მშვენიერი საქართველო

Coming back to the office after the vacation was hard. You guys only know about half of the journey, so let me enlighten you with what happen after Sighnaghi. 

The coming weeks we continued our exploration/adventure in Kakheti. So with Senua our car, Charlotte (DJ) and Vibeke (Navigator) we went to Telavi and Kvareli. On the way, we saw multiple castles and churches, which is kinda of really normal/usual. We explored secret tunnels, observed the king toilet, climbed up a watch tower, committed multiple felonies, broke into private properties, fled without paying and drove recklessly with Pompéi in the back. 

Telavi is a city of approximately 20 000 people, administrative capital of Kakheti is one of the oldest human implementation in the region, with actual testimony about its existence going back to the second century before Christ. Telavi was a really nice city. There are a lot of things to see and to do. Of course, like everything in Georgia the historical side is mostly castles and churches, but they had a twist to them, and we had a really enjoyable time there. 

 Next stop was Kvareli, the hometown of one of the most notable georgian figure Ilia Chavchavadze. Once again the city was really pleasant and like Telavi since it’s a touristic place it was well-developed. We visited the Kote Marjanishvili museum, the local castle (yes again, who actually was repurposed into a football stadium : really cool) and then we hit back the road to go back to our beautiful Rustavi !!

And yeah, Kakheti is well known for wine. My friend had the chance to do some win testing, not me (I don’t drink + I drive :( )

When we finished this we picked up Renée our capybara friend, so the crew was nearly complete to hit back the road. The next days we continued the tour of Kakheti. The initial place to go to Sighnaghi again and from there continue to Lagodekhi. But we didn’t manage the time. Sighnaghi was really cool, once again it’s a one of a kind city. 

For new-years we went to the georgian Dubai, Batumi. This city is sold as being one of the best in georgia, in terms of experience, food, culture, history and services. Once again, the city looked quite nice. Completely different from Kakheti which was way more old-school/traditional. Batumi is an ultra modern city, with skyscrapers everywhere, big hotels and casinos from famous international brand, big malls and plenty of different restaurants (turkish, azéri, Gerogian, armenian, greek, arabic etc.). Old Batumi, had an air of Disneyland. The architecture was more authentic, but the colors on the building seemed so odd, which made it seems unnatural. But overall this is just an observation that I make, the city is really impressive and I really enjoyed walking and visiting it. 

BUT THE W E A T H E R  was apocalyptical. It was raining every day, every MINUTE, every second. We were soaking wet after stepping outside for one MINUTE. It made it really hard for us to enjoy our time in the city. DESPITE all of this, the new-year celebrations were extraordinary.

The following day everything was closed, which we didn’t know, so every time we stopped somewhere with the car for a little visit we were setting up ourselves for disappointment. Renée left us (yes treason :( ) for her fiend with whom she went visiting Armenia. We replaced her with Lucie, who came back from France. But we only had one day left before starting back work. So we went for a quick tour of Kvemo Karteli. We visited Bolnisi, Vanati Church, Monastary of Saint Pierre and Paul and finished with a hike in the Samshvilde Canyon. An unbelievable experience that probably should have taken us multiple day but was condensation in one. Memorable.

That’s the end of the report on my little holiday trip, hope you enjoyed it.