When we go on holiday we usually travel around and dont stay in one place, but this time is different . Our base remains in Tiblisi while I have booked a few day trips so we can get out and see more things. Today was the first of those trips and I booked it through Doing so many things would be really difficult using public transport, particularly fitting all the below in in one day. Plus you wouldnt learn as much.
We set alarms for the first time on this trip and headed to our meeting point which was a metro station only one steep hill away. Oh and an underpass as Claire was worrying I wouldnt be climbing enough steps today.
A weird thing happened while we were waiting for our guide.it rained! I suppose it made us feel like we were at home and we did manage to shelter during the worst of it. As we walked across to the tour office it had pretty much stopped.
running from this office and free tea and coffee were on offer for those that some git of a doctor hadnt told them they shouldnt have. Group photos were taken of each trips passenges as we were introduced to our guide, Catherine. We had also met a lady, Tess, from Manchester who hadnt met any British people since shed got here three weeks ago.
The tour set off in a quite new minibus and Catherine went round asking people where they were from and why they to Georgia. We had quite a mix with people from Greece, the Philippines, the USA, the Netherlands, Germany and Malaysia. Luckily for us though the whole tour was in English so only tne Americans struggled..only joking!!
Our first stop is somewhere I wont be winning any pronunciation contests for..Uplistsikhe. That place is a cave city which, thank goodness, you have to climb a few stairs to get to.and then clamber uphill to see the rest. Rain was falling a bit but not enough to warrant a coat; the main problem was the wind. Catherine asked Claire to stay on the bus and that problem went away.
round various parts of the Up place (Im not trying to write Uplistsikhe again) and told us about them, as well as giving us time to take pictures. The view was pretty spectacular and the cave city was fascinating. The wind was really strong at the top but not from Claire this time.
The end of the tour was about wine and the chance to try out some local wines for a few lari extra. I sat outside playing Words With Friends while the weirdos that actually like the stuff had some to taste. Claire must have liked it as she came out with a bottle; it is apparently a bit better than cheap Cava from Tesco.
Apparently Georgia is the birthplace of wine as it is the place where they found the oldest grapes. Maybe they were sensible and just ate the grapes and didnt waste them by turning them into wine? Who knows!
Next stop was a place called Gori, the birthplace of Joseph Stalin. Yep, that Joseph Stalin! We went for lunch in a restaurant called Josephs and one of the salads was called Joseph salad. It was really nice though!
at a table that already had lots of food on it and began to tuck in. Tess is a big fan of walnuts and helped herself to some swirly things with walnuts in, leaving none for anyone else.and then she didnt finish them! There was plenty of food for me which was nice and the mere vegetarians had even more choice. As there were so many the actual carnivores could still be there chomping away. Soft drinks were included too and I opened a bottle thinking it to be lemonade or something, brought it up to my nose and smelt death, in a glass. It was an awful liquorice smell after said liquorice had been regurgitated by a hefty male gorilla.
I couldnt try it as it was even more disgusting than the mushrooms on the table. Claire said it didnt taste as bad as it smelt which it really coudnt anyway and is hardly a I shared her sparkling water as my glass was poisoned and I dont think theyll ever get the stench out.
Georgian dancers who performed two dances for us.
