Georgia
I thought Georgia, the country and not the American state, would be heaven on earth since I saw the pictures of the capital Tbilisi. It combined old with modern, and it seemed both cultural and vibrant and everything I love about a city. Maybe I even move there one day I thought, that was until I went there.
When we arrived at 05.00 in the morning without being able to sleep during the night flight, we were welcomed by someone shooting fireworks at the parking lot at the airport. Then we took the bus that would take us into town and we realized that half the bus were homeless people who used the bus as shelter during the night. When we got off the bus I realized how worn down the city was and it reminded me of Chișinău in Moldova, which is the poorest country in Europe. When we got down to the center of the old town it suddenly became what I had seen in the pictures and maybe we had just seen the worst of it on our way down. But it turned for the worse again as quickly as we went into the small street that would lead to our hotel called 7 Baits Hotel which reminded me of Bates Motel. Not that it looked like the place but I thought I might get killed there. It was next door to a hostel that looked like a jail and we couldn't get into the hotel because it seemed closed during the night. As a joke I told my friend Andreas who I travelled with that if I knock someone will wake up from behind the counter, and to my surprise, someone did. We finally got some sleep in the worn down hotel and when I went down for breakfast some hours later, it was the worst I've ever seen. In the end I ate a piece of bread with nothing on it, and then I hurried up the stairs again while the receptionist called for me. He couldn't understand why I wouldn't eat disgusting stuff and drink from filthy glasses.
We went outside and saw the fortress Narikala on the mountain with the statue Kartlis Deda watching over the city to the right.
Andreas told me to jump down a gigantic piano in the park to take a picture and the police showed up to throw me out of there in a gentle way.
They seemed to have a fetish for used batterys and had used them as art all over the place. Andreas went for the traditional food of khachapuri which I found disgusting so I was happy that I went for the more conventional apple pie. Then I had a Georgian beer outside and I loved that the bar was next door to a church.
Papi and his friends Saba, Jaba and Irakli greeted us and me & Andreas immediately loved the bar while Papi and his friends called it the worst bar ever.
We had a great time and met an American called Cary who we went to another bar with and the day ended on a high. One day I will take Cary up on his suggestion to switch passports so I can move to USA!
The next day we went by funicular to Mtatsminda Amusement Park high upon a mountain but we couldn't find anything amusing up there.
It seemed like it was closed for the season or something and it was a big let down.
The food in and around the park plus the view was amazing though, so I don't regret going there. Then we went by night train to Azerbaijan before we went back to Tbilisi a couple of days later.
When we got back I went on my own straight to the ghetto with the metro from the train station to try and find the Chronicle Of Georgia monument. It was up a mountain in the outskirts of the city while Andreas went to our new hotel called Four Brothers. It was the worst feeling ever to walk by myself, dragging my suitcase around in a worn down neighbourhood where no one seemed to have seen a tourist before. I thought about going back to the hotel instead but I just kept on walking while I had my doubts. I wasn't even sure if I was going in the right direction and just when I would give up I saw it from a distance and it looked majestic! It was impossible to capture the beauty of it in pictures but I was very happy I went there and didn't chicken out even though I was sweating like a pig when I finally got there from climbing the mountain. I had great views over the city and the sea and I enjoyed every minute of it.
We went to Amy's Winehouse in the evening because I thought it was a funny name, but it turned out to be a shop and not a bar. It didn't live up to its funny name either because it seemed way too serious so we left and went to have some beers with Papi and his friend David at his beloved Irish bar instead. It was an alright bar, nothing special about it and I missed Dive Bar.
