions, hotels and restaurants, as well as use the Internet, and absolutely free of charge. The information center is always crowded. Most foreign travelers are economical backpackers. They do not bring special income to the treasury of the city and the country. But backpackers are well organized, especially in terms of sharing impressions. Once upon a time, free-thinking backpackers opened Nepal, Turkey and Nicaragua for reputable tourists. Now they are opening Georgia. Tbilisi residents are accustomed to foreign presence and seem to already know well what to expect and from whom. For example, gypsies who collect alms near the metro are very intrusive when they hear Russian spoken, but immediately retreat when they answer even a word in English.

Tbilisi is at the same time Georgia in miniature and a unique beautiful city in itself. Rustaveli Avenue is much narrower and shorter than our Independence Avenue. No matter what guidebooks say, there are few buildings worth special attention on it. So it can be crossed off the list of places to visit. At best, take a taxi along it in the evening, when the lights are turned on. On the other hand, the area of ​​Old Tbilisi is a surprisingly charming place with many narrow cobbled streets with wooden balconies resting against each other, small park areas, restaurants in Parisian and oriental styles, famous sulfur baths and ancient temples of various denominations. Why, for example, is the only mosque in Tbilisi where services are held simultaneously for Sunni and Shiite Muslims!

Mosque in Tbilisi

Narikala

City over the river

Walking along the embankment of the Kura, you can admire the spiers of the grandiose more modern churches on the opposite bank, as well as the houses hanging right over the cliff. And after all, do not be afraid to build such in a seismic zone!
The air in Old Tbilisi intoxicates even without wine, and even more with wine. When you sit at a cafe table, slowly sipping dry white wine from a glass, and chatting with fellow travelers from Latvia, time flies by. Somehow you forget that there is still a lot to see. On the mountain above Tbilisi rises a huge monument to the Mother of Georgia, depicting a woman with a sword in one hand and a goblet of wine in the other. According to the idea of ​​the creators, the sword is for enemies, and the wine is for friends. The last time the Georgians waved their swords was only three years ago, but somehow unsuccessfully. Probably because their enemies had machine guns and other more modern weapons. But they stocked up a lot of wine for friends. Moreover, they themselves seem to prefer drinking vodka. You can climb this mountain on foot or by funicular. I climbed on foot and scolded myself for a very long time. Nothing particularly interesting, except for the trees and the old church, it was not. But the two neighboring mountains offered something much more worthwhile: a colorful ethnographic village, a botanical garden and the Narikalu fortress. I had to go down, and then climb again and again. After two bottles of wine, I'll tell you, it's not very easy.

main avenue

Drink or lose 🙂

Metekhi Cathedral

I met another famous Georgian drink - transparent grape chacha in the north of Georgia, in Kazbegi, where I arrived for only two days. On the first day I was going to take a walk through the picturesque surroundings, and on the second day I was going to climb one of the smallest peaks by local standards and take some pictures. But man proposes, but life disposes. The driver who served the hotel where I settled was so delighted with the guest from Belarus that he invited me to a real Georgian feast. I could not miss such an opportunity. Georgians are the most hospitable people in the world, but sometimes they should be reminded of this. Arriving in Georgia, you do not even necessarily get to the table. In any case, God spared the other travelers I met from this, but did not save me. At first we drank simple house wine. I listened to long wise toasts, and then the owner brought a huge, misted bottle. They say that I drank two full glasses, but I myself do not remember anything about it. The next day, the head was splitting, as after being hit with a hammer. What kind of walks are there in the surroundings, and even more climbing? The hostess of the hotel gave me strong coffee and advised me never to drink chacha in the future. To convince me of the truth of her words, she poured the rest of the drink into a mug and lowered a match into it. It blazed so that the blue flame soared to the ceiling. Almost pure alcohol. And as soon as I mastered two glasses?
Georgians always drink the last toast to their president. President Saakashvili is remembered well. “Misha is a good president. God bless him!” — you can hear it everywhere. It is said that before the Rose Revolution, banditry and corruption flourished in the country. Now everything is calm. In the city center, you can leave an open car with a key in the ignition, return the next morning, and no one will touch it. Sometimes they scold the president for the war with Russia, for the daily TV shows in the style of "Misha came and put things in order," but they admit that there are few other worthy politicians in Georgia.
Contrary to popular belief, Georgians are not very emotional. They rarely smile. Cry or laugh even less often. The most popular word in the Georgian language is “ara”, which means “no”. They use it much more often than the word "ke" ("yes"). In the era of romanticism in European literature there was a comparison: "Beautiful, like a Georgian." For a long time I could not understand where it came from. There are many beautiful girls in Georgia, but no more than in any other country. In fact, one can understand the beauty of Georgian women only by looking not at young beauties, but at their mothers and grandmothers. A slim body. Cold proud look. Romantic poets were supposed to idolize them.
After a week in Mtskheta, the wife of the owner of the house where I rented a room told me important news. Her niece is returning from Greece tomorrow. A very beautiful and educated young lady. I can meet her and even marry her. It was a sign. The next morning, I packed my backpack, got on the train, and headed further west. Sitting on a backpack in the vestibule, I asked the elderly conductor, who was peeling seeds, in detail about what else was worth seeing in his hospitable country. Mtskheta, Tbilisi and Kazbegi were left somewhere behind, but the journey through Georgia continued.

