Tim, Mimi and I planned to celebrate Noor’s 30th birthday in Georgia the country. Since we all have a UAE residence visa, we are granted visa free entry. Noor travelled 2 days before us with her friend Jenneka. As for us, we spent 56 hours in Georgia.
Day 1:
We landed in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia at 5AM and headed straight to the hotel. We left our luggages and decided to explore parts of the city before meeting Noor and Jenneka at the hotel.
Our first stop was Median Square to have Khachapuri for breakfast at a famous restaurant located infront of the ‘I Love Tbilisi’ sign. We went to a restaurant called Samikitno/Machakhela; the food was very delicious and affordable.
We continued exploring the area and took pictures by the bridge of peace, went crazy at Rike Park and walked back to the hotel.
Alex our half Georgian half Egyptian tour guide picked us up from the hotel and took us to 5 touristic locations.
Jvari Mountain: A sixth century Georgian Orthodox monastery, located in eastern Geogia.
Mtskheta: One of the oldest cities in Georgia. It’s a city that was founded in the 5th Century BC. We visited a church and the local market and bought lots of Churchkhelas which are Georgian’s famous sweets. (VERY DELICIOUS)
Gori: Is a city in eastern Georgia. The city was occupied by the Russian troops during the 2008 Russian-Georgian war. It is also known as the birthplace of the Soviet leader J.Stalin
Stalin Museum: The name says it all.
Uplistsikhe Cave Complex: Although it was raining a lot and quite windy, we managed to hike it. Uplistsikhe translates to ‘The Lord’s Fortress’. It contains structure from the Early Iron Age and Late Middle Ages. The structure was from Anatolia, Iran, Pagan and Christian architecture.
As our tour ended, we headed back to Tbilisi and wandered around Sioni Cathedral Church, 3 Sioni St, Erekele II Square, Aerial Cable Car and had dinner at a vegan restaurant called Kafe Leila.
Day 2:
Alex couldn’t meet us on that day so he sent his cousin ‘George’ to continue our tour around Georgia.
On that day we visited 4 famous locations.
Ananuri: A Castle which was ruled from the 13th century. Tim and I took pictures wearing the traditional outfits.
Pasanauri: is a very small town surrounded by Causaus Mountains. We all were quiet in the car and admiring the nature while Jason Mraz and smooth 90’s songs were playing in the background.
Gudauri: A famous ski resort. We stopped to admire the view and take pictures. Honestly speaking I’ve never seen such nature. Georgia is really beautiful.
Kazbegi: a small town located in North East of Georgia and very close to the boarders of Russia.
Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument: is a monument build in 1983 to celebrate the friendship between Georgia and the Soviet Russia.
As we headed back to our hotel in Tbilisi, we agreed to separate for 2 hours and meet up later at the hotel to celebrate Noor’s birthday. Mimi, Tim and I continued to discover local markets and coffee shops.
At around 9PM, Alex picked us up from our hotel and took us to Shardeni Street. Known to have best clubs, pubs and shisha. Since it’s Noor’s birthday, we all had dinner and smoked Shisha till 1AM.
Day 3: TBILISI and back to Dubai
As we waited in line for the cable car, the sky greeted us with ice cold rain. We then visited Kartlis Deda and Narikala Fortress. Sadly, we didn’t manage to explore much as we needed to get back to catch our flight.
Ahhh! We all loved Georgia. The food, the nature and it’s history.
Visited: May 2017
*I’ve got lots of photos of Georgia which I will be posting on Pinterest.
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