GEORGIA

Me and my travel buddy Leah planned a 3 day tour to Georgia. This was my first Europe trip and I was already excited about it. The reason why we chose Georgia as our first destination is because we heard many personal experiences from our friends, especially the gorgeous mountain views in Gudauri. 

We took a package from Holiday Factory as it was reasonable compared to other tour agency and planned to travel during the month of October. At the end of September, we started planning out our trip. Leah gave me a to-do-list which came in handy. 

Our flight was booked on 1st October at 1:20 A.M. One of my bags got checked in, received our boarding passes and waited for the flight.What's interesting was that we had came across some of the passengers during our 2nd day trip in Georgia (And I actually felt that the world is small).

Before travelling to Georgia, I had researched about the country and to my surprise I just came to know that Georgia is actually Eurasia (Part of Europe and Asia). Its neighbouring countries were Turkey, Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi which we explored on our last day. 

Tourism is a significant part of the Georgian economy. In 2016, 2,714,773 tourists brought approximately US $2.16 billion to the country. As per the report, in the South Asian region- Indians travel to Georgia more than any other country. Around 36,403 Indian people visited Georgia during the first six months of 2017. 

Day 1 (Oct 2nd, 2017)
We reached Tbilisi Airport early morning at 5 a.m.We exchanged U.S dollars to Lari (Georgian currency) and bought a new SIM card. If you are living in Dubai, it is advisable to change it from U.S Dollars first, because it has more value in Lari when converted. We met our guide at the airport and at some point we started calling him 'Moshi Moshi', instead of Misho. Misho was a good looking man and a friendly guide. It was cold and started raining when we came out of the airport. He asked me if I wanted his hoodie jacket. He thought that I wasn't used to walking in the rain. But I said "no thank you" and enjoyed my walk. He took us to a big van and informed us to take rest today as the tour starts tomorrow. He left us with a friendly driver who smiled and said "Lets go to Gudauri" in a thick Georgian/Russian accent.

On the way, we saw the Jinvali Water Reservoir. It was really beautiful to see before the Sunlight took over the sky.

Jinvali Water Reservoir

  

Jinvali Lake, 7: 05 A.M

Jinvali Water Reservoir (also known as Zhinvali) is a man-made water reservoir located in Georgia. The Jinvali Water Reservoir is formed by the Jinvali Dam, situated on the Aragvi River in the Caucasus Mountains, Georgia. The dam was built in 1986, with a total capacity of 130 MV. The Reservoir water is distributed to the capital Tbilisi. You can see the Jinvali Water Reservoir when travelling to Gudauri.

We wanted to refresh ourselves so the driver stopped at Cafe Richard's and ordered Espresso. The Espresso kept us alive through the rest of our journey till we reached the Inn.

View outside cafe, 7:21 A.M

The view outside from the cafe looks calm and there were many abandoned houses.

The cafe was run by a couple of youngsters in their late 20's. A Nicole Kidman's movie dubbed in Georgian was shown on one of the local channels. The younger generation understood English better when compared to the older crowd. It was difficult for us to converse with our driver and we had to breakdown the English sentences to get him to understand. But apart from this, they are very loving people.



After having our Espresso, we continued our journey. It was beautiful to see different shades of green on top of the mountains. We could see wild horses running around on one side and the river flowing on the other. A large number of carnivores live in the forest, mostly brown bears, wolves, Caucasian leopards etc.  



The road through out the journey was smooth. We had seen many small villages and churches along the way. A magnificent range of mountains was seen throughout the journey. The Mountain Ranges plays an important role in moderating Georgia's climate and protects the nation from the penetration of colder air masses from the north. The lesser Caucasus Mountains partially protect the region from the influence of dry and hot air masses from the south.

We reached the hotel around 9 A.M. We unpacked our stuff, took a quick shower and a small nap. After that we had our brunch. We ordered tomato creame soup, chicken sandwich and spaghetti. The soup was delicious, chicken sandwich was okay but we had to eat it quick as it would get cold soon.  

Gudari Inn, 9:06 A.M

Brunch Time, 11: 21 A.M

Cherry Juice, 11:39 A.M

In the evening we went outside to explore the area around the inn. It was extremely cold. The temperature outside was 2 degree Celsius. We thought of going outside somewhere but the weather was not favourable for us to travel and the receptionist advised us to travel tomorrow morning. 

Mountain View outside Gudauri Inn, 05:19 P.M

At night, we ordered our dinner (steamed rice and daal) from an Indian Restaurant (Taj Mahal). We were surprised to find there was an Indian Restaurant. It was the driver who showed us the restaurant while going to Gudauri Inn (looks like our culture's food travels around with us).The meal was simple and soothing to have in the cold weather. The food was made well.

After having dinner and watching local TV channels, we slept off early for our big day tomorrow.






Day 2: Click Here