We are back! Here's a quick, dirty and somewhat random summary -- more details to follow. But I will need a few days to order my thoughts.
The country
Georgia is really cool country where countryside and sights are concerned. What really knocked my boots off was how ancient many things are. You must see David Gareja, an ancient monastery from the 6th century. There are caves with some really well preserved wall paintings (frescoes). Standing in there, looking at the paintings and thinking that these might be 1500 years old was totally surreal.
Short list of places we visited:
- Tbilisi (the capital and biggest city). Very lively, cool sights, very easy to navigate with public transport, easy to reach via plane from (e.g.) Istanbul.
- Signaghi. Beautiful small town in the wine region Kacheti
- Telavi. Not so beautiful town in Kacheti. But with very cool sights around.
- Kazbegi/Stepantsminda. Mountain town in the Caucasus. Incredible views. The town itself was pretty boring (and expensive for Georgia). Just go hiking every day!
- Batumi. At the black sea. The place where Georgians go for summer vacation. Very beautiful and lively. We had actually hoped to get a few slow days with much relaxing. Didn't work, because it was simply too load all the time (basically nonstop music right next to our hotel). If you like to party until deep into the night, this is the right place for you.
The people
The mentality is extremely different from what I am used from back home. This has both good and bad sides:
- On the one hand, almost everyone is really helpful. We wandered around slightly cluelessly a few times when looking for the minibus ("Marshrutka", see below) we wanted to take. Basically everyone we asked tried to help us even though we knew only about 10 words of Georgian and 20 words of Russian. (Just try: "Gamarjoba! Marshrutka Kazbegi?" and "Didi Madloba" -- verbs and grammar are overrated.) One random bus driver even walked us 100m until the station was in view!
- On the other hand, the German in me started to wonder at some point. They must have dozens of tourists coming through here (and Georgians from out of town). Why don't they just put up some freaking signs? My theory is that they value social contact over efficiency. Also, putting up a sign would mean that someone needs to buy a sign (or buy materials and make one). And in a country with very high unemployment and low wages, the latter is a bigger deal than a bunch of people wasting 5min of their time a few times a day.
Being helped all the time by random strangers was really cool. But for an introvert like me it also gets old after some time. It did make the whole thing a bit exhausting.
Eye openers
The country is piss-poor. Sorry for the language, but I can't say it any other way. In Georgia, almost everyone is a Mustachian. Out of neccessity. If you think Mustachians drive clunkers, come to Georgia.
Construction sites often feature many workers and very little heavy machinery.
Practical things
- We always felt very safe (except in traffic, saving details for later).
- Food is incredibly cheap (and good). A nice dinner for two including drinks can be had for ~30 Lari (12€) in some places.
- Taxis cost about 0.70-0.80 Lari per km, if you haggle. Negotiate the price beforehand, taximeters are unknown.
- For long distance, Marshrutky are even cheaper. Typically about 7 Lari/100km. And they don't drive as crazy.
- You need earplugs. It is often loud everywhere. Barking wild dogs, music, people talking very late into the night.