Dmitry Samokhvalov

Read more:

Stalin cared little about the place of his birth. For his seventieth birthday, it was proposed to build sixteen avenues in Gori, from each of the union republics. But Joseph Vissarionovich for some reason refused. All the more strange is the love of the Gorians for their countryman….

This is the second part of my report on a trip to Georgia by car, telling about traveling by car along the Georgian Military Highway with a visit to all its sights, but with the first part of the review, you can.

I woke up exactly on the alarm clock, i.e. at half past five in the morning third day, gladly noting that over the past three days I have slept exactly 10.5 hours, and ahead of the serpentines and, in general, the road to Tbilisi, unusual for a flat dweller. In the rays of dawn, the Upper Lars looked completely different, unexpectedly on both sides there were quite high, almost sheer cliffs with sparse vegetation. The Terek River, which roars so loudly, turned out to be not so scary as it was fantasized in the dark.

Having put myself in order, I began to enjoy the views of the surrounding nature alien to my gaze. Then he looked at the cars lining up one after another and noted that I perfectly saw the beginning of the queue, but its tail was lost from sight, although 3.5 hours ago I myself was the last one. Thus, it turns out that the distance from me to the end of the queue turned out to be greater than before it began. This leads to an obvious conclusion.

It is best to arrive at the border before midnight - this will allow you to sleep and relax after a long journey, and at the same time, you will not be far from the start of the traffic jam.

Passage of the border between Russia and Georgia

While I was awake for 1.5 hours and enjoying the surrounding views, my navigator peacefully sniffed in 2 holes in the back seat. Exactly at 6:00, the line started moving, and at 6:05 the “dispersed” flooded in - they drove straight in a column in the opposite direction, 40 cars went ahead. I saw how they gradually began to be sewn into any gap between the cars, so I didn’t give a damn about personal space, I pressed as close as possible to the Mondeo standing in front. Some of the "dispersers" did not find a shelter and returned back, some found a treasured gap, and some stood on the sidelines, ready at any moment to hit the gas if someone gapes.

My position was quite decent, because I was not that far from the checkpoint, and about a hundred meters from it, a military ZIL with machine gunners and a patrol car with the ceiling turned on blocked the road - not a single "stowaway" could drive further than them. True, there were rather stubborn drivers, they told them their "good" reasons with tears in their eyes, because of which they urgently needed to be let forward, but the border guards were of little interest. But still, some of them stuck, they themselves wedged into the stream. Would you object to a man with a machine gun in his hands?

The closer you get to the military truck, the less illegal immigrants will wedge in front of you, and the further you go, the longer you will listen to the measured rumbling of the Terek.

We quickly passed the armed guards of the border, and I was able to relax - I no longer need to press close to the car in front.

From the moment we started moving to passing the Russian checkpoint, an hour and a half passed, then there was a wait in the neutral zone, because the tourist buses blocked the road, and the customs officers had to check all their clothes. The Georgian border was passed with a whistle - literally in 7-10 minutes. It took us about 2.5 hours to do everything about everything, not counting the fact that for some reason I woke up an hour and a half before the opening. But everything is empty, all obstacles have been overcome and left behind - incredible discoveries, new experiences and an exciting trip await us ahead!

