After several years of planning this journey, I have finally made it to Tbilisi, Georgia. The whole reason I even went to Georgia is to visit my friend Tata, because she is the pen-pal I've have for the longest time, and after my time in Russia, it has given me a huge desire to taste the amazing cuisine of Georgia.
My flight departed at 7:45 AM, so I had to be at the airport well before that. Sadly, the buses and metro doesn't start until 6 AM, and it takes an hour to take them to the airport. Luckily, taxis always run, and while more expensive, are faster and more convenient. I called up a Taxi on the Yandex Taxi app, and arrived to the airport, paying 500 rubles for the whole ordeal.
Unfortunately, Ural Airlines requires you to use the checkout counter, and while I prefer just doing it electronically, it was completely fine since I was the only other person in line thanks to my early arrival time. Getting through the airport on the other hand, was a bit of a hassle. I forgot to take off my belt during the security checkpoint, and was then questioned heavily about the reason of me going to Tbilisi, and it didn't help that the lady at the passport control was very sick. Also, I was stopped at the security checkpoint for having too much metal, and when inspected, they couldn't find anything resembling a large amount of metal. I guess that was the time to tell them that I had a bunch of change in my backpack pocket. Oh well, they don't know won't hurt them, especially since it is just money.
During the flight, I got through a major chunk of Doctor Zhivago, and I hope to finish it before Monday for sure, since I already want to start a new book really soon. The flight takes a bit over 3 hours from Saint-Petersburg to Tbilisi, and Ural Airlines will actually give you a meal! That was the surprising thing for me. I wasn't complaining, I got a snack before arriving in Tbilisi.
Upon my arrival, I converted all my rubles to the Lari, which at the time was 23 Rubles to 1 Lari, and 2.4 Lari to 1 Dollar, so it was a good conversion for me. I got my bus ticket, but I underestimated how long it would actually take to even arrive to the center of the city, and where I had to go, which is the Marco Polo Hostel on Shota Rustavelli. It was a prime location, with a bus straight to and from the airport, and the metro right around the corner. I highly recommend it to anyone.
On the way to the Hostel, I couldn't help but laugh as I saw the sign for the George W. Bush Street. I have never seen anything like it before, and it helped with the blaring sun and the 20C weather. Yes, it was warm from me. I got too used to the grey, cold, windy weather of Saint-Petersburg.
I arrived to the hostel after about an hour, checked in, emptied the clothes out of my backpack, and waited on the bench opposite of the hostel, and out of nowhere arrived Tata and her friend Mari. Having two Georgians as friends was really nice, especially since they knew the city pretty darn well, so that saved me time in not taking the walking tour of Tbilisi. Also, I dislike most tour guides, so if they can lead me somewhere, and say what it is about in a sentence or two, and keep going, we will be fine.
We walked down Shota Rustavelli, and I took pictures of several places, including Freedom Square, which has a statue of St. George, and of the old city. Once we arrived to the old City, we sat down for lunch, ordered 3 different types of Georgian soda. One of this is a cream soda, the other is a pear, and the green one was Tarhun. The dumplings, which are well eaten at the point of the picture being taking, is called Khinkali. Traditionally, you're supposed to take it from the top, bite a hole into the bottom, and drink the juice, and then eat it, or else it will just be a messy process. I learned after juices kept going everywhere. And my favorite, of course, was Khachapuri. Khachapuri is a bread dish filled with cheese, egg, and butter, which you mix up together and essentially make a sauce, and tear off from the sides and eat. Mari warned me that tourists order the large assuming that they can't eat it, but are always unable to. I didn't want to listen, and ordered a large, betting that I could eat it. It took an hour, and I slowly started getting exhausted, but I finished it, but conceded the win to her, since I took so long to finish.
After we left the restaurant, we headed over to parts of the old city, which included seeing a waterfall, and getting lost on our way to the botanical garden. In the botanical garden, we hiked along many places, and found some nice views of the fortress and the city, and from there took the closed off passageway to the fortress, passed it, and went to go see the Mother of Georgia. From there, the option to take a cable car is given, but I wanted to go into the Narikala Fortress. Mari stayed behind because she was too tired from climbing, so Tata and I went to the top of the fortress. By the time we went up, took pictures, and came down, Tata still had energy, but I was dying. The Khachapuri in my stomach was not helping my case at all.
We took the cable car down from there, bought some water, and headed up to the amusement park, since it gave the best view of the city. Since the park wasn't open for the season, it was very empty, and the three of us just relaxed up there. After waiting for it to get dark, and we felt rested up enough, Tata and Mari took me back to my hostel, and we said our goodbyes for the day.
