A week in Tbilisi: Random updates and fun stories
გამარჯობა!
Gamarjoba! I’ve been staying in Tbilisi for the past week and wanted to share some fun stories and random updates about my time here.
Sunrise from Narikala Fortress, one of my favorite places in Tbilisi.
Creating Daily routinesWhat’s been lovely about being in one place for an extended period of time is that it feels like I can experience what it’d be like to actually live here. It’s been wonderful living in the same hostel and getting to reintroduce some sort of daily routine. I’ve been going on regular morning runs, which serve a dual purpose as a moving meditation and a way to explore the city, revisiting my favorite cafes and parks, and building new friendships.
Rike Park and its plethora of lavendar.
There’s so much greenery in Tbilisi, whether that’s green spaces in the form of numerous public parks, trees lining the sidewalks, or grape vines providing shade from the summer sun. There are also hiking trails that are easily accessible, leading up to hills as high as 1000m.
Rike Park is one of my favorite parks on the east side of the river and is right next to the futuristic looking Bridge of Peace. I’ve conducted some quick morning workouts there as it’s lovely to be working out while surrounded by gardens. One morning I ran into a local who was picking all the lavender buds from the bushes and ended up with an entire plastic bag full of buds!
I’ve also enjoyed exploring the cafe scene here and using that time to catch up on my blog and set aside some time for quiet reflection and introspection.
living the local lifeMy first night back in Tbilisi I experienced a water supply issue at my hostel. It turns out that Tbilisi occasionally has water supply interruptions and it just so happened that the outage happened while I was there. The outages don’t affect the entire city, rather they impact different neighborhoods, and they are a way for Georgia Water and Power to periodically fix the city’s water pipes. What’s a bit unfortunate is that there’s no proactive announcement about planned work, so you don’t know when you’ll be affected. Luckily I only experienced the water supply interruption twice (a couple of hours the first night and eight hours the second night) but it was an important reminder of how crucial water is to our lives and a gentle reminder of gratitude for clean water.
Each morning at my hostel, Nonna cooks a full and delicious breakfast for her guests and will incorporate some classic Georgian dishes, including khachapuri! It was such a delight to watch her make them from scratch.
Stuffing the khachapuri with cheese
Pinching the edges of the Adjarian khachapuri to give it its classic boat shape
Mini Adjarian khachapuri (boat-shaped, stuffed with cheese
Presenting “Big Daddy” - a big megrulian khachapuri (round with cheese on top)
Navigating Medical care in GeorgiaI had banged up my toenails pretty badly after a steep and fast descent down Kilimanjaro in June. As a result my toenails were looking a bit bruised and gnarly*. I texted some photos to my friend who’s a doctor, and even she balked at the sight! My right toenail ended up falling off in mid-August but the toenail growing underneath was looking a bit wonky, so I decided to get it checked out before I embarked on my trekking trip to Nepal.
A friend living in Tbilisi recommended American Medical Centers as I was looking for a doctor who could speak English. It turns out American Medical Centers has several locations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia including Ukraine and Kazkahstan. They are American-owned and managed so the whole process felt similar to visiting a doctor back in the States except that I was pleasantly surprised with shorter wait times and amazing service.
The doctor who saw me ended up being a trail runner and consequently was quite familiar with toes like mine. It turned out that my toenails were doing just fine despite their gnarly appearance and just needed some tlc in the form of lotion and filing. He promised me they’d eventually grow back to normal (bad for my future OnlyFans account 😂). His recommendation was to size up half a shoe size in order to prevent this from occurring again in the future. Luckily I have a friend visiting me next week and she’s agreed to bring me new hiking boots (thank you Shirley - my toes and I are so grateful for you!).
Funnily enough, this doctor ran in the Kazbegi Mountain Marathon over the weekend - the same marathon where Kazu, Satori, and I were cheering spectators, and he did recall hearing our cheers and seeing us out of the corner of his eye. What are the odds!
* I did not include a photo of my toe because I figured it wouldn’t be appreciated.
Buying Georgian WineI wanted to buy a bottle of Georgian wine for an upcoming home-cooked dinner with Kazu and Satori so that they could get their first taste of Georgian wine. I ended up visiting Wine Gallery, purely because of the number of highly rated reviews on Google Maps, and it was such a fun experience. The ground floor contained regular wine bottles but the basement was filled with large stainless steel vats of wine. Each vat contains a different type of wine, including wine made in the local Georgian qveri (natural) style and wine made in the traditional European style, and you can get wine on tap! The wine is sold in plastic bottles and is a lot cheaper than the options on the ground floor. The cheapest was a dry white wine that sold at 3.8 lari ($1.15 USD) for 1L! However it was made using the European style of winemaking so I opted for a qveri wine made from the same grape Rkatsiteli and sold at 12 lari ($4.56 USD).
Kazu, Satori, and I ended up enjoying several home-cooked meals together and were joined by Kenta, a Japanese traveler they met while traveling on the Pamir Highway in Tajikistan. It was heavenly “going home” each night to their rented apartment to cook and enjoy a homemade meal together.
Japanese-style meal of Temaki (hand rolls) - one of my favorites!