First impressions of Georgia

Oooooh, the impressions just splashed out of our ears, but we drove through the entire mountainous area in the dark, and then again the mountains. We decided to stop at the very first observation deck after the border crossing to take a breath, soak up the first large-format landscape of Georgia with mountains and drink energy, because my lack of sleep was already beginning to give voice.

At the very beginning, there is an extremely bad road, on which there is no coating at all and they do not plan to apply it due to frequent mudflows. Therefore, you will have to be patient and shake at a minimum speed of about 5 km.

We quickly get to Stepantsminda, meeting the first roadside cows along the way, who walk on their own and are going to visit the first attraction on the list - Holy Trinity Church in Gergeti. I will not repeat myself and write about how I tried to storm it in my passenger car - all this, and even more, can be read by clicking on the link above. There I described in as much detail as possible all the information I knew about this temple.

Sitting in our car again, we tried to climb to another church, but on the other side of Stepantsminda, called Ioane Natlismcemeli. However, our attempts were in vain - well, I couldn’t get out on the right road, which, in turn, are lined with large stones and jumping on them on a sedan is never ice at all.

It was close to dinner time and we needed somewhere to eat. We decided to heed the advice of the man who took us upstairs to the temple and went to have lunch at the Tsanareti restaurant, which is located in a neighboring village called Arsha.

There we tried the national Georgian cuisine for the first time: we ordered the largest Imereti khachapuri, which had so much cheese that even you could put it in your pocket, pita bread, kupaty, khinkali, Satsebeli sauce and Saperavi red wine.

I wanted to try some wine (Georgian traffic rules allow a blood alcohol level of 0.3 ‰), but as soon as I smelled it, I began to lose touch with reality and fall asleep at the moment when I blinked.

As a result, my wife blew everything red out of the food, we ate almost half, and the waitress wrapped the rest for us. This whole feast cost 55 lari, or $22 at that time. At first glance, it seems not cheap, but considering that the two of us ate only half, and in the evening and tomorrow we ate the second - it turns out quite modestly. I liked the restaurant itself, the food is good, the courtyard offers a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains, even Kazbek is a little visible.

Sightseeing on the Georgian Military Highway

While we were enjoying the national cuisine, we saw a small waterfall on the neighboring mountain (coordinates: 42.630252, 44.597117 or N42°37"49", E44°35"50") because we are new here and we want to feel and shake everything, we went to look for a way to it. They killed for 30 minutes, driving around the surrounding fields and forcing small streams, until they realized that the entrance to it goes right from the threshold of our restaurant. By car, you won’t be able to drive right there - you will have to walk along the goat path on foot for 500 meters, at a very slight upward slope.

At the waterfall we found an Englishman who was sitting on a stone and drawing a picture with crayons. There was also a shepherd who slept peacefully in a fetal position while his imposing herd of mountain goats and cows was pastured by a guard dog, who seemed to be dreaming of jumping down a waterfall.

Having looked around the surroundings, we go down the slope and continue our trip by car across Georgia towards Tbilisi. While I was galloping between the stones, like a mountain goat, my sleep was shattered, and I again became wheel-twirling fit.

Immediately begins a winding road with sharp turns of 180 degrees - life becomes better, life becomes more fun! Driving there is quite interesting and not scary, but you begin to encounter such a phenomenon as loss of traction. With every meter we climb higher and higher into the mountains and we have to adapt to the new rules of gear shifting. For example, if in ordinary life I stick the 4th at 60 km / h, then here, at this speed, this cannot be done, because. the car starts to shake, and it stops pulling altogether, so there is a shift upwards and I stuck the 4th already at ~ 70-75 km / h.

Soon we come across another interesting place - mineral water outcropping (coordinates: 42.531698, 44.471960 or N42°31"54", E44°28"19"). As a result of certain chemical processes, the soil, on the way of mineral water runoff, was covered with a thick layer of absolutely solid yellowish-pinkish coating.

It is difficult to pass by this place, because. it is located right next to the road, there are always many cars of tourists there, and the local population conducts a brisk trade, on several small patches, national hats and other souvenirs. If you rise a little higher, you can find the source of this phenomenon and even drink it. Walking there is not slippery at all, but wet.

