Georgia

On a lazy Sunday afternoon, out of habit, I was doomscrolling Instagram reels where I randomly stumbled upon this place that had all the European aesthetics, direct flights from India and economically not as expensive as rest of the Europe. This idea struck the right chords in my mind and I knew I had to make it there. The visa program was quite straightforward and based on your passport you may be eligible for a visa waiver program, for Indian passport holders the government of Georgia provides a multiple entry e-visa for upto 3months. I then proceeded booking hotels on booking.com . Flights & hotels booked, visas approved, bags packed, it was now time to fly to Georgia. This was my first international trip and it was a different experience. We touched down in Tblisi late night with temperatures so low it could cause frost bites 🥶. Fortunately we were dressed accordingly. Soon after clearing the immigration we had to take 2 obvious actions, getting a SIM card and money exchange. As a novice traveler, one big mistake we made was exchanging the entire amount (USD -> GEL) at the airport. The exchange rates were pretty bad and we ended up losing a good chunk of the money in the exchange rates. We then headed to our hotel and had a sound sleep.

Exploring the Old World Charm of Tbilisi

The first day was all about exploring the capital city. Started from chronicles of Georgia, followed by touring around the liberty square, shopping for some additional winter outfits and then ended the evening in Rike park and mother Mary statue. Taxi commute is pretty good and the major players are bolt and Yandex of which I highly recommend the latter from my personal experience. The next day we simply drove around the city collecting souvenirs (fridge magnets 😜) before we were off to batumi.

Coastal Vibes in Batumi: Where the Mountains Meet the Sea

We then boarded a train from Tblisi to batumi which takes around 5 hours. There journey was peaceful and comfortable. The train tickets can be booked online in prior or you can get the tickets at the station too. Batumi is referred to as the financial capital of Georgia. While Tblisi boasted ancient style like architecture (for most parts of the city), batumi embraces modernity with lots of skyscrapers and modern city vibes. We didn’t have a concrete list of places to visit and wanted to have walking tour to explore the places in our own terms. We traversed across the piazza square, European square and the batumi Central Park. The park was well maintained and beautiful. Being a vegetarian, it’s difficult to find vegetarian cafés/restaurants across Georgia, but fortunately we were able to find a cafe called “Go vegan cafe”, the food was great and the prices were nominal, if you’re in batumi you should definitely give this a try. Just as I running out of places to visit, I started Googling for any hidden places, and I found an interesting place worth visiting. Just a few miles away from the Central Park, there was a random place tagged as “Plane spotting point”, out of curiosity we went there. Opened up flight radar and started tracking landing and departing flights from the nearest airport. Few minutes later, we did see a plane landing up close and it was surreal. The cherry on the cake was the overall landscape, a clam ocean on one end and far fetched snow capped mountains on the other. Sometime later, there were a few folks drifting and drag racing with their supercars on a nearby road which was fun too. A random fact, this place was only a few miles away from the Turkish border. Later the same evening we headed to batumi boulevard and saw the popular “Ali & Niño” statue. The overall ambience felt a little dull as there were barely any crowd present nor was there any music or fun things happening, it was a good place regardless.

Exploring Kutaisi: Canyons, Caves, and the Soul of Imereti

From batumi, we started road tripping to Kutaisi. Kutaisi is a small town that’s usually less explored and less visited, but this was a suggestion someone gave us and we made it spontaneous. Our homestay host took us around the town, we visited gelati monastery and the Prometheus caves. The latter was a first-time experience a long stretch cave, the cave engulfs a water stream that can be ridden on a boat, this is something we missed but I suggest you opt in for this if you’re visiting it. It was evening by the time we returned from the caves and our host took us to have dinner. We stopped at Baraqa one of the OG spots serving Georgia’s famous dish Kachapuri. It was great. And now it was time to leave for gudauri.

Gudauri Highlands: A Scenic Stop for Mountain Vistas and Fresh Air

Gudauri is a Caucasian mountainous range near to the Russian border. One can get there only via road. You can hire a private taxi or take a bus(not sure if buses are available tho), but the most preferred mode of commute is Marshutkas (mini van type of vehicles), as they’re available in myriad and travel across multiple cities. They run frequently based on the source and destination places, but if you’re planning to go to gudauri from Tblisi, make sure to catch one before evening (6PM) as the frequency/availability drops to near 0 post that. It is a 2 hour journey from Tblisi. As we inched closer to the destination, the snow cover increased and it got more colder and exciting too. The next morning we enjoyed in the snow, I got to try my hands on skiing, it was a fun experience, people all around playing, skiing, relaxing. The atmosphere was buzzing with good vibes, it felt like a right place to be in the right time. We had our mandatory Maggi noodles on the snow mountains and took lots of photos. It was now time to head back home. Oh boy, it was a great trip overall coming back with loads of memories.

Footnotes

• I’ve seen that the visa rejections especially for Indians is high. To increase the odds of getting it approved, submit all the documents(hotel bookings, flight tickets, letter of employment etc.) one another major point is to get a travel insurance and upload it too. Though it is an optional document, I’ve seen rejections happen due to lack of submitting insurance documents. While submitting bank balance details, make sure you’ve atleast ₹2L running balance. Though nowhere anything has been mentioned about the minimum balance, ₹2L would put you in a safer spot. You can attach multiple bank statements too.

• The attitude towards tourists is mostly good, neither are they harsh nor very hospitable. Most of them should be able to help you move around.

• Very few speak English so you might want to carry a translator and may be learn 3-4 words to manage across.

If you enjoyed reading this do share this blog with your friends or those who’re planing to visit Georgia soon.Madloba!