RoadsUp Exploring Beautiful Georgia
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The world has many beautiful places and we want to see some of them. We, Claudia and Peter a couple from Austria, decided to take a motorcycle trip from Austria to India and see as many different countries and cultures as possible on the way.
For us, Georgia was one of the countries that really surprised us. We didn`t really know much about it, so we had no expectations or prejudices when we entered from Turkey in Sarpi. Coming from Turkey late afternoon, the first thing we saw were glittering casinos instead of Mosques.
Everything was written in kartuli anbani, the Georgian alphabet. We were glad that there were also Latin words beside it. On the border, we met Raif, a nice and helpful guy driving a Yamaha Teneré on his way to Tajikistan. He helped us with translation while buying insurance for the bikes. After saying goodbye, we went on to Batumi, a beautiful city on the Black Sea. As we drove along the coast the view was amazing. The city was bathed in the warm afternoon light and the sea was glittering from orange to pink in the colors of the sunset. We decided to take a break and enjoy the breathtaking scenery as well as take a few pictures. The owner of a nice restaurant on the seaside allowed us to use his terrace to take some pictures. We went on north out of Batumi to find an idyllic camping site called Robi, directly on the sea, where we pitched our tent in the last light of the day for the amazing price of 10 GEL per night for both of us. We spent the next day swimming, relaxing in the shadows and using the Wi-Fi. The other guests were a family from Belarus and some Russian people, as well as two cute dogs that didn`t really belong to anyone but felt at home on the campsite. They were looking for human closeness and nearly attacked Peter until he started stroking them. Good that we are vaccinated against every possible disease.
After the second night, we left in search of the Katskhi Pillar, a natural limestone monolith located in the western Georgian region of Imereti. We drove through nice curvy mountainous roads and stopped at a small shop for a break. The owner, a helpful lady, didn`t speak any English but wanted to boil us some water immediately as we bought some frozen dumplings filled with meat called Khinkali. As we wanted to boil them with our camping stove, we politely declined. We discovered the Katskhi Pillar at sunset and went uphill with the motorcycle. Unfortunately, it`s not possible to enter the ruins of the church on top, but we did get some nice pictures of it. The sight of the illuminated church on top is even more amazing at night. We pitched our tent nearby and enjoyed the awesome view. As we lay in the tent, we heard a party going on in the distance and realized that people around the world aren`t that different.
The next day, we tried out our stove for the first time to cook the Khinkali we’d bought and liked it very much. Happy from the good food, we went on to Ninotsminda, because we wanted to go to Armenia.
We went through mountainious regions as it suddenly started raining and hailing so hard that we had to stop and look for a dry place. We were grateful a farmer let us stay in his garage for some time. After about half an hour, the rain stopped, and we continued southwards. The street got worse every kilometer we went. Cows, horses and sheep were standing in the middle of the road and we had to do some animal slalom to prevent a collision. The last kilometer before the Armenian border was unpaved and we were happy when we got to the border. The Armenian border was one of the toughest borders we’d had to pass. Every bag was opened and unpacked. But that is a different story to tell. Maybe we should just stay in Georgia, as it is worth a visit for more than just a few days.
After two days in Armenia, we decided to go back to Georgia and visit Tbilisi. The road on this side of the country was much better, so we reached the city quickly. Through Couchsurfing, a German guy living in Tbilisi invited us to stay at his place. He showed us the city and a nice pub as well as a traditional local food restaurant where we tried a Georgian bean dish called Lobio that tasted delicious. We only stayed two nights in Tbilisi and would have stayed more if we hadn’t had other plans. The two days in Tbilisi went by so fast in the relaxing and peaceful atmosphere of the city. As we went towards Azerbaijan and stopped to buy some bread, a family invited us to have dinner with them. Although we couldn`t understand each other as we don`t speak any Georgian or Russian, we really enjoyed the company and the good Georgian food. Georgia really surprised us with its friendly people. We`ll definitely come back some day.
For further information on the RoadsUp trip, visit our website www.RoadsUp.com or follow us on one of the social networks: www.facebook.com/roadsupcom, www.instagram.com/roads_up, Youtube: RoadsUp
By The RoadsUp Team