Having circled a little more along the mountain serpentines, we get to the observation platform, on which the monument "Arch of Friendship" is installed. Again, this attraction is described with a photo and a bunch of useful information in a separate article, at the link above.

At the moment we are at an altitude of more than 2 thousand meters above sea level - the surrounding landscapes, with majestic mountains and microscopic villages at their foot, are beautiful. The road begins to wag more and more, sharp turns on serpentines become the norm. My navigator has a severe migraine attack due to the elevation change and is semi-conscious, leaving me alone. I swallow a caffeine pill that helps my eyes open and my mouth finally close.

The Georgian military road is unrealistically beautiful and this is clearly understandable when you enter Georgia for the first time along it, the main thing is to be lucky with the weather. During a trip from Upper Lars to Tbilisi, it will definitely not be boring.

Alpine serpentines are not new to me - I overcame the Alps at night in almost zero visibility due to a heavy downpour with a deafening thunderstorm and traveled most of Italy on my iron horse. In general, I drive along them absolutely calmly and without fear, but no matter how I tried to catch up with at least one minibus, nothing worked, maximum hanging on my tail for about 15 minutes. I mean, impressionable tourists who decided to travel on their own on a Georgian minibus from Tbilisi on, they will get a very big injection of adrenaline and remember all the prayers long forgotten in childhood.

We gradually descend and drive up to the Zhinvali reservoir, on the banks of which stands the ancient, but well-preserved Ananuri fortress. This is a very interesting place where you should definitely stop and wander a little, and a detailed description can be read at the link above.

After walking along the walls of the castle, the effect of the pill begins to gradually weaken. I decided not to drink more than one of them a day, so we began to pay attention to the nameplates of roadside hotels. It was already evening time - the sun was about to hide behind the mountains, and there was some offensive 20 minutes drive to Tbilisi. But what can we do, we find not the most pretentious sign with houses without pretensions to chic and brilliance, but looking brand new and well-groomed, and we stop there for the night, making it the last point of our car trip around Georgia that day. Have you forgotten that in 3 nights I only slept 10.5 hours?

We were given a fairly large room with one double bed, a fireplace, a TV, a bathroom and a separate entrance, costing $20. We didn't have lari, but they took our dollars without any problems. There was free Wi-Fi on the territory and the manager, who practically did not speak Russian, although the woman was already in years. But the language barrier is never a barrier for us at all, so we joined her at a table in a small cafe on the territory of the hotel. First, she gave us coffee, which in Georgia is very tasty and is served in tiny cups for hobbits.

In parallel with this, she told us the story of her life: how she got married, what kind of husband she was, how many daughters were born, what their names are, who is married and where they live now. Naturally, all this was in Georgian, although she tried to insert the few Russian words that she knew, so we caught the essence of the monologue, but no more. We also told something, I specially selected the simplest words, as if you were talking to a child, and she, like us, nodded to us and smiled. Then she offered me a glass of cold home-made beer, and a glass of wine to my wife - we did not resist) After a couple of sips, it seemed that the speech became clearer. But you should not think that the Georgian language is at least somewhat similar to Slavic - no. Georgian writing is considered one of the few surviving unique writing systems in the world. Therefore, having passed a glass or two with Montenegrins, we communicated almost without problems, but such a trick will not work with Georgians - even 100 grams will not clarify their words.

Having consumed intoxicants, chomping on dishes not eaten in the restaurant at lunchtime and talking with an elderly Georgian woman about life, we went to the side. For the drinks provided to us, she categorically refused to take any fee, arguing that we are guests, how is it possible?

Even at the stage of preparation for a trip to Georgia, I met in the reviews of tourists some curious nuances of the local mentality that are alien to our people, so I was somehow ready for them, but at first my wife was looking for a catch everywhere. After all, where has it been seen that in a commercial institution they treat you to alcohol and at the same time are offended when you offer them to pay for it? - "This is Georgia, baby", you have to get used to the fact that the Guest here is not an empty word and not a cash cow that needs to be gutted and released back home again to gain currency fat. I myself, in the depths of my soul, hope that this blessed period will last as long as possible and the time will not come soon when everything here will be on a commercial footing, as can now be observed in the vast majority of tourist countries, this is especially noticeable in the Black Sea resorts of neighboring countries.

