So after breakfast we began our descent towards the valley. We first stopped in Zugdidi as we gave a ride to Cressie and Max who then took a marshrutka to Batumi. We continued towards Tbilisi stopping in Gori on the way, where we tought a Stalin statue still looms over the central square but it was removed in 2010. After quite a long drive we arrived to Tbilisi and soon found Boombully hostel on Rustaveli avenue. We set out for a short night walk and after a few beers on the balcony decided to go to bed.
Happy to come into civilization
The amazing common room of Boombully hostel in Tbilisi
On the second day we went for a walk towards the old town where we were looking for Bude bar but soon realized it only opens at 6pm. So we went for beer elsewhere as the heat was unbearable. In the afternoon we decided to go to the drybridge market where you can buy loads of soviet memorabilia, silverware etc. In the evening we went for dinner to Majahela(?) a 24hour georgian restaurant which was quite good for the price.
Liberty square, Tbilisi
In the evening Sven who we were together with in Mestia and Batumi also joined as at the hostel as he had his flight from Tbilisi on the following day. We bought a couple of bottles of vodka and had a small party at the Hostel, but didn’t really decide to go out as nothing much was happening around the city.
Morning came to soon for most of us and we needed quite some time to get out of the hostel. Grega, Peter, Nejc, Sven and me decided to go to the traditional georgian baths located near the centre. It was an amazing experience and we all felt great by the scrub/massage we all opted for. The fat georgian guys know how to do their job.
Life feels good after a scrub
Afterwards me and Sven went to the drybridge market again and bought some old soviet posters whereas the others chilled at the hostel. While all of this was happening Marko was making a huge amount of Spaghetti Carbonara for us and the hostel staff, everyone liked it, compliments to the chef.
He’s got a huge collection of old soviet posters/Drybridge market, Tbilisi
In the evening a few of us decided to go to a Europa league qualifying match between Metalurgi Rustavi (A club that comes from about 30km out of Tbilisi) and Viktoria Plzen from the Czech republic. The tickets were 3GEL (1.5 Eur), the stadium was maybe 30% full and the quality of football was really poor. We had some good fun though and even met the leader of the Rustavi fan club.
Game on!
After the match we took a taxi back to the hostel, we all chilled on the balcony chatting the night away with the staff.
The next morning we all overslept our alarms and when we woke up we realized the weather in Kazbegi where we wanted to go was quite bad. After about an hour we decided to rather go to Kakheti, the wine growing region of Georgia. We drove for about 3hours when we arrived in Signagi and were stunned by the beauty of the town. It all looks similar to Tuscany, the cobble stone streets are clean and all the buildings are renovated.
The centre of Signagi
When we parked on the main square a guy drove towards us on his ATV and offered us accommodation (we later realised he was the son of the owner who was 22 years old but looked like 40), we decided to take it and were soon in the guesthouse eating some cheese, bread and other small snacks. In the evening we had a traditional supra, with a lot of food all over the table and Kakhetian wine flowing into our glasses. After dinner we went to the centre and met a group of lithuanians who stayed at the same guesthouse as us. We ended the night together with some more wine and good fun in the centre of Signagi.
Traditional supra in Kakheti
rdtrippin 