We began our exploits in Batumi, where we wasted no time in sampling the local cuisine with a group meal out. The location for this was in a restaurant in the shape of a ship. There were many traditional dishes for us all to sample and the supply seemed almost endless. There was an equally plentiful supply of wine which many, including Phil, made the most of. This soon resulted in a dance off with the locals and in turn each other. It was Andy’s turn to shine when he took to the mike to sing a couple of rock songs with the Georgian entertainers. As the evening drew to a close, the gaggle that was left standing decided that a quick dip in the black sea was in order. And quick it was due to the icy temperature of the water.
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| Pernille, Becs, Lou & Fi stop for a photo enroute to the boat |
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| Pirate ship feast |
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| Happy feasters |
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| Anna, Jo & Phil |
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| Fi, Becs & Simon |
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| Pernille, Lou, Kelly & Alex |
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| Yvonne, Mahala, Julie & Mary |
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| Dave, Julie, Phil, Alex, James, Anna, Pernille, Andy & Spike |
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| Enjoying the local wine! |
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| Dancing queens (and kings) |
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| Pirate dancing - Teresa & Andy |
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| Alex attempting the Georgian fling |
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| Rock & roll in Batumi, with Andy front and centre |
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| Midnight swimmers |
We left Batumi for Mestia a quaint little mountain village close to the border with Russia or so we believed but once we finally arrived we discovered that the village was changing fast and wishing to become a ski resort complete with modern airport terminal building. However this did not spoil our time here as there is plenty of space left to have an adventure in exploring the nearby peaks as some did or walking around the tenth century watch towers in town. The group who went up one of the peaks found themselves scrambling up a stream and lunching in a beautiful alpine meadow. On our second day once more the more adventurous among us took a hike up to a glacier which some had visited the day before while the others either spent extra time in town or taking a jeep ride up to the highest village in Europe Ushguli where yet more Georgian food was to be eaten!
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| Lou, James & Phil |
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| Full speed ahead |
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| Becs & Fi enjoying the roof seats |
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| Phil |
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| Alex mastering the art of sleeping and reading |
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| Snow angels, Mestia |
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| Hill walk in Mestia |
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| Counting up, Mestia-style |
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| In Ushguli |
Our last night in Mestia was spent at Nino’s Guesthouse where we celebrated the first two birthdays of the trip, Fiona and Anna’s. It was a wonderful evening of singing, drinking, eating and singing some more and the two birthday cakes that were presented to the birthday girls were delicious. Some say it was coffee flavoured, I think it was toffee, either way it was topped with fresh cream and had layers of crunchy and sweet meringue nestled between the soft sponge.
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| Pre-dinner drinks at Nino's guesthouse |
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| Birthday party dinner |
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| The birthday girls, Fi & Anna, with Pernille presenting one of their enormous cakes |
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| Anna looks pleased with her cake |
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| Phil tucking into some cake |
Leaving this beautiful part of Georgia behind we made our way towards Kutaisi where we stop off at the Prometheus caves. It’s a welcome break from the Georgian heat to go underground and be cooled by water dripping from the caves ceiling! We were swept through the stunning architecture of stalactites to the boat trip at the end, I think they were keen to go home, but we managed to capture people in their helmets and life vests, before making their journey out of the caves and back into the sunshine which hit you as soon as you reached the mouth of the cave.
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| Fi outside Promethus caves |
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| Taking the boat cruise out of the caves |
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| In the caves |
Its another evening spent in a homestay, although this time the gang are far more reserved with their consumption of wine, maybe they are still in recovery or just gearing themselves up for the next five days where we will be bush camping.
Gori is our first stop as we head off crates bulging with our food supplies. Gori is the birth place of Joseph Stalin and proudly holds a museum to his memory, preserving the house he lived in for the first four years of his life as well as the decadent train carriage he used to travel in. Visiting such a museum is an interesting but bizarre experience. T-shirts, mugs and matches can be bought from the gift shop as well as bottles of his favourite wine, all emblazoned with the dictators face. The tinge of bias from our guide, towards Stalin, only falters when we reach the room dedicated to the political repression, a small space under the stairs, it houses clothes and memorabilia from people killed during his regime.