I slept soundly, like a brown bear in winter, and woke up only 10 hours later. fourth day our trip to Georgia. Having quickly gathered, we started to the capital.

Arrival in Tbilisi

With curiosity, we examined Mtskheta from the car window, but without stopping we fly to the intended point. Already in Tbilisi, we remember that we have no local money at all, so we began to look for an exchanger with our eyes. We found it, drove up, we read the running line, which states that they take a 2% commission - this did not triple us and we went straight to the place of our potential stop in a warm city.

Potential - because I did not book anything and did not agree with anyone, I only wrote out the addresses and contacts that interested me. The main selection criteria were:

1. Positive reviews.
2. The presence of owners of Georgians, i.e. apartments, hotels and other housing, in which you will not intersect with the Georgian owners, did not initially interest me.

In Tbilisi, we hoped to settle in the guest house "Tamar" - I read a lot of warm words about it, so I wanted to live there.

We are incredibly lucky, because. this morning the guests had just moved out of the best room of the guesthouse, which, moreover, turned out to be the only free one. In addition, we found the hostess literally on the doorstep, because she was away on business for the day. Rejoiced that we were so lucky, we glanced at the room in which everything suited us and began to listen to what was going on here. Tamara, whose Georgian name is Tamuna, told and showed us on the map where, what is located, where it is better to go on the first day, gave us one plastic card for public transport and one for visiting the amusement park. The concept of a guesthouse was new to us, so we were quickly told the principle of living in such a place. During a conversation, a special uncle entered our old courtyard-well and announced to all the residents that he had brought home-made matsoni - a cross between yogurt, kefir and yogurt, which costs 1 lari. Tamuna explained that it was delicious and asked if we had money or if she could buy it for us with her own (!) - rummaging in my pockets, I fished out and gave my only lari, because my navigator loves any sour milk - let him try it on himself, and I'll watch quietly. Tamuna also sold home-made wine from the village and we decided, on the occasion of our arrival, to buy a liter of white and red.

The introductory briefing was over, and she was about to leave, and we were like, "Wait a second, but what about money, passports?" But she looked at us as if we were stupid aliens who had fallen from the moon, and said that in principle there was no need to present passports, but we would pay for accommodation and wine upon eviction!!! Here, even I had a pattern break. How is it that our brain categorically denies the possibility of the existence of the reverse sequence of the saying "money in the morning - chairs in the evening"! When asked what to do if everyone leaves the guesthouse, we were told "Just close the door."

In general, these are the things, we were left standing alone in the hall with our mouths wide open to the ground. Tourists from the Russian Federation, who settled yesterday, were sitting on the balcony, and somewhere in the city, the French were hanging out, who occupied the remaining room.

Having driven to the exchange office without a commission, which we were advised, and having bought all sorts of fruits from street vendors on the way, we sat down to celebrate our happy arrival and successful settlement in a wonderful guest house in Tbilisi.

After everything was eaten and drunk, we warmed up a little under the warm sun on the balcony of the guesthouse, got acquainted with the guests from Russia, discussed the road to Georgia, thoroughly washed all the bones of the Ossetian traffic policemen, collected our guts and rushed to stare at the evening Tbilisi.

Read the rest of my report on an independent trip to Georgia by car and reviews of trips and holidays in different parts of the country in the following stories:

1. Rest in Tbilisi and sightseeing.
2. A trip to Racha to the village of Gebi - a description of fishing in a mountain river and climbing Mount Shoda to an abandoned high-mountain village.
3. Journey through Svaneti with a visit to Ushguli.

Country in the clouds and snow at the beginning of summer
Tbilisi, Sighnaghi, Mestia, Mazeri, Ushguli, Latali, Gudauri, Kazbegi

WHAT YOU DID IN TWO WEEKS
- Get married in Sighnaghi
- Visit the highest mountain settlement in Europe
- Climb to the glacier on Mount Ushba on horseback
- Climb to the mountain lake
- To make a snowman
- play snowballs
- Find mushrooms and even eat them!
- Learn how to mine gold the ancient way

I found out that I can not live without the Internet for more than a day))))

Khachapuri is delicious, but not every day!

DRIVING
This is extreme in its purest form. Here they overtake on turns, drivers rush along the serpentine as if they were on a kart, and not on the road on one side of which there is a cliff of several tens of meters.

