Sunday, January 31, 2016

Georgia: A cheesy, snowy heaven

What can I say about Georgia? It was on our bucket list of Doha travel for a while now, and once we found some airline tickets on a sale we decided to pull the trigger! Kristal played travel agent for this trip and was able to find an amazing little ski town called Gudauri, about 2 hours outside of Tblisi.

Our first Georgian experience was at passport control where they took our passports, gave us a stamp, and then handed us a bottle of Georgian wine while saying “Welcome to Georgia”. Not only were we shocked but this kind of hospitality was experienced over and over in our time there. On that first day we drove through a snow storm, on a windy two lane road, to the town of Gudauri. Visibility was poor and our driver took the turns at high speeds considering the conditions. We were thankful to make it to our hotel which include breakfast and dinner so we washed up before grabbing a meal.

When we woke up for the second day of our trip we were shocked to see the storm had passed and we were faced with bright blue skies and stunning mountain peaks. We spent the whole day on the ski slopes, with me learning and Kristal being patient. The cost of the ski resort was like a $12 shop. Lift ticket: $12, Rentals: $12, Lesson: $12, Experience: Priceless (I couldn’t help myself). The slopes were scattered with bars and restaurants pumping house music, $1 coffees, and Katchuporis. Speaking of, Katchuporis are the national dish of Georgia and essentially is a cheesy bread that comes in different forms. Check out the photo.

 

The mountains were so incredible that we wanted to maximize our time there and cut out some of the time we were supposed to spend in Tblisi. The morning of our second day we actually decided to Paraglide from the highest peak down to the bottom of the slopes. It was my first time Paragliding and it could not have been a better place. We have videos that we hope to post soon. After our paragliding session it was down to Tblisi for our own eating tour of the town. We only had one night in Tblisi so we could only scratch the surface of what it had to offer. Cobblestone roads, history, beautiful churches, food, drink, and ice cream were all around us. As we got ready to hop in a cab back to the airport we wished we had more time, although we say that every time.

 

If you get the chance, Georgia is a gem. From what we hear surrounding countries like Azerbaijan and Armenia are incredible as well. We were thankful to even get a few days there and hope to get back one day. A Katchupori magnet proudly hangs on our fridge to commemorate the few days there!


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