Rainy Night in Georgia (Brook Benton)

Hello again! We drove back from Sighnaghi in our rental car. About half way back the temperature suddenly dropped about 5 degrees. A cool change had come in! Tbilisi was so much more pleasant at this temperature. We had time for a quick lunch. It was so yummy!

We had arranged for a car to pick us up and take us to our next destination as getting there wasn't so easy. It was a two hour drive and I spent most of it hanging onto the door handle in fear as our driver accelerated into red lights and slower cars, overtook on corners and made and received phone calls while holding his phone. He was actually no different from any other Georgian driver but it's a frightening experience!

Our destination was the Pankisi Valley, a series of five villages that were settled by Chechens hundreds of years ago. They call themselves Kists. They are Sunni Muslims and for a while had an unjustified bad reputation. In an effort to change this perception the local women got together and set up guest houses and personal tours so they could share their lifestyle with others. The leader of this group (and a lawyer), a woman called Nazy, set up Nazy's Guest House and this was our destination.

Knowing the place had shared bathrooms, we expected a low standard of accommodation but our room was great! The bed was heaven after the last place.

We went for a walk on our first day and explored some of the local villages. We crossed a wooden bridge with many planks missing.

We followed our noses and wandered through the villages. Everything was very rural - cows walked the streets, fruit trees grew in abundance and even ducks waddled along the road.

Rickety wooden barns were cool.....

...... and small haystacks perched behind crooked hand-made fences.

We found another bridge so we could cross back over the river. It looked brand new, had pedestrian walkways on both sides and was clean and wide like a highway, yet a really rough dirt road lead up to it and another lead off it. It seems to us that they got funding only for the bridge and nothing else.

Because the people are Muslims, houses are usually screened by high fences for privacy. Most houses were really large, to hold the whole extended family. They're surrounded by gardens and farmland.

Nazy and her family cook meals for the guests and it was hard to wait until the 8pm dinner when we were usually in bed by 9! We met interesting guests here - a lovely American family with very well-travelled kids, a Czech student doing a month's internship teaching English to local tour guides (let's just call her the Czech chick!) and an American woman around our age who had been living there for over a year. The food here was all good and different to other Georgian food.

That night we fell into our wonderful comfortable bed with the windows thrown open to catch the cool air as the rooms was still warm from the previous heat. Some time during the night I was vaguely aware of thunder but I fell straight back to sleep and slept through a storm. The next morning was wonderfully cool for our walking tour with Lalita, a local guide.

We packed our raincoats and headed out - after a 9am breakfast! This country operates so late with meals! An hour into the walk, the temperatures started to rise and soon it was hot again. Noooo!

First stop was a really old Christian church. There are no Christians here now so the church is maintained by the Muslims! I had to cover my head with a scarf to go in.

Next was the oldest of the Kist cemeteries. When they migrated here from Chechnya in the early-mid 19th century, they buried people the same as they used to in the mountains in Chechnya - they laid the bodies on the ground and covered them with stones. This cemetery is now partly overgrown and the ancient stones among the greenery were so atmospheric.

Next was the first of the old towers that are a feature of a large part of Georgia. We barely saw it though as we had a deadline to meet. We raced, huffing and puffing up a long hill to see this, had a quick look, then raced back down again.

The reason that we were in a hurry was because the special religious ceremony that the local ladies perform every Friday at noon was about to start. Thanks to Nazy and the community wanting to share their religion and lives with others, we were allowed to watch. This is largely why we came to this valley. We arrived late but it hadn't started as they were waiting for someone. The women tourists had to wear scarves and I was amazed that men were allowed to watch too. After waiting for another 20 minutes they gave up waiting for others and started anyway.

One lady led a series of chants and others sung in harmony although it was in that weird off-key sound that we often hear in Muslim music. After a while they started walking in a circle, getting a bit faster as they went. I had read that it was a bit like the whirling dervishes in Turkey but whoever wrote that must have had a vivid imagination. Anyway it was all very interesting and it's the first time I've witnessed any Muslim service.

We only stayed here a couple of days and in hindsight should have stayed a bit longer as I discovered there's an amazing forest of yew trees nearby that you can walk in but we had already booked places ahead so we had to leave. It was a really interesting couple of days!

