Travel diary: Tbilisi, Georgia, part 1

Travel diary: Tbilisi (Georgia), June 3-5, 2017
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Travel diary: Tbilisi, Georgia, part 1
Travel diary: Tbilisi, Georgia, part 2
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"Welcome to Georgia," he says with a cautious smile as he extends his hand.

Both his appearance and his accent seem Russian to my eyes and ears, even though they probably are Georgian. I don't know enough about my destination to be able to discern between Russian and Georgian accents. We leave the arrivals hall and walk out into the sunshine. It is summer, and here in the middle of the Caucasus, the heat is pressing.

We stroll across the parking lot towards a 90's model Mercedes with a packet of Pall Mall on the dashboard. I sit in the front seat and stuff my backpack on the floor between my feet. The fake leather seats are hot, but we use old school air-condition. With the windows rolled down, the temperature is soon bearable (but the sound of the thundering traffic on Kakheti Highway is not).

My driver is not much of a talker, but suddenly he blurts out (in a much thicker accent than his rehearsed greeting from the airport) "That building over there... ask me what it is."

I'm so taken aback by his wish that I only manage to say "What?"

"Ask me!", he says again, this time more indignantly.

It is not a wish, but a command. "What is it?" I ask.

"Police Department," he casually responds, but with a detectable sense of pride in his voice.

The journey continues, and the surroundings are slowly turning more and more citylike. A fascinating mixture of dilapidated Soviet apartment complexes and modern glass facades. A little while later the driver nods towards a modernistic building. This time he doesn't beg me to ask, but speaks directly. Matter-of-factly but proud. "That building... Energy Department."

Soon the Sameba cathedral is visible. I recognize it from pictures of Tbilisi, and I've read somewhere that it is the third largest orthodox cathedral in the world. Wanting to give him an opportunity to shine, I cautiously ask what church it is.

"Yes. Big church," he replies, and that's all he has to say about that. If church and state are separated in Georgia, it is clear which of them the driver has grown up with.

We make a turn to drive towards the square of Erekle II, where my hotel, Tekla Palace, is located. The building is renovated, but is allegedly from the end of the 18th century, when king Erekle II erected the building as a gift to his daughter, Princess Tekla. I check in, and get the key to my room which is located on the third and top floor. The stairs and floors are creaking loudly, but the room is fresh and feels modern, albeit sparsely decorated. Beside the door, there is a desk and a chair, and by the opposite wall there is a single bed. There are three skylights in the sloping roof, but they are to high up for me to be able to get a good look of the Old Town of Tbilisi. There is also a private bathroom with a shower. For 300 lari (approximately €100) the room is mine for two nights.

I freshen up after the long trip (with transit in Kiev), and get ready for a little exploring. I've read about the restaurant Machakhela, which shouldn't be too far from the hotel. The streets are winding, but pretty soon I find Kote Abkhazi street, which is basically the main artery of the Old Town. I walk towards the restaurant, and pass several vendors of the Georgian candy churchkhela - nuts and thickened grape juice threaded onto strings and left to dry in the shape of  candles.

Fruit and churchkhela on Kote Abkhazi street

A few minutes later I'm at the restaurant. As promised in my guidebook, they have a picture menu, facilitating ordering. I already know that I want to try out the Georgian specialty khachapuri adjaruli, a bread shaped almost like a calzone, filled with humongous amounts of cheese. Before serving, an egg yolk and a generous amount of butter is put on top. At Machakhela, this dish comes in four different sizes. I pick the second smallest. It is definitely tasty, but this is really starch-rich and heavy food. Despite my modest choice of the second smallest portion, I have to leave almost one fourth of it. The dinner with two glasses of Coke amount to roughly €3, and I start to realize that I've withdrawn a little too much money for my short stay.

Khachapuri adjaruli

After dinner, I head towards the river, and cross the modernistic Bridge of Peace, below which the river Kura is flowing. The water is brownish, polluted by nearby industries. But the bridge in itself is worth seeing, and a handful of tourists are in the process of taking pictures.

The Bridge of Peace

The white and red Georgian flag is flowing in the air, and it feels almost surreal to be here, as a solo traveller in the middle of the Caucasus, in a country where I know absolutely no one. I do a little scouting for the next day, when I'm supposed to be at Envoy hostel for an excursion to neighboring Armenia. When I've gotten a sense of where the hostel is located, I walk back towards my hotel for a good night's sleep.


Read part 2 here!