Stage 80: From Gori to Tbilisi

The next morning, I woke up with snow again. After a hearty breakfast, I left the city of Gori. After a few kilometers, the snow stopped and the sun came out. The drive from Gori to Tbilisi was the most beautiful in Georgia so far. It went through quiet country roads, passing through small villages as I headed east, arriving in Tbilisi one day before my mother.

On the last stretch to the hostel, I met Basti, another German cyclist who had been in Tbilisi for a while and had originally planned to continue to Azerbaijan. Instead, his new plan was to enter Iran through Armenia, the same solution I came up with to bypass the closed border to Azerbaijan. We exchanged numbers and said goodbye, but only for fifteen minutes. I ran into him again at the hostel, as he had the bed next to mine. Given the number of hostels in Tbilisi, you could almost call it fate! The evening was accordingly lively with beer from plastic bottles and some Chacha that I had bought from David in Gori. There was a lot to discuss and many experiences to share!

The next morning, our paths separated again. While Basti went skiing in Gudauri for a few days, I moved to the hotel I had booked for my mother and myself. A week of luxury awaited us after staying in hostels and guesthouses! After the move, I went on a free walking tour. In two and a half hours, I was able to visit the main sights of the old town, with only three of us in the group. I used the rest of the day for further planning and to apply for an Iranian visa. Around 4 o'clock in the morning, I went to the airport to pick up my mother. Since we were both tired from lack of sleep, we wanted to spend the first day together exploring the old town at a leisurely pace. I could already tell her a few fun facts from the city tour. In the evening, we went to a traditional restaurant where garlic chicken and a lot of Khinkali (dumplings) were waiting for us.

A big day trip was planned for the next day. With a mixed group of travelers, we headed north along the old military road, stopping at several fascinating places. First, we stopped at the huge Zhinvali reservoir, then visited the Ananuri Fortress from the 13th century and the Aragvi river confluence near Passanauri, until we reached the Gudauri ski resort. As we gained altitude, the temperature continued to drop, and the Friendship Arch between Russia and Georgia was completely covered in snow. The road up to the border was sometimes single lane, so we had to negotiate with parked trucks and oncoming traffic. But the highlight of the tour was Stepantsminda and the Gergeti Trinity Church. We were transferred to jeeps to pass the narrow, snow-covered road, and the last meters to the monastery were challenging. But the view was worth it! Standing in the middle of the Caucasus, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, the Gergeti Trinity Church stands alone, and it's amazing that it hasn't been buried by now. When we arrived back in Tbilisi, it was already dark, and we fell into bed with new impressions and great pictures.

The next day, another day trip was planned. Since the prices and experiences with the first agency were great, we decided to stick with them. This time, we headed to the eastern part of Georgia, to the wine region of Kakheti. This was more of a culinary trip than a high-altitude adventure. The first stop was at a small shop in Manavi, where they supposedly have the best Churchkhela (a sweet made of thickened grape juice and nuts). Of course, we stocked up there, and then we visited a small village bakery where traditionally baked bread cost about 30 cents. The raw dough is slapped onto the inner wall of a cylindrical oven and left there until the bread turns brown and slowly comes off. After that, we visited the Bodbe Monastery. It is said to be the burial place of Saint Nino, who made Christianity the state religion of Georgia in the 4th century. After a short photo stop at a 900-year-old plane tree, we visited the town of Sighnaghi, also known as the "city of love." Before the pandemic, you could get married here at the registry office 24/7 for a small fee and without an appointment. But due to heavy fog, it wasn't worth taking a walk on the old city wall with its 27 watchtowers. Then we finally went to the restaurant for a wine tasting in Telavi, something we had all been looking forward to. We started with two types of Chacha, then brandy, followed by five types of wine, and there was plenty of each before the meal. Needless to say, the group was in high spirits, and on the way back, a Russian woman had to throw up. A lot of alcohol and the driving style of our bus driver didn't go well together. Since a pass would be closed due to the snow, our return journey took even longer, and we didn't arrive back at the hotel until shortly before 10, but we were full and in high spirits.

After two long day trips, we wanted to take it easy and explore some more neighborhoods in Tbilisi. We started from Meidan Square and visited the Holy Trinity Church, then crossed the Nikoloz Baratashvili Bridge to the Mtatsminda district. After a steep climb, we took the funicular, which took us to Mtatsminda Mountain. There is an amusement park up there, but we decided to skip it and enjoy the great view instead. In the evening, we went to the restaurant again for traditional dishes.

The next day, it was supposed to rain non-stop, so a big excursion didn't make much sense. Instead, we visited the Georgian National Museum, which has a large section on biodiversity in the Caucasus and a section on Georgia's 70 years as part of the Soviet Union. You could easily spend a few hours there. After a good cup of coffee, we booked a tour for our last day and relaxed at the hotel the rest of the time. The weather was much better the following day. With the same tour guide as in Kakheti, we visited the Jvari Monastery, the Stalin Museum in Gori, and the cave city of Uplistsikhe. After a hearty lunch, we stopped again in Mtskheta on the way back. Unfortunately, we couldn't enter the cathedral as there was a service, but we enjoyed the view before the wind became too icy. In the evening, we went to the same restaurant as on the first evening before I dropped off my mother at the airport transfer in the middle of the night. A week went by too quickly, but we experienced so much together!

The next morning, I changed locations in Tbilisi again, as the hotel didn't really fit my budget. Overall, I spent another four days in a cozy hostel with a family atmosphere. Thanks to the hostess Taia and Agatha from Poland, it was still a fun time with lots of Khinkali, Khachapuri, and homemade wine from Taia's uncle. I actually wanted to take the train to Yerevan after two days. Since I had to wait for my Iranian visa, everything was delayed by two days, but that was no problem with this company at all. The visa process was somewhat strange. First, you have to go to the embassy, where they give you a bank account number, and you have to deposit the visa fee in cash into that account. They don't accept transfers. But to do that, you have to register with a Georgian bank, which caused the bank employees a lot of headaches and took about an hour. Then you have to go back to the embassy and they give you a DIN A4-size visa, which you better not lose! At the embassy, I coincidentally met two other German cyclists, Eddi and Martin, with similar travel plans. With the visa in my pocket, I took the train on the evening of March 17th. Just like a typical German, I arrived an hour early to make sure nothing could go wrong. Still, there was stress and three different opinions about what to do with my bike. At the information desk, they said it was no problem and cost an extra 5 Lari. A grumpy Russian lady on the train claimed it was 20 Lari extra, and the conductor was angry and didn't want to take me at all, or I would have had to book a second seat for 80 Lira. By this point, I was also annoyed and decided to completely dismantle my bike again and simply attach it to my bed. The luggage rack and tires ended up in the overhead compartment. Three minutes before departure, everything was stowed away. In the end, I didn't have to pay anything extra for the bike, but I was the only one on the train who didn't get a blanket and was ignored by the grumpy Russian lady throughout the entire journey. But after almost two weeks in Tbilisi, I was finally on the move again!