Backpacking Georgia in 14 days

• travel • writing

🚧 Work in progress 🚧

In 2017 a friend of ours got an opportunity to work at the Czech Embassy in Tbilisi (Georgia) which she gladly took. Terka, a sister of my very good friend Dominik, went with her to take care of her children. Soon after we were offered accommodation in case we decide to visit them which put all things into motion. Not even a week after we had our plane tickets bought and already were planning the itinerary, so that we could squeeze the most out of our 2 weeks in Georgia.

Planning our Georgia trip proved to be harder than we though as the tourism there is in its infancy. We also wanted to spend most of our time trekking in mountains which we found even less information about. In the end we had a list of a few places and things we would like to see but no concrete plan what so ever. Our initial plan consisted of: 1 or 2 days in Tbilisi to explore the capital. 2 to 3 days to visit and trek around Lagodekhi, easternmost town located at the foot of the Greater Caucasus mountains in the historical region of Kakheti. 2 to 3 days for the Tusheti national park in the north-eastern part of the country. We also wanted to visit the townlet of Stepantsminda from where the third highest mountain of Georgia - Mount Kazbek (5033m) can be seen. We then planned to move to the west of the country and walk the hanging bridges over Okatse Canyon located close to the town of Martvili. Around Martvili there are two more points of interest - Martvili Canyon that is usually explored on boats and Martvili Monastery. Not so far, near the town of Kutaisi, lays Sataplia Strict Nature Reserve and famous Prometheus Cave which is over 11 km long (1060m are open to visitors). From Kutaisi, we planned to return to Tibilisi and catch our flight home; back to Prague.

Spoilers alert, our plans changed quite a bit, and we didn’t visit even half of the places mentioned before. Nevertheless, we have seen and experienced a lot and remember Georgia as one of the best trips up to this date.

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia. It has population of approximately 1.5 million people and lies on the banks of the Kura River. Throughout history Tbilisi was a point of contention among various global powers, mainly because of its location on the crossroads between Europe and Asia. Tbilisi is important transit route to this day.

More buildings were being build than standing. Tbilisi is currently growing at enormous speed and often modern buildings stand next to falling apart remains of old houses.

Tusheti National park

We hitched a hike that saved us one day of walking and enjoyed beautiful views from the back of the car.
Stray dog trekked with us for 2 days, it seemed as if he enjoyed it more than us.
Nothing but plains and Atsuna pass in the far.
With Atsuna pass behind us we raised our tempo and with the vision of civilisation in front of us covered over 35km in one day.
Good and warm food, beer, and chacha with Coca Cola (offered by Polish guys sitting by the next table) was all that we needed after 5 days in mountains.

Batumi

Mtskheta

Davit Gereji Monastery

Food

This huge Shavarma got obliterated in under 5 minutes.
Dominik and Terka enjoying ice cream on our last day in Gerogia.