Before this journey, our experience with the disputed regions in the Caucasus - Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Nagorno-Karabakh - amounted to a few news articles and flashpoint body-count news tickers drifting across the bottom of our television screens. Something bad had happened, people had died, but we never truly appreciated or understood the details. … [Read more...]
Georgia Travel Articles and Photos
Blue Eyes, Gold Teeth: The Fabled Land of the Svans
When you get there, you'll meet the Afghan at the telephone pole. These instructions given to us in Mestia by the Svaneti Mountaineering Tourism Center left us baffled. Is our mountain guide a member of the Mujahideen who’d lost his way and made his home in the mountains of Georgia? After all, in Svaneti just about anything seems possible. … [Read more...]
Svaneti, A Mountain Inauguration
As the first tourists to take advantage of the Svaneti Mountaineering Tourism Center (SMTC), we planned our arrival in the town of Mestia to coincide with the organization's inaugural party. Because of our exceptionally long ride from Zugdidi to Mestia, we barely arrived in time for the opening speeches, including one which singled us out and unexpectedly turned the … [Read more...]
Tbilisi, Georgia: A Scavenger Hunt
Some cities seem to exist in two dimensions, best taken in with a camera from afar. Not Tbilisi. Its turbulent history is a veritable bullet list of invasions, destructions, occupations, and reconstructions. As a result, it tends to reveal itself in layers, both architecturally and culturally. Labyrinthine and tactile, Tbilisi invites visitors to dig into it like … [Read more...]
Georgia Travel: A Beginner’s Guide
Every inch of our map of Georgia seemed to covered with little icons marking churches, monasteries, ancient settlements, caves, mountains, towns, villages, and vineyards. We spent close to a month in Tbilisi, and here are a few of the nearby sights we experienced in that time. We also traveled further afield to explore the historical sites, monasteries, … [Read more...]
Svaneti: Why and How To Go
I tell you, the Svanetians are crazy. Their brains are deficient in oxygen. - A Tbilisi resident describing how the high altitudes of Svaneti have affected its people. Svaneti, the high Caucasus mountain region in the northwestern corner of Georgia, has a long reputation of fierce independence characterized by the 12th century defensive towers that still dot many … [Read more...]
Manana to Mania: Rules of the Georgian Road
"The driving here is something special; only India is worse." - Anonymous, on the rules of the road in Georgia The more we travel, the more stories we collect about Georgian driving habits. For example, one of the Mongol Rally teams traveling without a map of Tblisi, decided to hire a taxi to show them the way through the city. After a harrowing bob and weave … [Read more...]
The Case of the Missing Parents
While putting the finishing touches on our website, we spent a considerable amount of time at internet cafés in Tbilisi, Georgia. At one café, we noticed a semi-private room set up with couches, comfortable chairs and computers outfitted with webcams for video Skype calls. The typical configuration: children and grandmother crowded around the computer and Mommy or … [Read more...]
Georgian Food Overview (Cuisine from the Republic of Georgia)
In Georgia, the food is quite appropriately an expression of the culture. Warm, gooey comfort food like khachapuri (cheese-stuffed bread) finds balance with matsoni (sour yogurt). Herbs like tarragon, flat parsley, dill and coriander combine with walnuts and garlic for rich fillings and sauces. … [Read more...]
Shota and Misha’s Excellent Adventure
We were enjoying a late evening stroll in the Kakhetian countryside with Lali, our guide and host, when we were beckoned by a group of young men having a picnic at the church. Lali and Audrey sacrificed Dan to Shota and Misha, the leaders of the group, and waited out the encounter at a distance. … [Read more...]