Til next time!
Heather and John

Head's in Georgia (JJ Kale and Eric Clapton)

Hello again! We had one more day in Tbilisi and again we were up early to avoid the heat. It turns out they were having a heatwave in Georgia. It was around 36 degrees every day in Tbilisi.

We climbed up to the fort directly behind the old city. We had fun scrambling around and John saw a small snake. Poisonous snakes are common here.

We then wandered through the huge Botanic Gardens for some respite from the sun but it was more like a well-tended forest. We were very hot!

A statue of Mother Georgia towers over the city. In one hand she holds a sword and in the other a cup of wine. These are the symbols of Georgia!

We wandered through a part of the old city that was quite dilapidated. It's not unusual to see people living in buildings that look unsafe to us.

This derelict building was being overtaken by ivy!

I looked at the receipt from a place where we ate and noticed the wording on it. What it says is completely true (see pic below) - there are two parts of Georgia that we can't visit because they're occupied by Russia. If you're interested there's an even more wacky than usual episode of 'No Reservations' with Anthony Bourdain, where he goes to Georgia. They go to the border of this region and learn that the barbed wire fence that divides the Russian-occupied land from the rest of the Georgian land mysteriously moves overnight! This is a rural area and sometimes people wake to find that their cows are now in the Russian-occupied territory when they were in Georgian territory the night before, Someone had to milk their cow through the barbed wire fence. Others have had the misfortune of going to sleep in their house in Georgia and waking to find that their house is now in the occupied area! 

We used the heat to spend time in our rooms organising ongoing travel plus we finally got our credit card working! God knows it wasn't through any effort from ANZ. It took them nearly a week to answer me. 

We continued to enjoy the amazing food. We found an ice-cream seller that does tricks with the ice cream as he prepares it for you. It was the best ice cream ever, especially compared to the average Georgian ice-cream.

We fell in love with walnut sauce. This is eaten on tomato and cucumber salad, layered inside pieces of grilled eggplant or served a bit runnier with meats. I found a recipe! If you're interested, it's here.

Sighnaghi, our next destination, was a couple of hours away and we wanted to explore the area so we hired a car. Getting one wasn't easy as it's peak season but we ended up with a little Citroen. The biggest challenge was starting the trip in a manual car while driving on the wrong side of the road and finding our way out of the old city but we made it ok. John drove, I navigated and was on pedestrian lookout duty and "keep right!" duty.

We had already learned that lanes are a guide only, that passing when an oncoming car is approaching is ok as everyone will just move over for you and that turning a corner and using indicators are unrelated actions. Oh - and just drive at whatever speed you like.

John was up for the driving challenge though and we arrived safely in Sighnaghi. We found our unmarked guest house at the end of a narrow dead-end lane. There was nobody in sight so we just called out and the owner duly appeared and we were led to our room. It was sensational! It was a really simple room but we were perched on the edge of a spur looking out over the vast plains below which were backed by the great Caucasus Mountains. The view was incredible!

We soon learned that the whole town has spectacular views. It's straddled across a ridge and wherever we walked there were amazing views in many directions. Not only that, the town itself is spectacular. Two- to four-storey houses with wooden balconies and red-tiled rooves line steep cobblestoned streets. Church steeples punctuate the skyline and the lush green of fruit trees, nut trees and forest fill in the gaps.

At dusk the cobblestoned streets were so atmospheric.

Gorgeous old wooden doors were set into walls.

Most places were well-maintained but some needed some serious renovation. These balconies were looking pretty dubious.

The town was touristy but not in a big way. Apparently the Chinese love coming here but they're in lockdown again so it wasn't too busy. Carpet sellers made for colourful displays.

The traditional Georgian sheepskin hats were cool. You didn't have to buy one to get your kicks. For 50 cents you could pose for a photo wearing one!

Four kms of defensive walls runs surround the town. You can walk part of it. We were joined by one of the many street dogs that live here. They're really friendly. This one just joined us for a walk even though it was hot. We always love having dogs walk along with us.

His mate joined us for a bit too.

We walked through a huge gate in the city walls one day and found ourselves in the local cemetery. The graves were really interesting. They have etchings or paintings of people on them. We thought this was a lovely way to remember people.

One hot afternoon we came across this singer in a shady park. All the singers we've heard so far have had really great voices.