* Best things about Georgia – The old town is beautiful with the Narikala Fortress and cafés/bars like Carpe Diem while Rike Park is the perfect contrast with modern architecture as the Music Theatre And Exhibition Hall and the Peace Bridge that lights up in the Georgian colours at night, the Chronicle Of Georgia was a hidden gem on a mountain while Dive Bar was a low point in looks but won me over by charm, the falafel and pancakes in and around Mtatsminda Park were delicious
* Most mediocre thing about Georgia – Tbilisi has so much potential to be trashy in a good way instead of in a bad way, but it's in a desperate need of an investment
* Worst things about Georgia – smoking in bars is always awful and my way too high expectations made me feel disappointed quite often, the noise level in the metro can make you go deaf, 90% of the drivers needs to get their driver's license declared invalid, and I hope that they do something about the social situation so people don't have to use buses as shelter for the night
Best countries in the world according to the nerd (will be updated with every post):
1. USA
2. Croatia
3. Montenegro
4. Andorra
5. Cyprus
6. Turkey
7. Greece
8. Italy
9. Spain
10. Monaco
11. Malta
12. Netherlands
13. Iceland
14. Denmark
15. Sweden
16. Lithuania
17. Macedonia
18. Armenia
19. Portugal
20. Hungary
21. Slovakia
22. Slovenia
23. Austria
24. New Zealand
25. Ireland
26. Germany
27. United Kingdom
28. Belgium
29. Poland
30. Vatican City
31. Estonia
32. Czech Republic
33. Switzerland
34. San Marino
35. Kosovo
36. Romania
37. Finland
38. Latvia
39. Azerbaijan
40. Georgia
41. Moldova
42. Norway
43. Ukraine
44. France
45. Bulgaria
46. Luxembourg
47. Liechtenstein
48. China
49. Serbia
50. Bosnia And Herzegovina
51. Albania
When we arrived at 05.00 in the morning without being able to sleep during the night flight, we were welcomed by someone shooting fireworks at the parking lot at the airport. Then we took the bus that would take us into town and we realized that half the bus were homeless people who used the bus as shelter during the night. When we got off the bus I realized how worn down the city was and it reminded me of Chișinău in Moldova, which is the poorest country in Europe. When we got down to the center of the old town it suddenly became what I had seen in the pictures and maybe we had just seen the worst of it on our way down. But it turned for the worse again as quickly as we went into the small street that would lead to our hotel called 7 Baits Hotel which reminded me of Bates Motel. Not that it looked like the place but I thought I might get killed there. It was next door to a hostel that looked like a jail and we couldn't get into the hotel because it seemed closed during the night. As a joke I told my friend Andreas who I travelled with that if I knock someone will wake up from behind the counter, and to my surprise, someone did. We finally got some sleep in the worn down hotel and when I went down for breakfast some hours later, it was the worst I've ever seen. In the end I ate a piece of bread with nothing on it, and then I hurried up the stairs again while the receptionist called for me. He couldn't understand why I wouldn't eat disgusting stuff and drink from filthy glasses.
We went outside and saw the fortress Narikala on the mountain with the statue Kartlis Deda watching over the city to the right.
We went to the Peace Bridge and walked over to Rike Park.
There we found the modern and grand architecture of the Music Theatre And Exhibition Hall.
Andreas told me to jump down a gigantic piano in the park to take a picture and the police showed up to throw me out of there in a gentle way.
Since the KGB restaurant with the tagline "still watching you" was closed we went up to the Carpe Diem Café & Bar instead, and it was a lovely place, trashy in a good way.
They seemed to have a fetish for used batterys and had used them as art all over the place. Andreas went for the traditional food of khachapuri which I found disgusting so I was happy that I went for the more conventional apple pie. Then I had a Georgian beer outside and I loved that the bar was next door to a church.
We went to take a bath in the famous sulphur baths at Gulos Bath and since they have missed our booking even though I had told them 5 times about it, they gave us the biggest room for the same price as the smaller that we had booked.
Enjoying the view with the sulphur baths to the left
We had two choices, to be in too hot water or too cold, and the best you could do was to go into the cold and then the warm to feel like your body was on fire. It's a horrible feeling that you love at the same time. The smell was awful because of the sulphur, but you got used to the smell of rotten egg quicker than I thought. Andreas got a massage scrub from a guy from Latvia who suddenly turned up in his swim shorts and I was supposed to get one too but I turned it down.
We had two choices, to be in too hot water or too cold, and the best you could do was to go into the cold and then the warm to feel like your body was on fire. It's a horrible feeling that you love at the same time. The smell was awful because of the sulphur, but you got used to the smell of rotten egg quicker than I thought. Andreas got a massage scrub from a guy from Latvia who suddenly turned up in his swim shorts and I was supposed to get one too but I turned it down.
