Kutaisi

After a 2am wake up and very early flight, we made it to our first stop in Georgia - Kutaisi! Despite being very sleep deprived, we managed to successfully hail down a marshrutka to take us from the airport to the city (much cheaper than a taxi). During our 30min ride to the city, we had not one, but two cattle crossings! After we checked into our guesthouse, we went to Fleur Cafe for brunch, where we had our first taste of Georgian cuisine - we each ordered a khachapuri (filled bread). When our food arrived, we learnt (and need to remember) that Georgian portions are MASSIVE. We had to take our leftovers home and we now have breakfast for the next two days sorted. We then wandered out for some sightseeing, visiting parks, fountains, and street art, as well as the Green Market. While we were out, we bumped into Dav (again!) - we had no idea he was still in Georgia and thought he'd already moved onto his next country. We had a good little catch up on the sidewalk before parting ways (again). We ended our day with an early dinner at Palaty, where we had our first taste of delicious Georgian red wine.

We spent the next day wandering up to Bagrati Cathedral and around the Jewish and French quarters. We picked up some fruit and local snacks (churchkhela (the candlestick looking things which are dried nuts covered in grape must (or, as Mike calls it, nut sausage)) and tklapi (basically fruit leathers)) from the Green Bazaar, and had our first khinkali (Georgian dumplings).Read more