Towards the north of Georgia lie the Caucasus mountains and on their other side is Russia. Georgia and Russia have an open border – which means, Georgians don’t need a visa to cross over and the same is true for the Russians. While we didn’t have any plans to cross over, our next leg was a Georgian road trip to beautiful mountainous border district of Kazbegi.
If you haven’t yet read the previous part, you can find the links at the bottom of this blog. Let’s get started!
It’s Day 3 of the trip and we’re in Tbilisi. Check out the previous blog where we participated in the Independence Day celebrations of Georgia. We carry on from the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi or Sameba, as it is popularly called. Let’s continue with our Tbilisi travel guide!
On checking the map, we realised that we could walk down the hill to reach Rike park and the cable car. It wasn’t a long walk but a little tiring carrying around two sleeping toddlers.
We had bookmarked a place called Old Generation – it had only a few reviews but really good ones for its wine and vibe. We got off the main road and walked a couple of streets inside to find a tiny little shop with a few tables.
Didn’t expect much after seeing the exterior of the building
Finding a hidden gem
An old lady sat inside and welcomed us in – it had a nice homely feel and we were the only ones there. She brought out some goblets and a huge jar of red wine. She said it was made in the Kakheti region in her vineyards there. The wine felt nice and cool in the goblet. The place was also very cool – a much needed change from the hot outside. I still remember the first sip I had – it was the most refreshing sip of wine I’d ever had. It was sweet wine – meaning it was not fermented as much as the more popular dry wines.
It was afternoon on Day 2 and we stepped out for lunch. We were on our way to the Independence Day celebrations.
First, we stopped at Pasanauri restaurant and had some authentic Georgian food – Khinkhali (soupy dumplings), Khachapuri (cheese filled bread – think of a better version of pizza) of two types – Adjarian and Imeretian and kebabs stuffed with the local sulguni cheese. I’ll publish a guide on the different varieties of khachapuri in the next blog.
This wasn’t our first time eating Georgian food though – we had been to a Georgian restaurant in our last visit to Almaty and loved it. Our table was right next to the barbecue area where the chef was making the kebabs. Parth enjoyed watching him rotate the kebabs on the fire.
Next stop – Liberty Square (also referred to as Freedom Square). We couldn’t really see the square when we had arrived here the previous night. In the center, was a monument with St George slaying a dragon on top of it. The square was surrounded by the City Assembly and some prominent hotels.
