Day 22 to 24 Tbilisi
It was time to take the Mitsubishi back to Tbilisi, a two-hour drive away. The beast had performed well, despite being a little underpowered, and the drive back was uneventful aside from the last ten minutes of traffic lunacy in the capital and Google Maps sending us down tiny back alleys barely wider than the car to save 30 seconds.
We jumped in a Bolt to our last accommodation of the trip, an Airbnb apartment near the Saarbruecken Bridge. The entrance was a little daunting, but the interior was a welcome sanctuary.
Having already spent time in the old town earlier this trip, we wanted to explore this side of the city, so took a walk up to the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, Georgia’s largest church. This architectural marvel was fully illuminated and overlooks the city, offering spectacular views down to the river and beyond.
Today was the final shopping day, so we headed north, walking through the swanky shopping district to Dezerter Bazaar. This large wet market had the usual wide array of fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, nuts, and spices. I was here for some smoked Sulguni – traditional Georgian cheese – and some Churchkhela, a traditional Georgian candle-shaped brittle confection made from grape must, nuts, and flour.
We wandered back to the square, where I grabbed some Georgian whisky and brandy and retreated to the terrace for the afternoon. The area was popular for tourist restaurants selling overpriced Georgian and Turkish food, so we found a little local eatery in a basement offering Kazakh dishes, which made a nice change since that may be our next road trip.
Our final day touring took us to the Chronicles of Georgia, or the “Georgian Stonehenge,” a huge sculpture at the end of the “Tbilisi Sea,” a large reservoir serving the city. The Chronicles are a series of huge black pillars depicting Georgian history and scenes from the Bible. I didn’t expect to see something on this scale; it was quite impressive.
There was very little to see around the lake, so we headed back into the city to the Holy Trinity Cathedral, which looked totally different in the early afternoon light.
We did some final shopping since both cases were underweight, loading up on smoked meats, cheeses, nuts, confectionery, and alcohol, all of which are much more expensive in Thailand.
We spent the afternoon on our terrace overlooking the Kura River and the traffic below, and grabbed our final bottle of Georgian red for the evening, reflecting on the trip before our journey home tomorrow. I am definitely going to miss the variety of wine; it’s not something we enjoy so much in Thailand due to prohibitive prices.
Georgia has been a big eye-opener, a place that will no doubt become over-touristed in years to come due to its very cheap cost of living, friendly and accommodating people, non-oppressive religion, spectacular mountain scenery, and abundance of vineyards and wineries. We’ll definitely be back!
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