In the evening we went to Dive Bar to meet up with a Georgian guy called Papuna, who I call Papi, who I met through an online game. He almost refused to go to the bar, calling it a bar for homeless people. He's in love with his Irish bar called MacLaren's down in the old town but I wanted to go to something more extreme, and believe me it was. We went inside a dark alley which didn't seem to lead to anything and if it had been Papi's suggestion to meet me there I would have thought he would rob me. Suddenly there it was, the filthiest bar I've ever been too, they even used a fire place to keep the worn down building warm.
Papi and his friends Saba, Jaba and Irakli greeted us and me & Andreas immediately loved the bar while Papi and his friends called it the worst bar ever.
Such cozy interior
We had a great time and met an American called Cary who we went to another bar with and the day ended on a high. One day I will take Cary up on his suggestion to switch passports so I can move to USA!
The next day we went by funicular to Mtatsminda Amusement Park high upon a mountain but we couldn't find anything amusing up there.
A picture from when we would go down again with the funicular
It seemed like it was closed for the season or something and it was a big let down.
The food in and around the park plus the view was amazing though, so I don't regret going there. Then we went by night train to Azerbaijan before we went back to Tbilisi a couple of days later.
When we got back I went on my own straight to the ghetto with the metro from the train station to try and find the Chronicle Of Georgia monument. It was up a mountain in the outskirts of the city while Andreas went to our new hotel called Four Brothers. It was the worst feeling ever to walk by myself, dragging my suitcase around in a worn down neighbourhood where no one seemed to have seen a tourist before. I thought about going back to the hotel instead but I just kept on walking while I had my doubts. I wasn't even sure if I was going in the right direction and just when I would give up I saw it from a distance and it looked majestic! It was impossible to capture the beauty of it in pictures but I was very happy I went there and didn't chicken out even though I was sweating like a pig when I finally got there from climbing the mountain. I had great views over the city and the sea and I enjoyed every minute of it.
We went to Amy's Winehouse in the evening because I thought it was a funny name, but it turned out to be a shop and not a bar. It didn't live up to its funny name either because it seemed way too serious so we left and went to have some beers with Papi and his friend David at his beloved Irish bar instead. It was an alright bar, nothing special about it and I missed Dive Bar.
The next day we rented a car to go to Armenia and we could tell that Georgians drive like crazy. If they couldn't pass you on the left side, they went out in the fields and passed you on the right side instead. I was happy we survived when we came back from the road trip in the evening. We passed by the Irish bar to say goodbye to Papi and his other friend also called Irakli and my final conclusion about Georgia was that it looks better in the pictures with some editing, still I had a good time there!
* Best things about Georgia – The old town is beautiful with the Narikala Fortress and cafés/bars like Carpe Diem while Rike Park is the perfect contrast with modern architecture as the Music Theatre And Exhibition Hall and the Peace Bridge that lights up in the Georgian colours at night, the Chronicle Of Georgia was a hidden gem on a mountain while Dive Bar was a low point in looks but won me over by charm, the falafel and pancakes in and around Mtatsminda Park were delicious
* Most mediocre thing about Georgia – Tbilisi has so much potential to be trashy in a good way instead of in a bad way, but it's in a desperate need of an investment
* Worst things about Georgia – smoking in bars is always awful and my way too high expectations made me feel disappointed quite often, the noise level in the metro can make you go deaf, 90% of the drivers needs to get their driver's license declared invalid, and I hope that they do something about the social situation so people don't have to use buses as shelter for the night
Best countries in the world according to the nerd (will be updated with every post):
1. USA
2. Croatia
3. Montenegro
4. Andorra
5. Cyprus
6. Turkey
7. Greece
8. Italy
9. Spain
10. Monaco
11. Malta
12. Netherlands
13. Iceland
14. Denmark
15. Sweden
16. Lithuania
17. Macedonia
18. Armenia
19. Portugal
20. Hungary
21. Slovakia
22. Slovenia
23. Austria
24. New Zealand
25. Ireland
26. Germany
27. United Kingdom
28. Belgium
29. Poland
30. Vatican City
31. Estonia
32. Czech Republic
33. Switzerland
34. San Marino
35. Kosovo
36. Romania
37. Finland
38. Latvia
39. Azerbaijan
40. Georgia
41. Moldova
42. Norway
43. Ukraine
44. France
45. Bulgaria
46. Luxembourg
47. Liechtenstein
48. China
49. Serbia
50. Bosnia And Herzegovina
51. Albania
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