The daughter of the owner of our guest house spoke good English and we learned a lot from her. We were talking to her one day when two ladies who had just checked in asked her for some cold water. She just said, "No cold water" and turned back to us and continued our conversation. At the time I thought she was surprisingly rude but we later learned that she detests Russians and these ladies must have been Russian. She gave us many examples of all the bad things that Russians have done. The threat of them lingers over all Georgians continuously.

On one of our walks we found this graffiti which says it all really.

Part of the attraction of this region for John is that it's a wine region. We had planned to go out to some other towns but we thought we'd try a couple in the town first. We walked to one of them and the friendly owner, Archil, showed us around. Georgian wine is often made in quevris, large earthenware pots that are stored in the ground. This one is 2 metres deep.

The owner was doing up his grandfather's house to make it into the winery and it was interesting to see the various stages of renovation of this beautiful old building.

Five minutes after the owner started showing us around, another couple turned up. One of them was clearly an Aussie, the first we'd met since we flew in. We shared some wines, some conversation, some more wines, then some food, then more wines, followed by cha cha, the local grappa-like spirit. You get the general picture. We never made it to the other winery we were planning to go to. The other couple were supposed to drive back to Tbilisi that night. They ended up paying someone to drive the rented car back for them! We had a great night!

At our lodge we met two lovely Austrians, Kat and Melanie. We planned to do a couple of drives to destinations in the area and we invited them along.

Our first destination was Davit Gareja. This is a monastery complex right on the Azerbaijan border. Due to some conflict there, it's no longer possible to visit the caves which was really disappointing as the 10th to13th century frescoes in these are supposed to be amazing. We could still visit the monastery though so we decided to go.

The scenery en-route was really interesting - the treeless plains and hills were eerie at times.

We found some tortoises on the road!

The monastery complex was astonishing - over the centuries monks have carved living quarters out of the caves.

The monastery complex was so beautiful!

I'm not sure why a monastery has to be fortified. It's surely a sign of a history of difficult times.

Women had to wear scarves to enter the small church.

Davit Gareja was the original monk who settled here and it's said that the water that springs from a cave here are his tears. The entrance was blocked to us by a stunning door.

This was as far as we got as Georgian soldiers wouldn't let us pass. Up on the crest of the hill above us, where the caves were, we could see Azerbaijani soldiers patrolling up and down. We were disappointed we couldn't see the caves but the soldiers and the setting almost made up for it!

We found a tree that has berries that look like small loganberries. I don't know what they are but I picked one and it was delicious! The stain from one berry was amazing though!

The next day we drove to Lagodekhi where there is a national park with great walking. The main walk we wanted to do was up to a waterfall but it was a 5-hour return trip and it was now 38 degrees so we ruled that out and walked up to a closer river spot instead. I was a bit nervous - there are ticks here! The funny thing was that I don't care about the spiders and snakes but hate the thought of getting a tick on me. The Austrians on the other hand hate snakes but they have ticks in Austria so this didn't bother them at all.

The forest was beautiful.

These rhinoceros beetles were everywhere.

There was a spot on the river where there's a bit of a pool and picnic tables are scattered around. We found this table that was actually in a shallow part of the river. How cool!

We said goodbye to the Austrians and spent our last day in Sighnaghi catching up on things and exploring the gorgeous town. We started to get to know people - a grizzled old man in the main square always seemed to be carrying small buckets of water across the square. We never worked out why. Sometimes we went to a tiny grocery store and the owner was friendly. One morning we got there early and he was outside setting up. When he saw us his face lit up with a huge grin and he lifted his arms skyward in greeting. He was so pleased to see us. I'm not sure why!

A few times we would be walking down the street and a car would pull up beside us. It was Archil, the winery guy. Like all locals, he just pulled up in the middle of the road and chatted. We were starting to feel like we lived here!

A couple of times we ordered breakfast at our guest house. It was huge! We had rockmelon, peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers, bread, cheese, eggs, home-made pancakes that looked like donuts plus local homey and jam. Needless to say, we didn't eat it all!

This is the view from inside our airconditioned room where we sit when we're organising things during the day and it's too hot to be outside. The room itself was far from perfect - the mattress and pillows were stuffed with weird material, the thin sheet had no underlay between it and the mattress and the noisy air-conditioner woke us multiple times a night however these couldn't detract from the million-dollar view.