The locals love to honk. What do they have to do with this kind of Morse code, according to which the driver knows: they tell him "gamargoba!" or scold beautifully.

On the road from Sighnaghi to Tbilisi, I learned that on a two-lane two-way road, 4 cars can easily pass at the same time. And they can turn from any to any row.
I learned that the norm is overtaking when the oncoming car is already rushing towards you. And if she races fast, then she can be honked like this: stunned! Can't you see, I'm overtaking here, and you're in the way!

Think twice before renting a car. In my opinion, taking a taxi here is cheaper and safer.

FOOD
Georgian portions are not big, they are huge! Everyone thinks that you are constantly hungry and try to feed you. Even if he dined half an hour ago, even if the table is full of food, they will still offer something that is not on the table.

Three types of khachapuri, matsioni, ajapsandali - vegetable stew of eggplant, pepper, carrot and tomato; shosha - mashed potatoes with cheese - a traditional Svan dish; lobiani - beans grated with mint, mushrooms and scrambled eggs; chakhokhbili - chicken with vegetables.
This is just a short list of what we tried in 2 weeks.

JOB
We got the impression that in Georgia everyone is doing everything. They have everything under control and the service system works at the level of a family business. And the family in Georgia is a broad concept - all brothers, all sisters.
We were looking for a place to translate documents in Tbilisi. On the bridge near the House of Justice, a woman intercepted us, somehow guessing what we needed, and immediately took us to the office opposite. She also asked if we were going to sign. If yes, she can be our witness.
Next, we went to the travel agency to find out where the nearest car rental is.
The man, without thinking twice, called someone and after a short conversation in Georgian, he said that he could agree. We politely explained that we needed an agency and wanted to have a contract and see the car, hinting that the car of his brother or nephew is not very suitable.

HOSPITALITY
Our flight from Tbilisi to Mestia was canceled due to heavy cloud cover. I had to go by minibus with fellow travelers from a failed flight.
First of all, everyone got to know each other. For 8 hours of the road, we learned everything about our fellow travelers: who and where works, managed to discuss politics, national cuisine, culture. We were fed with some national sweet cakes with raisins and cinnamon and made an excursion to the reservoir, deciding together with the driver that we should see it.
The panorama was really worthwhile. Why all our fellow travelers special thanks to.
Then, with the whole minibus, they were looking for our guesthouse (since I had no connection with the organizers). They were talking in unison, calling someone on their mobile, stopping passers-by and conferring. All this happened in Georgian and without our participation. And when they found it, they rejoiced together, and then said goodbye to us, as to old friends.

MOUNTAINS
The mountains of Georgia are a separate issue. They leave with their snow-covered peaks in the sky, hiding in thick clouds. And only when you're lucky, on a cloudless day, you can see how the green forest is replaced by a carpet of grass, and it dissolves in a dark gray stone against the azure sky. These peaks are formidable and cold, almost all year round covered with snow. When the sun - it shines so that it hurts to look, and therefore you squint, covering your eyes, because it is impossible to break away from this bewitching magic of nature.

Traveling in the mountains is for the hardy and prepared. The proud local nature tests everyone: steep ascents, dangerous descents and rarefied air.

We climbed to the glacier on the Two-headed Ushba. Its height is 4700 meters. Of course, conquering such a height is only for professionals. The mountains are harsh and not everyone can pass their tests. Our ascent began at 1500 m and ended at an altitude of about 2500 m. We climbed on horseback. All higher, higher, higher. A panorama of valleys, cut by mountain streams, with pastures of cows and horses opened up to the eye. At some point, the ascent became so steep that I had to dismount and lead the horse behind me: “come on, you can do it,” I told her, and I myself was suffocating from lack of oxygen. Muscles were on fire. And the rise is only a few tens of meters. And this is with a healthy lifestyle and playing sports 2 times a week.

Finally snow. The sun is hot, but the air is cold. I want to inhale with full lungs, but the air here is like a cocktail with spices. Inhale so as to scoop up the maximum - it does not work.

