Notes from group visits in 2013 and 2016

No matter how popular Georgia is with travelers from the former USSR, the country is still one of the world’s best kept travel secrets and deserving of a much bigger reputation then it currently enjoys. I think there will come a time when all the world’s travelers will come to appreciate all the good things about coming here – the warm hospitality of the Georgian people themselves, the beautiful scenery, the ancient winemaking traditions and spectacular cuisine, the unique culture,art and architecture. In the meantime those of us in the know can enjoy all this with less competition.

We went with friends in 2013 for just a few days and couldn’t wait to return to Georgia for another trip, as all we had time for was just a few highlights of this small gem of a country. I finally got a chance to do another short trip in 2016 and can’t wait to do a third, longer trip.  For the European or North American visitor with time on their hands, given the long distance, it makes sense to combine a visit here to with a trip around the Caucasus, including neighboring Armenia and Azerbaijan.

We had time to :

• Explore Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital and largest city;
• Visit Signagi the center of Kakheti, the country’s major wine-producing region;
• See Georgia’s former capital city Mtskheta (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and the ancient cave city of Uplitsikhe;
• Explore Akhaltsikhe’s Rabati castle and the cave monastery of Vardzia;
• Take a dip in the mineral water pools of Borjomi.

A visitor with more time on their hands could also consider spending a few days in the Black Sea resort town of Batumi, especially in season, hiking beautiful mount Kazbegi or the remote alpine region of Svaneti, exploring the Gelati monastery or the rock-hewn churches of David Gareja.

Getting there and around. The gateway city to Georgia is the capital city Tbilisi, and its international airport. Several major international carriers fly here including Turkish, Air France/KLM, Lufthansa and Aeroflot. You can also take the train in from Baku or Yerevan, but my advice would be to avoid the Soviet-era trains,  if you can. It’s much better and more scenic to take a car if you want to visit Armenia from Tbilisi or vice versa. Tourists from most countries either can enter Georgia without a visa or get an e-visa. Visas are not required for tourists from North American, European or ex-USSR countries. More information on visas to Georgia can be found here.

Georgia is not a big country, so unless you want to take some longer hiking trips (e.g. to Svaneti) or stay on the Black Sea coast for a few days, it’s possible to stay in Tbilisi for most of your trip and take side trips from here. Howevever, from my experience, there were good hotel options anywhere we went, so returning to the capital every night is not a must.

There are many hotel options in town, from hostels to 5 star international chains. We stayed at a small family run hotel in the heart of old town Tbilisi, called Marani Meidanze. The hotel was actually based in the owners’ familial home and is located right in the heart of historic Old Tbilisi. The couple who own it are a true example of renowned Georgian hospitality and we quickly became friends with them, feeling like we knew them for ages. Also, Marani  means wine cellar in Georgian and we got a great tour of the cellar and free wine tasting. Unfortunately, the hotel owners have retired and it’s been reopened under new management and rebranded with a wine store in the lobby, so not the same atmosphere, although the location is still top notch. But there are many small hotels in Tbilisi and for my money, they will beat out a five-star chain hotel any day.

Tbilisi has a subway system, but it’s very walkable and getting around by taxi is easy and relatively inexpensive, even if you want to go out of town. We took a taxi from Tbilisi to Signagi and ended up paying $100 return, which for 4 people was not a bad deal at all. Word of warning, though, the driving can be very aggressive and if you find a driver you’re comfortable with, best stick with them.

Eating and Drinking. Georgia may not be as famous worldwide for its wines as its European competitors, but it is part of the world’s oldest winemaking tradition along with neighboring Armenia. Georgian wine is very popular in other former USSR countries, although a lot of them are too sweet for some palates, good dry wines can also be found. You can read a pretty good history of Georgian wines here.  If a stronger drink is more to your liking, be sure to try chacha – the local liquor,made of grape pomase created by the winemaking process. Chacha to Georgians is what vodka is to Russians and they are fiercely proud of their drink. One of my friends who arrived with this wife and daughter a few days before the rest of our group was asked by the taxi driver on the way from the airport if he and his wife had ever had chacha. When he answered “no”, the taxi driver stopped the car, opened the trunk, took out a flagon of chacha and poured shots for my friend and his wife. Welcome to Georgia, indeed! If you want to learn more about the history of chacha in Georgia, this article is not a bad read. There is even apparently a chacha fountain in Batumi, from which you can sample free chacha. This fountain was opened in 2012 with the intention of running free chacha every day for 15 minutes, but I have read that this is now limited to one day a week and, I haven’t been able to find any reliable proof that this is operational at all right now.

Like the country itself, Georgian cuisine is not as well-known outside the former Soviet Union, as it deserves. To say that food is a big deal in Georgia is an epic understatement. Georgian hospitality extends to the dinner table and the food is often accompanied by wine and song. While there are good Georgian restaurants popping up all over the world, in my view even the best Georgian restaurant in New York City (this one, if you’re interested in giving it a try) pales in comparison, with some of the simpler eateries in Tbilisi. If you like your food packed with fresh vegetables, nuts, herbs and spices, this is the place for you. A good preview of what you can expect at a Georgian dinner table can be found in this article.

Security. After gaining independence from the USSR in 1991 the country went through a state coup and several years of brutal civil wars, which took a heavy toll on the country’s economy and to hear the locals tell it, even when the fighting was over, the country was not safe, with the police as big a threat as the criminals. That has all changed. Today’s Tbilisi is a safe and hospitable place, although there is still a lot of rebuilding left to do in the city, as some parts like Rustaveli prospect, a major thoroughfare, were severely damaged. Our hosts credited controversial ex-President Mikhail Saakashvili with the restoring law and order to the country and eliminating police corruption. In many ways, the impression we had was that Georgia is ahead of most other former republics of the USSR. There are still risk areas – South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two breakaway regions have de facto seceded from Georgia, and the relationship between them and Georgia are tense, including a brief war in August 2008, with the involvement of Russia, referred to sometimes as the Five-Day War. The conflict continues to simmer under a cease-fire agreement, but I would argue that the chances of a repeated incident are remote.