Our First Taste of Georgia (and When Travel Plans Go Awry)

Now live on YouTube: a whirlwind tour of Tbilisi

We’ve just returned from Georgia—the one with khinkali dumplings, not peaches—and let’s just say this trip was challenging in all kinds of unexpected ways. The travel plan that we spent months carefully crafting was thrown out mid-journey and a whole new adventure had to quickly take shape.

Surrounded by history at Tbilisi’s sulphur bath district

We’ll freely admit that we’re not the most spontaneous people; reservations booked well in advance and intricate logistics are more our speed. This trip was a good opportunity to test our capacity for improvisation, going with the flow, and being the type of laid-back traveler who doesn’t blink at making a same-day hotel reservation.

Buzzing through Tbilisi

The first part of the trip went like clockwork. We spent a week in Tbilisi, and from the moment we arrived, I was amazed by the city’s layers of history. Around every corner was a mix of old and new: 19th-century latticework balconies, monumental Soviet buildings, gleaming modern towers, and crumbling art nouveau mansions. It was even more eclectic and fascinating than we expected.

Another faded beauty in Tbilisi

Georgian cuisine was the other significant draw for us and our first foray into traditional dishes was everything we hoped for: those famous khinkali dumplings, vegetable and walnut pâtés, stewed beans, cheese-filled fresh-baked breads. However, I will admit that by the end of the trip, I was more than ready to take a break from the onslaught of bread and cheese at every meal.

Because our stay was shorter than usual—we normally settle in for a month when we’re slow traveling—we had to hit the ground running. We covered an impressive number of sights on our first day, starting with Tbilisi’s oldest church (an impressive 1,500 years old), a stroll across the futuristic Peace Bridge, and a cable car ride (only slightly terrifying to those of us afraid of heights) all the way up to the Mother of Georgia statue that looks over the city.

Back down on the city level, we wandered through the daily Dry Bridge Market, where all kinds of antiques, Soviet memorabilia, and miscellaneous bric-a-brac is available. After visiting so many so-called local markets that catered to tourists with mass produced products, this one was charmingly authentic.

Of course, we couldn’t resist capturing the whole experience on video. If you’re up for a whirlwind tour of Tbilisi—plus a peek inside our spectacular Airbnb—our newest video is now live: watch here.

When plans meet serious weather

Our next stop was Svaneti, a remote mountain region perfect for a multi-day hike from village to village. Svaneti is so difficult to reach that the options are either a 45-minute flight that’s often cancelled (ours was) or a winding ten-hour train-and-minivan marathon through the mountains.

Just as we were ready to lace up our boots, days of thunderstorms rolled in. While we were mentally prepared to hike through a reasonable amount of rain—that’s why we brought the rain gear along, after all—the thunder and lightning proved to be too much for us. When I found myself doing an online search for “what to do when caught in a thunderstorm on an exposed ridgeline” (answer: crouch low on the balls of your feet for 30 minutes), I realized that we needed a new plan. Our hike would have to wait for another, sunnier time.

Morning sunshine in the remote village of Ushguli

So we pivoted. We came up with an all-new plan to explore western Georgia’s villages, monasteries, and wineries. And while it wasn’t the trip we originally imagined, we took it in stride. After all, we’ve been fortunate enough to have enjoyed excellent weather on every other hike we’ve done (including an unseasonably sunny trek through the Cotswolds last spring), so perhaps we were due for a little rain.

Coming soon…

Our next video, out in a couple of weeks, will give you a ringside seat to those unplanned adventures. We’re braving the storm to visit a remote UNESCO mountain village, wading through a river to reach a monastery outside Kutaisi, and feasting at a winery where, no exaggeration, they opened four bottles of wine just for us, plus offered up a couple bottles of chacha for good measure.

See you on the road,

Stephanie and Gillian