On our walks we saw so many fruits and nuts growing on trees. There were walnuts, peaches, plums, those loganberry-like fruit, a crabapple-like fruit, figs, something that looked like blueberries, heaps of blackberries plus many others I couldn't identify. There were lots of wildflowers too. Just near our place was a lovely cool, shady spot with seating where mineral water came out of a pipe in a wall.

On our last couple of nights we ate at a restaurant that overlooked the whole town. The food was average but the view was sensational!

My drink isn't actually a cocktail, it's just lime juice and mint, but you get the idea.

We watched a large bug flitting from one flower to another nearby and at the last minute I suddenly realised what it was - it was a tiny hummingbird! It was about the size of a moth. Amazing!

Sighnaghi was a truly captivating town. It was something special. We hope to come back one day!

Hooroo!

Heather and John

Georgia On My Mind (Ray Charles)

Welcome back to Macs With Packs! After a more than two year hiatus we’ve taken the plunge overseas again. We realised we’re a bit rusty at this when it seemed to be twice as hard to get ready for this trip as it used to be but, then again, John did successfully complete his 3rd dan blackbelt grading only 5 days before we left. It took many months of manic training but he got there.

It was so sad and strange saying goodbye to everyone!

Much to our surprise we sailed through Melbourne airport. We had heard how crazy airports are but apparently we just timed it well. As we walked out to the plane we had to laugh at its name. Qantas gives names to planes like “Spirit of the Outback”. Our Scoot plane was called “Barry”! Barry was a bit tardy though - we were all loaded on then we sat on the tarmac for almost an hour. 

We made an effort to break the long haul to Georgia up. First stop was Singapore and, coming from a Ballarat winter, it was hot and humid. Our hotel room was tiny but the location was great. We were right near all the restaurants that line the river along Clarke Quay. I particularly loved the renovated shop houses and larger buildings with their gorgeous painted shutters that are scattered throughout Singapore. 

We ate wonderful Asian food and John had to visit Jumbo for a pepper crab. He looked good enough to eat in that ravishing bib - not!

We ate our breakfasts under fans so large that they were tethered by cables like guy ropes. We didn't seem to get enough vegies but the vegies in the ad below still didn't appeal.....

We caught up with my friend Jelissa in the fascinating Arab quarter and had a great night. We saw some interesting shops in our travels including one where you choose your coffee and a big robotic arm makes it for you.

Unfortunately, we spent most of our time here trying to get credit cards to work. We discovered that it's incredibly difficult to contact some banks (pointing the figure directly at ANZ here) in an emergency. We spent time in the CBD trying to get this sorted and found this cool sculpture that reflected us and the buildings around us.

As I write this, we have been trying for a week and still haven't been able to talk to anyone at ANZ. Unbelievable!

We then flew to Dubai for a short one-night stop. It was 40 degrees and humid when we landed! We didn't experience it much though as we just stayed near the airport and were indoors most of the time. We arrived late and left early but had a wonderful stay. We got upgraded to a large room and had the most fantastic meal in their restaurant. We only wanted something light so we ordered a mezze plate. First they brought free snacks - 5 beautiful dishes of olives and pickled vegetables, one of which was whole chillies! Next came our mezze plate - 6 gorgeous bowls of assorted dips accompanied by warm pita breads. They were sensational! We couldn't eat it all though. Then they gave us free desserts! Then, if that wasn't enough, they gave us 30% discount off the bill because we were staying in the hotel. This is just an airport hotel but we'll be staying here again if we come back through Dubai!

Also in the hotel we saw local ladies all dressed up in their glittery finest for a wedding. It was amazing!

We boarded the plane for our last leg and had an interesting flight flying over the vast desolate lands of Iran. The scenery finally changed to rolling green hills and at last we arrived in Georgia!

The most obvious first difference was the lack of masks. We had been wearing them everywhere since we left home and suddenly nobody was wearing them. We had heard about the incredible hospitality of the Georgians but the staff in the airport were grumpy and so bored-looking it was like they were acting.

Tbilisi's old town, the part of the Georgian capital where we're staying, is a fascinating mix of old wooden balconies, modern shops built over old ruins, gold-roofed churches, steep cobblestoned streets and expensive cars. Overlaid onto this scene are thousands and thousands of tourists. Shop staff are like those we met at the airport - bored, unenthusiastic and unsmiling. Get the right person though and they are bright, informative and happy to help. Such a contrast!

