Miles driven: 233
Time in car: 7 hours
Borders crossed: 0
After a night in Batumi, we woke early to begin our drive to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Much of the drive consisted of Georgian drivers whipping past us at breakneck speeds, barely avoiding the oncoming traffic or the random cows on the highway everywhere. Despite a few white knuckle moments, we quickly made it to our first of two pit stops: The Legend of Star. A team from a previous year told us about the very blatant Starbucks rip off, so we added it to our list. After a surprisingly decent coffee and a quick lunch, we were back on the road. Our next pit stop was a small town called Gori.
Gori was the birth place of Joseph Stalin. For those of you who might not be history buffs, Stalin wasn’t exactly the nicest of all guys. The museum in Gori dedicated to him was built shortly after his reign. The blatant propaganda in such a heavily anti Russian country (parts of Georgia are occupied by Russia and the two went to war in 2008) is really weird. Unfortunately (and ironically) the museum charges a fee, so we decided to skip it. We did get to see the house he grew up in as well as his railway car.
Lookout from the Tbilisi fort
After a quick drive to Tbilisi, we checked into our Airbnb and went to Racha for dinner. Racha is a small, underground establishment known for serving some high quality local food. We split more Khinkali, a roasted pork dish, a garlic chicken dish, a couple of beef stews, some beers and some chacha. Chacha is a local grape liquor that taste as if someone crossed a bottle of grappa with a barrel of jet fuel. I’m sure it’s apparently good for our stamina or something like that, but let’s just say that you won’t be finding chacha in any American store anytime soon. Naturally, the chacha was served to us out of a recycled sprite bottle. We finished the night with some drinks with a few teams that we have gotten to know.
The following day started late (thanks in part to the numerous $3 half liter carafes of wine). We fought our hangovers with some freshly baked Georgian bread from the bakery down the street and then sought out some more Georgian food. After another heavy meat and carb based meal, we climbed the hill above the city to check out the ruins of the old fortress as well as the Mother of Georgia statue (huge statue of a woman that was built to commemorate the 1500th anniversary of the city’s birth). The climb allowed us to view the next tantalizing attraction for us to explore: the famous Sulphur baths of Tbilisi.
In our defense, the Turkish bath we had in Istanbul was a great experience. It was strange, sure, but we were all glad we did it. Of course we had to check out the Georgian version.
Glad we did the bath? Sure. Cleaner for it? Questionable.
The Georgian version is very different. First of all, it uses water that naturally has a very high amount of Sulphur in it. The entire building reeked of Sulphur. The water smelled even more strongly. If you don’t know what Sulphur smells like, take an egg. Put it outside in the heat. Wait a couple of months, then open the egg. It smells like that. Now imagine taking a shower in water that smells like that. Now imagine taking that shower next to 15 older Georgian men, in a dimly lit room, everyone in their birthday suites, water is screaming hot. Add a hot tub and the hottest sauna on earth to that image and you basically have the Georgian Sulfur bath. It’s one of those experiences that are truly once in a lifetime. Once, not because it’s hard to get to Tbilisi, but because we personally do not feel the need to ever do it again. It was cool to experience what was clearly part of the Tbilisi culture (based of the surprised Georgian we kept getting and the lack of English, most tourists just skip it), and the two elderly Georgian women at reception seemed excited (and surprised) that we were trying it. It just wasn’t our cup of tea. To each their own. We finished our self guided tour by checking out the new cathedral and then took much cleaner showers before dinner.
For dinner, we went to Shavi Lomi. Famous for being one of the best restaurants in Tbilisi, Shavi Lomi is a rather bohemian place that specializes in the meats and stews that make up the more rustic parts of Georgian cuisine. It was a welcome change from the same Khinkali and bread we had been having. We split some appetizer consisting of four different spreads, a tomato and avocado salad (I never thought I would crave fresh veggies until three days of Georgian food), a lamb dish, two chicken dishes, and a beef shank. Each dish had sauces flavored with walnuts or wine or even rosemary. It was all very unique, but at the same time very approachable. Georgian food in general had been among our favorites of the trip. Although bread and salt fatigue is a real thing we all began to experience after our second Georgian meal, we’ll all be seeking out a Georgian restaurant in the states to relive the gooey, fatty, cheesy joy of a first bite of khachapuri. We ended the night by meeting up with several other rally teams at Fabrika - a square full of bars and $1 beers. We met several teams who would be trying to catch the ferry with us in Azerbaijan. We went to bed relatively early, anxious about the supposed bribe solicitations awaiting us in Azerbaijan and the infamous ferry to Turkmenistan. The easy part of the rally had ended. -FWY
The gang overlooking Tbilisi
Fabrika - Tbilisi’s local socializing spot for young bar-goers. An open air square surrounded by trendy restaurants and bars.
Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi - one of the largest religious building (by area) in the world