At the hostel, I started talking to some of the people staying there, and met with an American Expat who lives in Tel Aviv, Israel, someone from Spain, and one the night shift worker from Uzbekistan. He was so surprised that I spoke Russian, and was glad that someone could. I spent most of my time talking to the Spaniard, Andrea, because I don't get the chance to speak in Spanish that often outside the domain of family while abroad.
Since it was getting late, I retired for the night, and went into my 6 bed room, and fell right asleep. Unfortunately, since I used the wrong blanket, I was dreadfully warm, but it was so nice and soft that I couldn't help but just keep using it.
April 7th, 2017
Waking up in a small daze, and trying to figure out my plans for the day, I showered, and plopped down on the couch while my phone charge, and used Google Maps on my tablet to see what I wanted to do.
Of course, I am always a fan of going to the different churches, and my friend Tata was busy with classes, so that would be the perfect time to go, especially if she didn't want to. I also decided to go see the National Museum of Georgia to go see more about the culture of this amazing country.
I walked to the church just down the street, but, since it was on one of the main streets in the city, it was packed, and people were standing outside just to hear the sermon that was going on. So, I just took pictures of the area, and went towards the Museum.
In the museum, I arrived right as it open, much to the chagrin of the workers there. I asked for one student ticket, and they looked at me with a sort of mad expression, and told me to wait for the systems to boot up. I paid 1 Lari for the ticket, which is less than .50 cents. USA, learn from the cheap museum prices! I hate paying an arm and a leg in the USA just to go see a museum in Downtown anywhere, USA.
the Museum is divided by floors, and on the first floor is an exhibition on the Stone Age, in the basement is the Treasury, on the second floor there is iron works, and on the third floor, there is an exhibition on the Eastern world, and a section on the Soviet Occupation of Georgia. It was a quick museum to run through, but I manage to learn alot form it. There's even a mummy in the museum. I sent my sister a picture and she just loved it. I then exited the museum, and made my way to a plethora of museums around Tbilisi, and a sad fact of life is the excessive amount of beggars that congregate around the churches, and make you feel sorry for them, but as a student and a tourist, I don't have the money to spare. I had to get food for myself and souvenirs as well.
The hardest church to find was the Trinity Cathedral, which is located on a huge ground at the top of a hill, and it has such wonderful views of the city. I managed to actually go inside and see everything, but thanks to the mix of tourists and avid church goers, it was near impossible to find the saint I was looking for. After that, I made my way down to the Metekhi St. Virgin Church, and that was also full, but I managed to peek inside, and take amazing pictures of the old city. Also, one of Georgia's best kings, King David IV, has a statue right there. From there, I made my way back to where I was staying, since I had agreed to meet with Tata for dinner, and after getting lost for a bit, found my way back thanks to the Alexander Pushkin Street. I gotta love the man, I'm out of his country, and he still helps me with life.
I ended up going to this one bar, the name which escapes from my mind at the moment, and tried Chacha, which is a Georgian Vodka made from wine, I believe. It was strong, and I had two shots, since they were having happy hour, and they had two different flavors. The flavor was so strong, that I had to go to the Subway's Sandwich shop around the corner just to get some food in my system, since dehydration and hunger don't help drinking at all. I ordered a Falafel sandwich, which is something I have never seen in the USA before, ate it, and made my way back to the hotel. There I met with some of the workers, and while my phone charged once again, and I waited for Tata, I just conversed with the Hostel workers. Around 3 PM, Tata arrived in front of my hostel, and led me down to this one really neat street, the name of which I forget, and I tried Churchkhela for the first time. Churchkhela is known as the Georgian Snickers, and it is made from grapes and nuts in some sort of fashion. I quite enjoyed it, but I believe the one I ordered was a bit older, since it was hard to eat.
After walking around Tata's part of town, Tata, Mari, and I went to Tata's house for a traditional home-cooked Georgian dinner. I met Tata's parents and sister, all whom I've heard so much about throughout the years. With a mix of English and Russian between me and them, and Georgian among themselves, the night passed through very quickly. The food was just amazing, and I was so full. They gave me some home made Georgian wine to drink, and while I liked it very much, I didn't want to seem like a major alcoholic if I said yes to every time they asked me if I wanted more.
They took me home in their car, since it is quite a hike back, and once I arrived to the hostel, I started my chatty ways, and passed the rest of the night talking to Americans who are actually studying in Saint-Petersburg, at the other Smolny college (the original one that was a woman's college). It was a great experience, and I had to go to bed early, since I had to catch a Mashrutka the next day to the old capital of Georgia, Mtskheta!