Rice was heavily featured at each meal - I had definitely missed it!
But, we also enjoyed a meal out together at Cafe Daphna, which I think has the best mushroom khinkali in Tbilisi. These khinkali are heavenly -richly flavored with garlic and herbs and the mushrooms seemingly melt in your mouth (I’m pretty sure butter has something to do with this).
Enjoying our last night together
Wizards are everywhere
Turns out there’s a Harry Potter store in Tbilisi! Ollivander’s store is tucked away in the Vake district (a more modern looking neighborhood) and tolerates Muggles like me.
Of course I had to step inside and take a look!
Sighnaghi and Davit Gareja
SighnaghiSighnaghi is affectionately known as the city of love. It’s a very charming town in the Kakheti region of Georgia, also known as the wine region! Alaska and I spent one day and two nights there wandering around town, which is quite small. It’s the most touristic place I’ve been in Georgia so far so one day was enough for me. The red roofs remind me of Dubrovnik, Croatia and there’s something quite beautiful about seeing the town from above.
Davit Gareja MonasteryWe drove to Davit Gareja on our way back to Tbilisi from Sighnaghi. This monastery complex is located right on the border of Georgia and Azerbaijan - in fact ~150m of the road to Davit Gareja technically falls within Azerbaijan! The monastery has been a source of border dispute between the two countries as both claim rights to the monastery due to the monastery’s historical and religious significance. Unfortunately we were not able to hike to Udabno Monastery, the upper part of the Davit Gareja complex, because access was blocked off by Georgian border guards due to the recent Georgian-Azerbaijan tensions.
Davit Gareja was constructed in the 6th century by a group on Assyrian monks who came to this area to settle down and spread the word of Christianity. What makes this monastery complex so unique is that the monasteries have been carved straight from stone! All types of rooms, from libraries to bedrooms to living areas, are carved from the stone. It was fascinating to see stairs carved from the stone and imagine hundreds of monks carefully making their way to the caves. It reminded me of the caves in Cappadocia, Turkey.
Gergeti Glacier
I spent last weekend in Stepantsminda, officially named Stepantsminda but still commonly called by its former name Kazbegi. Stepantsminda was originally named after a Georgian monk Stephan but the name was changed to Kazbegi in 1925 during Soviet rule. Given the animosity between Georgia and Russia, it’s not surprising that the name was changed back to Stepantsminda in 2006.
Stepantsminda is a three and a half hour marshrutka ride north of Tbilisi, and it’s one of the most popular places to go hiking (the other is the four day hike from Mestia to Ushguli - more coming on that soon). Kazu and Satori happened to be in Tbilisi as well, so we made the trip to Stepantsminda together.
The hike to Gergeti Glacier was beautiful. We had a very early morning start at 5am in order to beat the forecast of afternoon rain and were rewarded with a glorious sunrise and stunning views of Mt Kazbek, the third highest mountain in Georgia at 5054 meters.
When we first arrived in Stepantsminda it was lunch time, so we followed our noses to a local bakery. The owner invited us in to see how he and his brother baked the bread. It was so cool to see the bread baked in a traditional manner!
You can see the two khachapuri baking in the oven
Kazu looking very pleased about our acquisition of khachapuri (cheese-filled bread) and lobiani (bean-filled bread). We were lucky to get them straight from the oven so the ooey gooey cheese was scrumptious. The lobiani made a perfect hiking snack for our trip up to Gergeti Glacier.
Feed me Georgian food all day
I am in love with Georgian cuisine. It has many vegetable-focused dishes (very vegetarian friendly!) which was quite welcome after spending over two months traveling in Central Asia - when the focus is plov (rice with meat) or bread, you dream of vegetables other than a cucumber and tomato salad! Georgian cuisine also has a strong focus on good bread (khachapuri, lobiani, and other stuffed breads) which seems to balance out all the nutrient-filled vegetarian dishes. The fresh produce is amazing here and I definitely arrived during a good time - it’s the season for ripe stone fruit and figs and I love picking up a bag of figs on the walk back to my hostel.
Here’s a quick look at some of the meals and foods I’ve had while making my way across Georgia. If you’re in New York I recommend checking out Chama Mama. It’s a Georgian restaurant located in Chelsea that features delicious Georgian food and wine. Special shoutout to Jesse and Christine, who first recommended this restaurant, and Liz for introducing me to my first Georgian meal!
One of my favorite things about Georgia, especially visiting in August and September, is the fresh and sweet figs and stone fruit! These figs are the best I’ve had in my life.
Bread is a staple in Georgian cuisine. Here you can see khachapuri (bread stuffed with cheese) being baked in a traditional oven.
Chebureki is a fried dough stuffed with meat that closely resembles an empanada. The pastry was deliciously flaky, but the meat filling inside was quite sparse!
Look at that fig! Equally beautiful and delicious.
One version of khachapuri, cheese-filled bread, bought in Kazbegi, Georgia. We were able to get them fresh out of the oven from a bakery owned by a pair of brothers who invited us into the shop to take a look at how they bake the bread. They only make khachapuri, lobiani (bean-filled bread), and plain bread.
A deeper look into chebureki.
