The road to Tbilisi

Today we headed off from Gudauri towards Tbilisi. When I woke this morning you coukdnt see a thing the gog was so thick but slowly it started to clear and we headed off. 

It was slow going as there were so many heavy trucks on the road. We were on the main trade route in and out of Russia; there is no other form of transport in this part of the country so the trucks were end to end in both directions.   The roads aren’t the greatest with a lot of rough patches caused by snow but the drivers are adept at missing the holes and the oncoming traffic. These guys should show some kiwis a thing or two. 

The trip was uneventful but we did catch up on some language related things. 

Their alphabet is unique bearing no similarity to anything else. Many signs are in Georgian and English with those closer to Gudauri also including Russian. Russian is widely spoken here. Many words contain a string of consonants which, for us, are different to pronounce but then so are the guttural sounds and the clicks some of the consonant combinations. 

Doctors visits are state funded but there are limits to the number of visit that are paid for each year. There are private and public hospitals. 

State schooling (including uni) is free but scholarships enable further free study in private places

We are now in Tbilisi. In the outer city a 2 bedroom new apartment could be bought for NZD 80,000. Close to the city the same apartment might be around NZD200,000. 

Health and safety is not as anal as in NZ with workers on multi level buildings only protected by flimsy nets around the side 😳. 

There are a lot of old, utilitarian, ugly buildings right next to beautiful classical or modern buildings. The modern don’t have the same wow factor that they did in Baku but fit in more seamlessly. 

We dropped our bags at the Hotel and as our rooms were not busy Ani took us for a tiki tour to the centre of the city. It wasn’t far from the hotel but our return will be a pretty steep incline which will be fun. 

Ani left us at an awesome food hall that had about 50 food outlets including pubs, delis and the odd non food kiosk. I am getting restauranted out so when I saw a shawarma outlet I knew it had been put there for me. The pork kebab I ordered took ages and when I went to check why I noticed that they were making the wraps from scratch and that was why. Eventually mine was ready. For the $8 I paid I expected a little kebab not the ginormous wrap chocka with pork, pomegranate seeds and salad. Not only huge but bloody wonderful. Just what I needed. 

Somehow I ended up in the old city with the chance to have a look at some old churches but really I think I’ve had enough of them too. I did stop for a homemade lemonade with mint tho - so refreshing. On the way I passed many an interesting landmark, half of them I had no idea what they were but the photos give some idea of how beautiful the city is. 

And so its time to wander home. My 2 degrees NZ provider will not click in so I relied on a downloaded google map to get me home. Ha ha 🤣

Google sent me maybe to China so I had a great walk and had a few refreshment stops before climbing the hill to home. 

The hotel is a lovely boutique hotel close to the city and I have a balcony with views out over the city. Perfect. 

Intrepid try and only use locally owned properties and are very big on supporting local and protecting environment so we never stay at hotel chains or the sorts of places where you see lots of coaches out front. Its great. 

Tbilisi doesn’t have the same charm as Baku but the people have a lot more pizazz and animation than those in Baku. Although a much smaller city it has more hustle and bustle and feels like a lot of fun. 

Tonight is the last night of the tour and we were to have a farewell dinner. Bob made other arrangements so it was just Ani and I enjoying a felafel wrap and a beer in an obscure wee spot I would never have found by myself.  


Ani has been an amazing tour leader and we have become good friends so it was kind of sad to be saying goodbye. The tour has been excellent. Lots of interesting things to experience, great hotels/guest houses, amazing food and plenty of free time to do as we pleased. Two more days in Tbilisi then I’m off to Greece.