Tbilisi

📌 Arriving in a new country is always a little difficult, knowing how to get to the accommodation, having no internet, having no local currency. As we got off in Tbilisi at 2.30am, the esim was average so we had to get a local Sim and fend off the taxi drivers. It was a smooth ride to the accommodation as Georgia actually has a reliable rideshare app unlike Turkey.

📌 We were staying in a trendy neighbourhood with some cool coffee shops, bars and a former Soviet industrial building converted to a hostel and courtyard of bars/restaurants. The city was also full of trendy restaurants, wine bars and shops. Some say Tbilisi is the Berlin of eastern Europe.

📌 We started our intro to Georgia with a free walking tour, we were shown old Soviet buildings, old Tbilisi town which was not destroyed by the Soviets and learnt a great deal of history. It was evident that Georgians do not like Russia and they are very angry that Russia still occupies 20% of Georgian territory. It was also fascinating how Georgia has only been independent since 1991 and they had a revolution in 2003.

📌 The food in Tbilisi was incredible, some of the well known Georgian food we have tried so far includes; Khinkali (dumplings), Khachapuri (cheese filled bread), Chkmeruli (garlic sauce chicken) plus many others. Of course, good food needs to be consumed with good wine, and Georgia has been found to have been making wine since 4000 BC using clay pots in the ground, potentially the first wine makers in the world. It tastes delicious and is super cheap, approx 3-4$ a glass.

📌 A couple of other highlights included the cable car over the city, a converted market to a food hall of different bars and restaurants, an outdoor wine courtyard of bars and restaurants, and the old architecture and the monument celebrating Georgia over time. Another nice surprise was the national museum which showed the importance of this area in human evolution. The first humans potentially migrated to Europe from Africa through this area and thus many fossils have been evident here.Read more