Trip to Georgia (Country)

It has been more than a year since I wrote my last blog. Well, in March 2017, I moved to Dubai and apparently did not travel much outside and explored the new country for a couple of months. In March 2018 my family and I planned to visit Georgia for a short trip with another family friend.

28.03.18

Dubai Airport was already crowded beside the fact that it was just 5 in the morning. FlyDubai was the only airline which flies to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. The journey was 3.5 hours long and with pretty decent facilities provided by the airline. We arrived in Georgia being welcomed by a cold breeze.

It was quite cold in Georgia in comparison with Dubai. Firstly we went to our hotel "Flamingo" but surprisingly they told us that the hotel room wasn't available yet and therefore we had to wait for a few more hours. So, we went to the main Tbilisi city now. Holy Trinity Cathedral was our first destination. It was a beautiful cathedral as it was at the edge of the Mtkvari River and the mountains forming a perfect backdrop. It was as good from inside as from outside, thankfully it wasn't crowded!

Inside the cathedral

Me and my sister in front of Holy Trinity Cathedral

Afterward, we went outside in search of a new place to visit and instead found a peacock to get a photo with.

Everyone with the peacock

As I just mentioned the Mtkvari river, that was the next place we went. We went for a boat ride on the river and the driver of the boat let me drive it!

Driving the boat

The location was amazing with all the mountains and the view.

The view

We then had lunch in an Indian restaurant called "Sanjha Chulha" on Agmashenebeli Avenue which as per me is the Main Street in Tbilisi. After food, we went around the place and also bought some souvenir.

After a few hours, we went back to our hotel and had dinner at a nearby restaurant to enjoy Georgian Cuisine that included dishes like khachapuri.

29.03.18
Today we were going to Northern Georgia for some snow fun. We booked a van for the long journey. On the way, we stopped somewhere near Zhinvali for photographs at a scenic view.

Zhinvali

Next, we directly went to Ananuri. It is a castle complex located at a hilly region, 72 kilometers away from Tbilisi. The moment we entered Ananuri it started to rain. The rain made the place difficult to walk and therefore we walked around carefully. Like all places in Georgia, the view was terrific here as well.

At Ananuri

Inside Ananuri

We enjoyed some snacks in a small restaurant.

Next, after about 1.5 hours of journey, we finally arrived to snowfall in Gudauri. It is a ski resort with a lot of facilities including, skiing, restaurants, heliskiing, etc. My sister and I had a lot of fun playing in the snow and also had a snow fight.

At Gudauri

Tired after the long journey we looked out for a decent restaurant. Thankfully, we were in a resort and they had a good indoor, heated restaurant. Again, we had Georgian food like the night before. After lunch, I went skiing and it was fun though I caught a slight cold due to the low temperature.

As we had come a long way from Tbilisi we had to leave then to return back to our hotel on time. On the way, we stopped at Tbilisi Mall for dinner and I just had food from Subway. All of our shoes were really wet and we had to buy a pair of new shoes from Carrefour. From the mall, we directly went back to our hotel for the night.

30.03.18
Today morning we woke up early as we were heading towards South Georgia. We firstly had our breakfast in the hotel and when our vehicle arrived we left for the journey. Our first destination was Bodbe Monastery. From the monastery, we could see a beautiful green mountain in the view. This monastery also had terrace farming which was clearly visible from the spot.

Bodbe Monastery 

We had some snacks in a small restaurant near the monastery and then moved on to the next location. We went to the Sighnaghi Museum which was in Sighnaghi as the name suggests. It had started to rain heavily and it wasn't' very easy to find the museum under the umbrella. The museum was really good with a lot of paintings and some ancient artifacts which were probably excavated in Georgia.

View from the Sighnaghi Museum 

According to our plans, we were supposed to go to a coffee farm next but our vehicle (A Mercedes) broke down and it wasn't' functioning well maybe because of the rain. We decided not to go further just in case if there was more problem with the van. The driver had to stop and take some battery from other passing by vehicles. This happened a lot of times until another 8 seaters properly functioning car came and we managed to reach back to our hotel.


31.03.18
Today was our last day in Georgia and we had our flight back to Dubai in the afternoon. After having breakfast we went to the National Botanical Garden of Georgia. The garden was situated in a hilly region in Tbilisi and there was a lot of greenery along with colorful flowers.

Me, my mother and sister at the National Botanical Garden

After spending some time in the park I went zip-lining with my father and to reach the starting point we had to walk and climb a lot. The zip-line was real fun as we kind of travelled from one mountain to another. When I returned back I went for zip-lining once again with my mother this time and I had to climb all over again.

From the botanical garden, we went to the Tbilisi Mall again. I had some Thai cuisine at lunch and we left for the airport which was 30 mins away. We had our flight at around 1 pm. The trip was just 4 days one but yet fun and exciting.