19. GEORGIA

The next country on my trip was Georgia. Located between Russia and Turkey it offers breathtakingly beautiful landscapes in the Caucasian mountains.

From now on Alicja joined me on my trip and quit her job and apartment in Warsaw. Even though I constantly met new great people all the time and sometimes spent a few weeks with someone on the road, I never had a constant travel partner. So this was also the end of my career as a solo traveler after 2.5 years :D

When I think back about Georgia, two things immediately come to my mind: One of the best two hikes I had in my life so far in the Caucasian mountains (the other one was in Ha Giang, North Vietnam) and the funny people with an amazing sense of humor. In my travel journals, I always track special people I met in a so-called 'Hall of Fame'; I never ever had to list so many people there every single day. Georgians are very warm-hearted, unafraid of expressing all kinds of emotions and simply love to enjoy life. The high wine consumption did the rest :D

Our trip started in the beautiful city of Kutaisi, Georgia's third biggest city. We found a cheap 30 Euro flight from Wroclaw and that city was the best place to start. Great food, a charming atmosphere, pretty parks and beautiful sights are the reason why the city is a hidden gem.

From the Rioni Region, we took a minivan on adventurous hilly roads through a beautiful canyon up to Mestia in Upper Svaneti. The time in this region is one of the highlights of my entire trip. We did a 4-day hike from village to village from Mestia to Ushguli. We saw plenty of farm life, wild horses, breathtaking mountain ranges, & amazing people and the 7 to 8 hours of hiking every day had great difficulty level. We had to cross rivers (one very brutal one in particular!) and slept in homestays where the villagers greeted us with delicious home-cooked food and wine from the country with the oldest wine history. Just after our 4 days a terrible rainy week came and we were incredibly lucky to hitchhike the way back from Ushguli to Mestia. If I could revisit only one place in Europe again, that would be the Svaneti region in Georgia.

After resting from the hike in Mestia for 2 days we continued our trip in Zugdidi, a city not popular for tourists. From there we took a train to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. At this time I passed out and hit my head on the floor, which forced me to rest for a few days from a brain concussion. After I felt better I was finally able to explore Tbilisi. It's a pretty capital city with many things to see but Kutaisi is winning for me.

From Tbilisi we had a trip to David Gareja, a Monastery Complex directly on the border with Azerbaijan. The road there offered a great steppe-like landscape. Unfortunately, we were not able to see the full monastery since soldiers blocked the way from us due to the ongoing dispute between Georgia and Azerbaijan.

One thing that is amazing about Georgia is the abundance of delicious fruits and vegetables. Never ever have I had such tasty watermelons and tomatoes as here. The cuisine has super tasty dishes as well. Garlic, coriander, drill and walnuts are inside nearly every dish and make a great combination. In many restaurants you literally just enter the kitchen of a grandma who cooks delicious huuuge portions for you.

Nearly a month passed away and it was time for us to take a night train from Tbilisi to the next country of the trip!

3 Highlights:
- The beautiful city of Kutaisi

- 4-day-hike from Mestia to Ushguli in the Svaneti region (!)

- meeting, eating and staying with Georgians in Tbilisi