Summer Holiday in Tbilisi, Georgia

Hello Peeps,

 

I know it has been way overdue since my last post, but lots of things happened which had kept me distracted from writing.

Without further due, I would like to share my travel experience with you to Tbilisi, Georgia. Honestly speaking, I would never have thought of visiting this country if I were not living in the Middle East region. The best reason is that I have never heard of this place before. But Georgia is among the popular tourist destination for people in the Middle East, especially for skiing in winter and to escape the heat of the desert during summertime. Another bonus, GCC residents would not require a visa to visit Georgia. Likewise, for a week passport holder, it has been kept on my bucket list for quite some time.

So this time, I managed to get myself away from the second biggest public holiday in the Middle East on Eid al-Adha for six days, and during my gateway, I will be staying in rented apartments that were booked through Agoda and Airbnb. The price per night relatively cost 50 USD & they are situated in a strategic location with a nice interior, a clean and safe environment.

On my first day of arrival in Tbilisi from an approximately 3-hour flight, I checked in at Paskunji residence, which is an apartment located right in the middle of the city. I love the interior of this apartment, which is kind of modern-minimalist looked. It is located in liberty square, where we can walk all around the old town and visit the tourist spots on foot.

We went to Khinkali Bar to give it a taste of my first experience on what is the most famous local food here, Khinkali (steamed dumpling). We tried khachapuri (local pizza in another restaurant), ojakhuri (stir-fried potato, onion, and meat) & shkmeruli (chicken stew with cream), not to mention the legendary locally-produced Georgian wine. In Georgia, most of the foods are non-halal and they generally serve pork in their dishes. However, since many Arabs love to visit this country, halal food such as Turkish kebab, shawarma, and many halal foods are easy to find here. 

                                                   Lunch at Khinkali Bar

Ojakhuri

Honestly, I am not a big fan of Georgian local food, but those are a must-try cuisine in Georgia if you are in town! The meal that we had cost us around 120 GEL for two servings which is 45 USD, and for every meal (local food or others), the price was relatively the same.

Moving on, since everything is nearby, we decided to roam around the city on a walk. We went to the well-known Bridge of Peace and Amphitheater, which is situated in Rike Park. I think the gardener has done a great job of combining the different plants altogether because it looks incredibly stunning; with the backdrop of the ancient cliff, it creates a magnificent view.

    Rike Park

    Bridge of Peace 

View above the bridge

We took a tram to go uphill from here. We purchase a tram card, but actually, we can just tap through the machine with our credit or debit card, which is incredibly convenient. We visited the Mother of Georgia statue, and we enjoyed the view from above. We also visited the old town where the houses have been modified to become a tourist spot selling merchandise, food, and cafes by the cliffs. There is also a traditional public bath for people to experience the traditional way of deep cleansing bath in the Georgian style. There are also many people and agencies offering great tour packages at a very reasonable price, but because we had plans in mind, we didn’t go for it.

                                            

View from the hill next to The Mother of Georgia statue

                                                      Mother of Georgia Statue

Clock Tower 

Old Town

The next day we went to the mountain via an online taxi app called Bolt. This app is quite popular in many regions in Europe, and fortunately, it works like a wonder here. So we used this application to book a taxi to take us to the Gudauri area, which is up in the mountain. The journey itself took a three-hour ride, and it didn’t take long for the driver to accept us. The journey itself cost approximately 136 Gel which is 50 USD. So far, Bolt drivers are extremely professional, even though they don’t always speak English. Little fun fact, tap water is drinkable in Tbilisi, but the tap water in the mountain is a must-have if you are there. It tasted super fresh!

