Dedicated to our guide Giorgi, who was super 🙂

From airport transfers, to taking us from one hotel to other, to walking us back in case we got lost, to stopping at the randomnest places so we could photos, to taking us to hidden bakeries at the roadside, local cafes that you would never know about, for being our photographer, waiting (napping) in the car whilst we were at sites, warning us not to buy things from tourist traps, introducing us the best of local delicacies, and just for being an awesome guide. დიდი მადლობა Giorgi 🙂

Cheers to our dear friends J, L and V for introducing Giorgi to us.

Special mention to Y for providing the title to my blog post hehe 😉

Day One – Mtskheta, Gori, Uplistsikhe and Tbilisi

Long weekend. Everyone loves long weekends, don’t they. When we heard that there would be one, I started searching on Emirates through the ‘Inspire Me’ checkbox on where to go. Few places popped up but none fell into our a) budget b) time or c) what we wanted to do. Boo. So we thought, why not Tbilisi. It’s a 3 to 3half hours flight from Dubai, flights were only 1200AED on FlyDubai, and it fell within the same timezone which meant no losing time or jetlag. Great 🙂 Our friends had gone there in October last year and they had a fab time as well 🙂

I did a bit more research, found some famous tour groups on Tripadvisor but they were pretty expensive. I remembered J talking about Giorgi whom they had gone with when they were there. He was one of those personal tour guides that we would usually brush away when we go on holidays. We thought, thought about it some more, and then figured hmm, let’s give him a shot this time round 🙂

The last 3 days were fully packed but so, good. Here’s a lil blog post, on where we went, with bits of details on what we liked. I won’t go into the history of this and that – you gotta go there and find out 🙂 

Cannot believe not many people have been to Georgia or know where it is!

1) Mtskheta – Jvari Monastery

So the drove began, north of Tbilisi. We got to the Jvari Monastery at the top of Mtskheta, which was once the capital of Georgia, also a world UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The view from the top was eeringly beautiful, overlooking the old town of Mtskheta where the two rivers of Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers joined. Correct me if I’m wrong, but what I remember is one flows to Turkey, another to Russia, and the last branch to Armenia.

2) Gori – Joseph Stalin Museum

Don’t want to write too much about this, mmmmm. But basically if you’re interested to see Gori’s side of what and who Stalin is (yes, he was born here), where he used to live, stop by the Stalin Museum on your way to Uplistsikhe 🙂

3) Uplistsikhe 

Our highlight of Day One 🙂 You have to go here if you go to Georgia. It’s about an hours drive from Tbilisi but well worth the trip. You’ll be humming flintstone’s theme song for the rest of day 🙂 Entry fee is 3 lari, equivalent to 6 AED. That’s 2 NZD I think? Tip : Wear comfortable walking shoes

4) Lunch at Mtskheta Old Town

Can’t go to Georgia without having lots of khinkali, katchapuri, and drink lots of their local beer (4AED for a pint) 🙂 We fell in love with their lemonade, called Zedazani. Actually  it’s pear-ade, hehe.

Khinkali – looks and tastes like a big-as siao loong pao. It’s filled with soup, and beef/pork/vege mince. Yum! 60lari cents each (1.20AED!)

5) Mtskheta – Svetitskhoveli Cathedral 

Brief walk through the cathedral….., and then we headed back to Tbilisi at the end of the day

6) Tbilisi City Tour

Giorgi took us all around, from the Sulphur Spring Baths, to the waterfalls at the corner, up the mountian to see the Mother of Georgia statue. It was a comfortable, easy way to see Tbilisi. I know there’s still a lot more monuments scattered all over the city, definitely something for next time? 🙂

Tbilisi – mix of old and new town 🙂

So there you go, so much you could possible do in one day in Georgia…… 🙂 Onto Day Two….