Tbilisi, Georgia

We jumped off the plane and made it to our hotel for a quick sandwich. There was vegetarian so Shannon had her first real meal in days! It was very exciting for Shannon.

View from the hotel hallway

Night view of Tbilisi

We didn’t like coming in seventh place again so we decided to give it a real try this round. We jumped in a cab immediately to head to the first bonus challenge to Mtskheta where we explored a church and a monastery with scenic views.

View from Monastery

There was a wedding and a baptism going on . . . at the same time, with tourists walking around.  That took a minute to wrap out heads around. Ceremonies that we would generally consider private such as weddings are not.  Churches do not close to offer private events because they are open to all.  It was so nice to see mountains and scenery after being in cities 

We had our first Carpool Karaoke with our cab driver. We sang Toto “Africa”, his choice, which ironically is the same song we kareokied to in Seoul.  We’re very proud of ourselves, because we hadn’t been brave enough to make that happen before.

We loved learning about Soviet era coins on the dry bridge. We finally are bringing home a souvenir that are small enough to carry back!

Surprising and wonderful has been the music in Tbilisi. In restaurants, in cabs, and the  amusement park, random, mostly American music is playing. We heard Michael Jackson followed by Shakira, a country song, then rap and disco! They were just great songs without the limitation of a genre. 

You braved a Funicular with a carnival at the top, which was old school and potentially frightening to ride. 

Speaking of frightening, one challenge was to go paragliding. When we called we learned that it has been shut down by the Georgian government due to safety issues  

We don’t seem quite as popular as Americans in Tbilisi as we were in Uzbekistan, but locals are still willing to engage and help.  

It has reminded is to pay it forward when we return home.

Donna had to bargain in the cab today. We are terrible bargainers so this was a win.  Never mind that it was 10 lura. ($4). One just gets tired of being taken advantage of. 

Cha cha- a vodka drink like grappa. Donna sampled some and it was delish.

Monday am we visited the Holy Trinity church, which was built 20 years ago.  The government decided that the main church needs to be in the capital city.  This particular church had two more underground chapels and we heard the peaceful Gregorian chant as we snuck into the church early the morning.

As we drove out to the Kakheti region for wine tasting we learned so much about the history of Georgia from our 8th generation resident of Tbsibili resident, Henry.  The history is worth a deep dive.  It is ethnically diverse, family centric, with many people speaking 3-4 different languages.  The US has some work to do. 

Wine country for us turned out to be a visit to a small family run winery where we learned about traditional Georgian wine made with clay pots.  Marani Milorauli Winery.  The best part of the experience was the cultural exchange and discussion around the lunch table.  We have much to learn from each other but one of the biggest take aways of out conversation was to appreciate, support and spend time with family and cherish the many choices we have in America.

Shannon doesn’t drink wine so along with the food scavenges, Donna had to carry the bulk of the weight on wine conversations.

Bath- The Turkish baths were recommended, so we went for it.  Our wine country driver said we would feel like a bird ready to fly after our bath experience.  Since we opted in for the “scrub”, our time at the bath was spent really bonding with our scrubber.  We are still recovering from the experience, but also will continue laughing for days, maybe even years about “the scrubber”.  

The rain began to increase after the baths, but we trudged on, soaked from head to toe after a few hours.  But, we discovered some hidden sculptures and wildly modern structures for such a historic city.  

The win of the day came in our evening dinner and traditional Georgian music and dance performance.  Shannon decided maybe she could manage this type of dancing since it’s majority arms and no hip movement!  The combo of a dance performance and music with breaks in between was a concept we should borrow from Georgia.  

Tbilisi Overview- We were able to get a better glimpse into the people and culture through our trip out to the winery and we liked what we saw. Donna is planning a return trip already!

Best Food- Khachapuri ( an amazing combination of butter, cheese and egg all mixed together in a bread bowl).

Not so great food- none

Next UP– Jerusalem!