On the way to the mountain

When we arrived in New Gudauri (as we found out later, there are old and new Gudauri), I was a little surprised at how remote this place is during the summer season. It felt like a dead city (LOL). We checked in at Twins Apartment, which was also looking empty. Despite that, I am enjoying every single moment of my time there. The apartment looks incredibly new from the inside (I love the modern minimalist design with the touch of bricks design on the kitchen wall), and people are friendly here even though not (again) everyone speaks English. The best part is I can see the stunning mountain view from the balcony! The city itself feels so dreamy with the design of the buildings there looking like in the fantasy movies (Narnia, Hobbiton, etc.). It was just like what my childhood self had always been dreaming of the existence of this place on earth. And when this place turned out to be unpopular, my fantasy was just going wild; it felt like the entire city was just there for me (though we were struggling to find some restaurants to eat, fortunately, we found open restaurants with only a few diners). It was magical! We spent three days here in the mountains, and I could have already recognized most of the neighborhood dogs around there (there aren’t that many living creatures around other than shopkeepers in the Spar minimarket, a few natives, and lost tourists and farm animals).

 

    Dinner view at Drunk Cherry Restaurant

    Picture was taken from Chalet Restaurant in Gudauri

    

        View in front of the Twins Apartment

    Training the neighborhood dogs

On the third day, we took a ride to one tourist spot called the Monument of Russian and Georgian. It is a monument symbolizing the friendship between the two countries. We had tea time in the restaurant next to it, and the hot cocoa blew me away. I have never had such a thick cocoa drink ever in my life, and I would like to know how to make one (I bought the cocoa powder from a local minimarket and mixed it with full cream milk, but it doesn’t taste the same :( ).

    

         Russia-Georgia Monument

    Hot cocoa

On the fourth day, we went back to the city after catching a cold from playing and exploring the small hill in Gudauri and trying to observe how the animals lived there (we tried to keep our distance but at the same time, curious with the herd of bulls, dogs, donkeys, and horses). So arriving back to the city was warming, we checked into another Airbnb, which is located still in Liberty Square and right behind the Marriott hotel. In the beginning, I didn’t like the apartment due to the appalling entrance, but once we reached inside, we were stunned by how new the design of the apartment was, even though it took me a while to adapt to the shape of the room and partition.

We immediately went to have lunch in a Hongkong restaurant; maybe we gave up trying to adjust to the local food. It was comfort food; then we walked around for a bit before proceeding up to the famous TV tower with a funicular to see the night view from above.

    Hongkong Noodle

    TV Tower

    Night view from the hill next to TV Tower (Mtatsminda Park)

On the fifth day, which is also the last day to adore the city, we decided to visit one of the biggest churches, which is the Holy Trinity Cathedral. It is incredibly stunning, with a huge park in front of the church, well maintained. There was also a Sunday activity going on inside the Orthodox cathedral, in which we got to know a little piece of how the Sunday activity goes inside. We joined the Sunday activity towards the end of the session, and choirs were chanting in the local language, and holy water was sprayed eagerly by the priest with a brush. Afterward, we went to have a Korean bbq in Baegopa. When we arrived, I couldn’t help but doubt the quality of the food because there was no one there except us as the first guest, even though it had passed lunchtime. However, the crowd didn’t do justice because the food tasted delicious.

    The Holy Trinity Cathedral

    Inside the Orthodox cathedral

    Park outside the cathedral

    Random grape trees on the street nearby cathedral

    K-BBQ

We moved on to have a walk in the Vake Park, which is located not too far away, and to reach there; we took Bolt since it was not too pricey (8 GEL). The weather was incredibly pleasant; we walked around the park and observed people having different activities there, some playing tennis, table tennis, chess, and board games; kids were playing some mini rides available there. It felt relaxing to see the normality of people running the activities outdoors during the weekend.

    Vake Park

    Ice cream with melon flavour is a bomb

We took the tram from the park to see turtle lake up on the hill. More people were doing their weekend routines there, some hangouts in groups, couples enjoying their time, families with kids riding the cycle boats, dogs playing catch-the-ball games, some darers trying out the flying fox, volleyball games were on, some people swam by the lake, some others munching in cafes and restaurants. It is the definition of beauty in simplicity. We then proceeded back down the hill with the tram and went to a Thai restaurant called Tom Yum for dinner as our stomachs growled to be fed.

    Turtle Lake

   

       View from above the hill next to turtle lake

    Dinner at Tom Yum Thai Restaurant

Even though there aren’t many activities, it was exceptionally relaxing and enjoyable, and most importantly, we had a great time here in Tbilisi, Georgia.