Georgia, Land of Beautiful Scenery and Amazing Adventure – Rainbow Mountains and David Gareji Monastery

Hello! Surprise!! After totally throwing all of my Eastern Europe plans out, I took a flight from Cluj Napoca, Romania and landed in Tbilisi, Georgia! I had met several people along my journey who said, “Georgia….it’s awesome!! You must go!!”, so when my Eurail plans fell to pieces, I picked them up and they came back together spelling Georgia! A reasonable flight emerged and an apartment in the city center called to me, so this was it.

After another long layover in Warsaw in the middle of the night, I landed in Tbilisi at 5:30 AM. My apartment host had set me up with a driver named Giorgi, which I later learned is the most popular name for men in Georgia, so I met a lot of them!! Upon arrival, I was a bit skeptical seeing the door and dark stairs leading up to my unit, but as it often is, the place was clean and totally fine. Here’s the view from my window of a typical Tbilisi home with many balconies popular for gatherings with neighbors.

After a bit of rest, I went out for a walk and ended up joining a walking tour to get my bearings. All good, but I will come back and share Tbilisi with you later. What I was most excited about were all of the offroad/outdoor adventure activities I found. There was one company who seemed to stand above the rest when it came to creative adventures with small groups, www.friendly.ge, so I booked the Rainbow Mountains and David Gareji Monastery offroad tour for the next day.

The group that came together was awesome! It was another all female group with a super cool guide named Alex, who loved offering up his photo skills to get fun photos of all of us. After a stop for a quick snack and a few pics, we arrived at the Mravaltskaro Reservoir where we took a hike and got up close and personal with the beautiful rainbow mountains.

When we arrived at the lake, we were greeted by a sweet older man who manages the property. He got a pic with us, gave us a big smile, and we were on our way!

After the hike, we carried on to Natlismtsemeli Monastery, a hilltop cave Monastery, which is not open to the public, and offered us some unique views. Although we weren’t able to interact with the monks, it was fascinating to see how it was built, take a short hike up to the tower, and learn about the culture.

The next stop was the David Gareji Monastery, which is much more famous, and on the tourist route. It sits on the Azerbaijan–Georgia border, and has been the point of some disputes between the two countries. It was built in the 6th century, and despite much turmoil over the years, remains active today.

Following the monastery visits, it was time for a lunch break at the Oasis Club and some wine tasting at the local KTW wine factory. It was a very unique setting for a tasting, as we were served straight from the huge stainless steel tanks. Some of the wines were good, but as you can see from the last couple of pics, the final tasting was a fail!

All in all, it was a great day, and we had a lot of fun! The biggest win was I met my friend Anna, (to the left of me in the above pics). Anna and I had a great connection throughout the day and decided to follow up after the tour. We were going to try for dinner, but we were both exhausted, so decided to meetup again in a couple of days.

We met for a nice brunch before heading to the funicular (yes Anna, it’s a train, not a cable car :-), for a ride up to the park on top of the mountain. From the top we saw some beautiful views and met a couple of guys who thought they were even more beautiful, giving us the “flexing pecs” dance as they asked us about the rides. We cracked up as we walked away! boys!!

Later in the afternoon, Anna suggested we checkout The Chronicles of Georgia, a massive bronze, copper and stone sculpture built during the Soviet era on a hill in the northern part of Tbilisi. It sits above the Tbilisi Sea, the city’s largest reservoir and main water source.

We then completed the day with a fun dinner in town (including the accidental chicken liver dish), and a bottle of wine I had brought back from KTW! Now I’m so excited to visit Anna in her home in Athens!!!

Hugs and Love, Michelle