Tbilisi

Turns out, we weren't getting ahead of ourselves when we hyped Georgia so much in the last post: it really is *that* good.

We're obsessed with the capital, Tbilisi, having been here for four days. It's a beautifully edgy city, densely packed with coffee shops, tiny bars, vintage clothes stores, graffitied walls (mostly of the pro-Ukraine, pro-EU, 'Fuck Russia' variety), and tree-lined boulevards. It squeezes itself into the countours of the hills around the Kura River, with funiculars and cable cars ready to ferry you up to the hilltop viewpoints. You're always finding yourself gazing across unexpected city prospects.

At the same time, the buildings are all crumbling—it has been a steep uphill climb for Georgia to modernise over the last 30 years, since it was a brutally poor, post-Soviet hole. In the 90s, you would get robbed at gunpoint in Tbilisi for luxurious items like... jeans. It must have been a terrifying time, albeit with plenty of people walking around the streets in their underwear.

We learned this from the guide of our walking food tour, George. Is any country quite as obsessed with their patron saint as this one? Something like 1 in 5 men in this country are named George or Giorgi. Their flag features the St George cross, but they didn't think it sufficiently demonstrated how strong their love is, so they decorated it with four more flags of St George for the avoidance of doubt.

Guide George took us around the ‘new city’, which is misleadingly named because it was built by German and French architects in the 1800s and looks pretty historic. The ‘old city’ has more Persian influences, but George said not to go there because "70% of the people are scammers and the rest will overcharge you." We went there anyway, and it's... really nice? If this is a scam, count us in.

The German architects were the beginning of a fruitful relationship between Georgia and Germany, which continues to this day. Tbilisi has an active techno scene, a section of the Berlin Wall as a monument, and the vintage shops are filled with clothes brought back by Georgian tourists who have been on pilgrimage to Berlin. Dan has stocked up on his Deutsche aesthetic vintage outfits (see photos), which were useful for our visit to Fabrika, the artist hub in an old sewing factory which is the peak of Tbilisi's homage to Berlin.

Our last night here was Halloween, which Georgians celebrate very seriously. We didn't have costumes, but had a good scare when Dan bit down on a small rock in his falafel wrap 💀 the vender didn't give us a refund or really apologise, but did eventually bring out a small shot of chacha (Georgian grappa) on the house. We continued imbibing Halloween spirits at a few bars, before wandering into one which wasn't actually open to the public but was hosting a birthday party. Rather than asking us to leave, Katya and friends enthusiastically insisted we stay, and supplied us generously with cupcakes, good chat, and a neverending stream of additional chacha.

The highlight came when, around 1am, as we were saying how much we love Georgian food, we mentioned the spicy dip 'adjika'. A glint came into the eye of one of the party guests, who excitedly whipped a jar of adjika out of his pocket. This may seem stereotypical, but is apparently not a usual thing for a Georgian to have casually to hand, so his triumphant reveal had our whole group in hysterics.

We'll be back in Georgia in a few days, but first, we have a side-quest to complete in Armenia...Baca lagi