I had to triple check how to get to Mtskheta with the owners of the hostel, Mina and Andrew, just because all the signs on the mashrutka's are in Georgian, and rarely in English. They told me to go to the Didube Metro Station, and it exits out into this large car lot, and to just use my Russian to find the car if I couldn't find it. After about half an hour of searching, I came upon the mashrutka, paid 1 Lari to get on, and made my way to the old city of Mtskheta!
Now, getting there is the easy part. Going around the town? Not so much. It was quite a walk, and they drop you off at a monastery, whose entrance just contains a wall of beggars. I had to make my way through them at a quick pace, with a woman looking at me and just yelling "MONEY! MONEY! MONEY!" I felt quite overwhelmed, especially since I just wanted to be able to get through the grounds in peace. I took several pictures, ran out the entrance in order to evade the beggars, and saw a fortress at the end of the road.
I took the 30 minute walk to the fortress, and climbed the mountain, which was filled with cow pies and other gross things, as well as containing a sign saying to be careful of falling rocks. Also, cows were everywhere, so that added to the mosquito problem. I made it to the top, and you get a nice view of part of the city, but most of the ruins are in disrepair, and there's not much to see other than the wall. I made my way down, and walked into town, heading into the cathedral, and once again, being bombarded by the beggars, and even some people asking to give tours.
The Cathedral in the city is purported to contain the Mantle of Jesus Christ buried there, but I couldn't figure out where, and I didn't want to ask, since I didn't have a tour guide, and the priests were too busy baptizing children that Saturday morning.
I left the church, and went into the town square, and asked how to get to the monastery at the top of the hill, which caused the Taxi drivers to swarm me with offers, but nothing less than 15 Lari, since it was at the top of the hill, and they would wait for you, and bring you back down. I told them I could give them 5 Lari, but that was it. They got mad and left me alone.
I then ran into someone who was staying at the hostel with me, and asked if he had gone up yet. He said he hadn't, but was planning on doing so. I told him my cash situation, and asked if he would mind footing the rest of the bill for the Taxi, and he was such a nice guy that he agreed. We went up to the monastery, and were able to see how the two main rivers in the area converged together. The Monastery also dates back to the 4th-6th century, so it is one of the older things in the area. We went back down, and made our way to find a mashrutka, but I was starving, and I bought a Churchkhela, which was much softer and sweeter than that of the day before. We started our journey to find the mashrutka, and after me asking several questions as to where the path lay, I managed to find the road, and stopped the mashrutka for my acquaintance and I.
We arrived back in Tbilisi, and my metro card ended running out of money, so I had to use what little coins I had to fill it up enough for at least 2 rides. We returned to the hostel, and since I was no longer going to churches for the rest of the day, I changed into shorts. It was such a wonderful feeling to no longer be constricted by pants while walking outside, and I enjoyed the breeze of the incoming "rain" of Tbilisi. It sprinkled for 5 seconds. I met up with Andrea, who was heading out for dinner, and I decided to join her, since the Churchkhela wasn't holding up. We went and got this cheese salad which was amazing, and some Khinkali, which I did not make a mess of at this time. Sadly, Tata and Mari came over to say their farewell's and also for me to give back Mari's metro card. It was a pity that my time with them wasn't long, but we both have the university matters to give our attention.
Afterwards, she went to go investigate a room in Tbilisi she could rent out, and we decided to hang out that night, most likely at a hookah place. The plans fell through, but she ended up getting invited to eat dinner at the place she was checking out, and invited me along with her. The people in the apartment were internationals from France and India, and they just love meeting internationals, so they bought us dinner, and gave us (just me, actually) Georgian wine. I think the atmosphere, and the combination of Indian food, good conversation, Latin music, and Georgian wine made the night pass quickly. We would have stayed longer, if it weren't for the fact of me needing to be at the airport early in the morning, in order to check in and get through customs.
April 9th, 2017
Woke up at 5:45 AM completely naturally, probably due to a fear of my alarm ringing with other people sleeping in the room. I charged my phone, but had forgotten to put anything else to charge overnight. I ate the last slice of Khachapuri given to me when I had dinner with Tata's family. I got on the bus around 8 am, and arrived around 9, but the counter took forever to open, and when the announcement was given, the line was already horrendously long.
I got through check-in, security, and everything without a problem, and ended up buying two bottles of wine at the duty-free shop, One white and one red, both semi-sweet. I can't want to pop them open with my good friends for sure. I guess this is where this blog ends for this post. I'm going to have some serious homework translating this into Russian.
No comments:
Post a Comment