Our next stop on our tour around Georgia was Kazbegi. Another mountain town located at the end of the Georgian Military Highway. It is a stunning drive towards the Russian border reaching an altitude of 1750m, and a great photo/lunch stop. We have plenty of time here to explore the village and its surrounding area. Some chose to take a walk up to the church of Tsminda Sameba while others spent their time strolling to the town or simply hiking up one of the surrounding hills.
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| Mountain drive, with sheep getting in the way! |
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| Anna on the Great Military Highway |
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| Hayden's kite captures our campsite from above |
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| Our home in Kazbegi |
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| Jo, Alex, Anna & Lou jumping for joy |
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| Julie is covered up and ready to enter the church |
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| Kelly & Hayden enjoying the view |
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| Snags at Kazbegi |
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| Campfire rave |
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| Andy sings the campfire blues |
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| Bush shower, Kiwi style |
It was here that the group is first infiltrated by ticks. Kelly was the first victim with one tiny critter attached to her calf. Everyone is instantly itchy and checking their own legs for signs. Later that evening, I find a massive tick attached to my ankle. Putting on as brave a face as I could I hop out of my tent, affected area outstretched in front of me. Andy hollers for James and his tick tweezers and bless him, he leaves the warmth of his sleeping bag to come to my rescue and remove the offending creature. All witnesses leave the scene a little bit twitchy and itchy, waiting till they enter the safety of their own tents for their tent buddies to check them over in the places they are unable to see!
We leave this spectacular mountain town back down the military highway and on to Telavi ready to sample some more of Georgia’s wine.
Wine tasting in Georgia is not like any other wine tasting experience you may have had before. You taste the wine and then are generously poured more, with jugs being filled and topped up before they get empty and you have to drink it, lots of it. Chacha, the local firewater became more desirable to our gang of travellers when the wine wasn’t to everyone’s discerning taste, particularly when one glass of wine was found to have a live maggot swimming inside.
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| Mary & Anna |
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| Contemplating the full-bodied flavour of the Georgian red |
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| Wine drinking, I mean, tasting... |
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| Hayden |
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| Our host at the winery preparing herbs and garlic to be spread on slices of fried aubergine |
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| Kelly |
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| Mahala |
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| James |
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| Mary |
It was a merry vibe in the back of Calypso for the drive back to bush camp with resident rock star Andy playing some tunes on the guitar and everyone joining in on a sing along.
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| Andy entertaining the troops |
Back at camp a strong man competition begins between some of the lads and the local boys who use the field as their gym. Pull ups, push-ups and arm wrestling all put the older guys to shame as the young locals beat them in every round. Kelly and Mary announce that they have found a Winery that also provides a Georgian cooking course, being the culinary queen’s that they are they plan to go and would like to know if anyone else would be interested in joining them. With everyone in high spirits from the wine drinking there are many takers.
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| The local strong man |
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| Alex in an arm-wrestling match with the local strong man/boy |
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| Now this is a saw! |
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| Collecting wood at every opportunity |
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| Our friendly neighbours bring gifts of goose eggs |
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| Bruce's special breakfast of goose eggs |
At Nikolaishvili Winery we are treated to a demonstration on making the local bread, dumplings and Georgian snickers. We all get to try making our own dumpling and some brave souls stick the bread dough inside of the oven. After preparing all this delicious food we get to sit around the table and eat it with the wine that the family have made themselves. It was a wonderful afternoon with a great insight into Georgian family life and tradition. It was fascinating to see how they prepare the bread and bake it and also interesting to learn that the sweet coating used to make the “Georgian Snickers” is actually grape juice and flour stirred together and heated. Needless to say we all left with a couple of litres of wine and/or chacha.
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| Outside the Nikolaishvili winery |
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| Proud bread makers - Andy, Julie, Yvonne, James & Kelly |
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| Becs with our Georgian Snickers |
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| Lou making Georgian dumplings |
Our five days of bush camping has left everyone eager for showers, wifi connection and laundry facilities. We look forward to posting the next update, clean, freshly laundered and from the next country, Armenia, very soon!