What surprised me the most was the piercing silence. One day we went up to Lake Mazir. At first we walked along the stream, then through a field of flowers, then through a forest, first deciduous, and then coniferous, and finally, once in a mountain valley, we saw snow very close by! No birds, no voices. Any loud sound is amplified tenfold and echoes through the mountains.
The snow is also amazing. It's not enough anymore. Cold, it contrasts with the multicolored meadow. We remembered childhood and made a snowman, only instead of eyes he has sky-blue flowers.

WEDDING
People go to Georgia not only for wine, khachapuri and stunning landscapes. Some people go to Georgia to get married.

Welcoming stranger, the minimum package of documents, which for most will be only 2 passports with translation into Georgian, a quick registration procedure and no bureaucracy.
For example, in Tbilisi, in the House of Justice, you can register a marriage in 15 minutes, next to it, arrange for the translation of passports into Georgian.
Or you can go to the city of love Sighnaghi, where they paint 24 hours a day, hold a wedding photo shoot there and celebrate the family’s birthday in one of the local restaurants overlooking the Alazani Valley. Watch our video about all this.

WEATHER
The weather in Georgia changes like the mood. In the morning it may be cold and gray, then the sun may come out and it will be hot, then it will rain and it will become cool again, then again the sun and so on in a circle. And the higher in the mountains, the more often the weather changes.

Our flight to Svaneti, a mountainous region of Georgia, was canceled due to bad weather. I had to travel 8 hours by minibus. Only during the journey it was not cloudy several times, it rained, and then the sun peeped out. For the first 3 days the forecast promised rain, temperature +10, +12 degrees. For the Israelis, this is winter, and I had no idea how we would live in the mountains for a week.
But the air here is dry, and the wind quickly dries the moisture. When it is +15 and the sun is shining, it seems that everything is +25 outside!

CLOTHING and SHOES
When hiking, dress in layers - from a warm waterproof jacket to a T-shirt - everything will come in handy. Also, be sure to bring sunscreen. The sun bakes stronger here than on the beach.

At the beginning of summer, the mountainous territories are cut by many streams, the ground is damp and swampy in places from melting snow. In the villages, the roads are often washed out from the rains and in some places are a mess of mud. Hiking waterproof shoes will simply not be replaceable.

PRICES in Tbilisi as of June 2016.

Taxi from Airport to city center 25-30 Larry.
Lunch at a restaurant 20-30 Larry per person.
Entrance to the botanical garden - 2 GEL
Rise on the funicular - 2 GEL in both directions
Car rental -
( Mitsubishijeep) - $75 + 40 lari for gasoline (about 200 km - To Sighnaghi and back)
Flight Mestia - Tbilisi = 30$
Travel by minibus Tbilisi - Mestia = 100 Larry per person.
A chic 5* hotel in the old town, with a large highway and a panoramic window, including breakfast - $130 per day for two.
Two-room apartment in the old town, in the very center, 3 nights - 582 nis
Taxi in the city - 5-10 GEL

Wine (Kindzmarauli) 20 GEL per bottle
Georgian teas - 5-6 lari per 100 gr
Churchkhela 2-3 GEL per piece

CONCLUSION
Georgia is a colorful and contrasting country. It's great when there is an opportunity to live this color, traditions, culture.

In our first trip there was only a small part, consisting of contrasts. There was a modern Tbilisi, with its five-star hotels, amazing restaurants, ancient streets, shopping centers, the most delicious ice cream, modern architecture of state institutions and ubiquitous freewi- fi “ Tbilisi Loves You”.

There was Mazeri, a village at an altitude of about 1600 meters in the beautiful mountainous region of Svaneti. Here, as before, they plow the land on bulls, cook homemade cheese, bake khachapuri and pita bread on old Svan ovens. As before, after successful mining of gold, local gold diggers, standing facing the river, turn to the higher power with a prayer of gratitude and drink chacha. Here, herds of cows and sheep graze peacefully in the meadows, and in the evening they themselves return home. Here, even time flows differently: slowly, measuredly.

When I return home, I close my eyes and imagine the mountain scenery in frozen moments of the past.
Snow-capped peaks, green meadows dotted with flower herbs, mountain streams and rivers that cut through the slopes, descending into the mountain valleys.
The palms still remember the cold burning snow in their hands and the warm rays of the sun. And in the ears - a ringing silence, broken only by the rare chirping of birds, the lowing of cows and the echo of mountain rivers.