Chaczapuri trip part 2

After visiting Vardzia we wanted to finally head and stay in Tbilisi. Well, staying in a mountain village has some disadvantages like the fact that the earliest marshrutka was leaving in about 2 hours... Remembering the freezing morning we didn't want to wait that long even in the sun, it was just too cold. People working there luckily had somebody that would drive us to Akhalsikhe from where we took a marshrutka to Tbilisi. Here I realized how friendly and open Georgian people are. For solid two hours a man, Zuran, sitting next to me was telling me a story of his life. It was amazingly interesting but after an hour I got tired and was dreaming about a bed... Well, we talked the whole way and you know what? True love does exist. Zuran told me a story of how he met love of his life and how hard it was for them to be together since she moved to Russia. There was no telephones, no internet, they only wrote letters to each other. Imagine how hard it was when they where moving.. But they always found each other again, and saw each other after many, many years still having feelings for each other. It was beautiful what he told me and I will never forget it. Especially that it doesn't have a happy ending. Zuran's married, has two children and the woman lives in Italy right now. They still see each other every now and then but they can't be together. A movie scenario, I swear.

Well, we finally got to Tbilisi, found (not so easily) our hostel and tried something my friend was warning me about: czacza. Czacza is some kind of Georgian vodka made out of grapes. Very strong. The bartender was so nice he gave us lemons to eat while drinking, without them we'd be dead :D But I know people who can drink up to 11 shots of czacza so who knows, maybe one day I will try ;)

Tbilisi is not that different from Azerbaijan. That was my first impression. It's still South Caucasus, that's for sure. The center of the city is not as rich as Baku's but at the same time it seems more friendly and... real. And if you want to go out in Tbilisi you will find plenty of places to go to and what's more, PEOPLE that actually go out! After checking out some places we decided to get some hookah and wine and finish the evening just chilling.

Next morning we started out sight seeing tour of the city. We saw some monasteries, castles, took the funicular, ate chaczapuri for breakfast, lunch and huuuge New Years Eve dinner with our Georgian friend. Maybe it's the New Years but surely Tbilisi knows how to party ;)

Our trip finished with visiting Sighnaghi, a village in Kakheti region - a famous region of Georgian wine. A must on our list! We were lucky to get a private marshrutka that stopped in differenct monasteries on the way to Sighnaghi. Never have I been hiking in winter and I must say that was an interesting experience although I would recommend good schoes that preven you from slipping on ice and snow :) Even though it was definitelly worth to see:

David Gareja monastery

David Gareja aka David the Builder was one of the thirteen Assyrian monks that came to Georgia to spread Christianity in the 6th century. There's still a fresh dispute over the monastery complex between Georgia and Azerbaijan since it's located very close to the border with Azerbaijan.

to be continued