from Telawi to Tbilisi - Caucasian summer 2024 - 5
from Gudauri via Gori to Kutaissi
from Kutaissi to Batumi
from Batumi via Borjomi to Achalziche
excursion to Vardzia
from Achalziche in Georgia to Yerevan in Armenia
excursion to Etschmiadsin
excursion to Garni and Geghard
from Yerevan to Goris including visits to Chor Virap and Noravank
excursions to Chndsoresk and Tatev
from Goris to Sewan
from Sewan via Dilijan to Haghpat
from Haghpat in Armenia to Tbilisi in Georgia
Tbilisi and back home
20.07.2024 - from Telawi to Tbilisi
There is nothing interesting near the hotel for an early morning walk. The only things in walking distance are the bazar and the fortress. Both are on the morning program anyway and are probably still closed early in the morning.
For today, our guide suggested to change the agenda as we are not in a hurry. Breakfast here starts at 8am, so at 9am we leave for the bazar. We stow our luggage in the bus and the driver even takes us the few hundred meters to the bazar.
The bazar is not a tourist attraction, but a real market used by the locals. I've seen so many markets in different countries that hardly anything surprises me anymore. There is nothing really exotic here either. The most interesting thing is the parking lot, where customers are served directly from the trunk of the vans.
From here, we make our way to the fortress. Unfortunately, it starts to rain and quickly gets worse. The fortress consists of the walls, a museum, a church, and a small palace. It's ok, especially as the entrance fee is much more reasonable than in Azerbaijan (2,50 Euros). Only the bad weather spoiled our visit a little.
Now we drive to Gremi [↗]. This is a destination that is not on our official agenda. It's a 30-minute drive in the "wrong" direction, but as I said, we're in no hurry today.
The pictures you find on the internet are looking nice. Unfortunately, the rain is getting heavier and heavier. I briefly consider whether I should even get off the bus and walk up the stairs, but of course I do.
That was a good decision, the church is beautiful with old frescoes. And we're allowed to take photos! But I skip the climb up the tower as the view during the rain is not promising at all.
The next stop is a restaurant on the way. It turns out to be a winery where you can also do a wine tasting. The food is okay, but last night's dinner in Telawi was much better and also cheaper. I try the local red wine and given that many told me before how good the Georgian wine is, I'm a bit disappointed. It's not bad, but it's not really good either. The fact that they serve red wine chilled is a clear sign.
It's past 2pm now and we start our drive to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Translating the Georgian script into our Latin letters is always a challenge, and you very often find different spellings for one and the same place. This includes Tbilisi with two s's, i.e. Tbilissi.
We check in our nice hotel, which is quite far away from the city center. But it's only 5 minutes to the terminus of the metro.
I leave the hotel with most of the other tour members at 5:30 pm. We walk to the metro station and buy our Metro cards. There are 2 types of cards. One where you pay 1 Lari (33 cents) per trip, and another where you can top up day passes (3 Lari for one day, but there are other options if you stay 3 days or longer). On top they charge you 2 Lari each for the card itself. I opt for the last option, as I want to get on and off the metro several times tomorrow. As I discover at the end of the trip, the day pass is more of a 24-hour pass, as I’ll be able to use one bought in the evening the next morning too.
Now we drive towards the city center and walk a bit through old town and the restaurant mile. Five of us have a beer with our guide, discussing about football and music. As the guide has to leave after a while to do his paperwork, we’re leaving too and stroll through the streets. We cross the bridge to Park [↗], and as it’s already getting dark, the rest is looking for a dinner restaurant while I'm going for some blue hour shots.
While there were many cats lying around in Baku, here you can also find some cats, but very often it's a dog lying in the middle of the sidewalk. They are all marked, but it is unclear whether they belong to someone. They are all very friendly. I haven't seen a single aggressive dog.