We have a room with a balcony in a small hotel with lovely views of the old town. We explored the area on our first day but it was so hot that we struggled to go far. The temperatures were in the mid to high 30s most days. We learned to keep our explorations to early morning and evenings and over the coming days saw many sights.

The traditional wooden balconies, often suspended out from the walls of buildings, are a feature of Georgian architecture. I love them!

The old city walls were partly exposed, partly buried and partly built on. This entire house was built on part of the wall. Clearly, heritage values were not considered highly by planners at some stage!

Georgia has had a tumultuous history and it continues to this day. The last of the Lenin statues stood in what is now called Freedom Square. It was torn down in 1990 and replaced with this striking gold statue of St George slaying the dragon. St George is the patron saint of Georgia, although he has nothing to do with the country's name!

A really sad sight was the memorial to 19 hunger strikers who were killed by Russian soldiers in 1989.

A previous president, Saakashvili, poured lots of money and effort into adding modern structures to Tbilisi. This bridge was cool but I felt it was out of place leading over the river from the old town.

We stumbled across a well-made boardwalk along a river so we thought we should follow it. Much to our amazement, it led to a waterfall in the heart of the old town! It was 36 degrees this day so we appreciated the coolness of the spray. 

Equally surprising was the tourist touts there with a macaw and a monkey that you could pay to have sit on your shoulder. Pretty tacky. But then again, there was lots of tacky touting going on everywhere. The town was so full of tourists. We struggle to work out what nationalities they are as we don't recognise the languages.

To get to the waterfall we crossed a few footbridges and they were totally covered with lovers' padlocks.

Nearby were old traditional sulphur baths which still operate today. I think they'd be great in winter but hot baths are the last thing we feel like in this heat!

Gorgeous old churches perch on hills, even in the town.

I'm amazed I've got this far without mentioning the most wonderful aspect of Georgia so far - the food! It's sooooo good! There's a lot of focus on fresh vegetables, nuts and herbs with meats playing the second fiddle which suits me fine. Every meal we've had so far has been amazing, whether it's in a restaurant or a simple cafe. 

Khinkali are like large dim sims but there's a broth inside the pastry as well. There are also 'pies' stuffed with cheese, potatoes, mushrooms or meat. They are so tasty! Walnuts feature a lot - think roasted eggplant stuffed with walnut paste or light, crispy cheeseballs with walnut sauce. Strings of walnuts coated with grape resin are a tasty and popular snack.

Tomato and cucumber salad with walnut dressing in the front, cheese pie in the back.

The flavours are subtle yet stunning - a hint of lemon here, a touch of coriander there and a surprise burst of rosewater somewhere else. One of my favourite things was drinking homemade pomegranate lemonade with ice. The cold burst of flavour from the seeds that have been chilled in the drink is sensational on a searing hot day. I loved it so much that I asked the waiter to add Bacardi to it one night. It was amazing!

Sometimes, things get a bit lost in translation. The boiled 'language' on a menu had us baffled but we worked it out - it's 'tongue'! 

To avoid the heat we've been getting up early and getting our walking done before the town wakes up. Most shops don't open until 10am. By then the heat has set in.

We have a Caucasian walking book with us so we thought we'd give it a try. It first led us up to a gorgeous cathedral on a hill. The views back over the city were stunning.

We were then supposed to follow our noses through a pine forest for an hour but we quickly discovered the forest floor was covered in a type of low-growing cactus and we were wearing sandals. We decided to head onto a nearby road for a bit then make our way back onto the track later. After slogging uphill in the sun for ages we discovered that the road through to where we wanted to go was a private driveway. We had no option but to return the way we came. We were both sore the next day from so much hill work but we need to get fit for walks that we plan to do elsewhere in Georgia.

As we returned to the old city we could easily see the old fortress that we were trying to reach from a roundabout route.

Just outside the old city, the buildings change and the grand old 19th-century houses reminded us of Buenos Aires, Courtney. This particularly grand one was atmospherically crumbling into ruins.

We went to the museum and learnt a bit about previous Soviet invasions. There is clearly no love lost between the two countries. There are Ukrainian flags everywhere as Georgians show their support for the Ukrainians. We saw this flag on a balcony - it's the Georgian flag but it's made in the Ukraine's colours. I found it quite moving.

There are so many Russian tourists here though so we don't understand how that works.

We have one more day in Tbilisi then we head out into the regional areas. We hope they're a bit cooler!

Til next time!
Heather and John