Beth Finally Met Her Match

"Guest" Post by Geoff :

One thing that has always amazed me about my wonderful wife is that, despite her lithe frame, she maintains a limitless ability to pack away cheese, potatoes and bread.

Having seen her tackle multiple jacket potatoes, french fries, loaves of bread and wheels of cheese in France, Italy, the UK and even Texas-size portions, I assumed she would never be defeated.

That is, until she met her fiercest adversary yet: Georgia.

After reading about the wide varieties of fresh vegetables and fruit available in Georgia, we had visions of our health-quotients rocketing as we hiked through the mountains, breathing the pure air and munching on freshly plucked organic produce. 

Making bread made in a deep clay oven

This was not to be. We certainly enjoyed the clean air, and upped our caloric-expenditure well above the 3,500 calorie per day level via vigorous activity, yet we (well, I did at any rate) managed to gain 2 kilos over the week.

This was all thanks to the ubiquity of the combination of bread, cheese and potatoes at every meal. The Georgians are quite proud of their cuisine, but it can be shocking to more delicate systems.

It is almost unheard of to not eat Khachapuri at least 2-3 times per day. Khachapuri is certainly delicious, but it is basically an entire loaf of bread stuffed with cheese. At least that is the healthy version. It comes in far more cholesterol-spiking versions as well, including stuffed and topped with cheese, and the most popular version which is topped with cheese, and an egg, and a giant pat of butter. Those following the bulletproof diet would highly approve.

The most amazing version we had of this was at Shavi Lomi, where they substituted Armenian Lavash bread (which is lighter, thinner and crispier) for the traditional denser bread, and used a slightly sharper cheese than the traditional Sulguni cheese. It was amazing!

The second most popular dish is Khinkali, which is a derivative of Nepalese momos. These look like giant soup dumplings. You hold on to the twisted knobs of dough at the top, bite into the side of the Khinkali, suck out the soup inside before eating the rest of the dough (except the topknot). They keep bringing more until you wave the flag of surrender, with payment being determined based on the number of topknots on your plate. The vegetarian version of this fills them with - guess what? - potatoes and cheese!

After Shavi Lomi's Khachapurito, the next best dish we had in Georgia was roast potatoes with dill, drenched in salt. This won't come as a surprise to you who know Beth (who loves potatoes, salt and dill), but it was a bit of a surprise that I found them delicious as well. I am lukewarm on potatoes generally and hate dill. Perhaps it was the salt, which helped to soak up all of the sweet red wine I was drinking.

The best version of these potatoes was at Rooms Hotel in Stepantsminda / Kazbegi, but a strong honourable mention goes to Barberestan, which was a cute little restaurant on the other side of the river in Tbilisi that was created to strictly follow the found 100+ year old recipe book of a Georgian who happened also to be a leader in the feminist movement.

Another very interesting dish that only Geoff was brave enough to try was Elarji. This is very hard to explain, but it is a combination of cornmeal and sulguni cheese that somehow becomes turned into a gelatinous blob resembling porridge. It was quite tasty, but we worried about the combination of viscosity and cholesterol.

Churchkhela stands around the city

After gorging on the above dishes at pretty much every meal for a week, I knew we were in trouble when I suggested that we order a pizza at one meal as a "healthy" alternative, and Beth said that she couldn't possibly eat another dish containing cheese, bread, or potatoes.

Of course, there are Georgian dishes that are at least moderately healthy. They did serve vegetables, albeit these were generally drenched in (delicious, but not particularly healthy) Bazha, which is a sauce made from walnuts.

Lobio was a fantastic stew made from kidney beans, although it generally contained a day's worth of sodium allowance and was served with a super-dense, albeit super-tasty, cornmeal bread called Mchadi,

Luckily the Georgians aren't much on sweets. They did have a delicious snack called Churchkhela, which is basically walnuts or hazelnuts coated in flour and grape juice (much better than it sounds), but otherwise we managed to avoid sweets (except for the Marriott's cookie tray) for most of the trip.

View from the Top...

After our stint at the baths, we decided to walk up part of the Tbilisi hill to catch the Funicular up to the top of the very large hill.

We must have been delirious from the hot sulphur baths as undertake this steep hike on such a hot and humid day left us on the verge of passing out.

Nonetheless, the temperatures were much cooler up at the top of the hill and the ride allowed us to finally find a restaurant that served vegetarian Khinkali, a Georgian delicacy.  It also left us wondering - could they possibly think of any more ways to incorporate delicious cheese into their meals?

Hot, hot, hot!

Tbilisi is known for its sulphur baths.  Many believe that it was actually Tbilisi's sulphur springs that inspired King Vakhtang Gorgasali to settle the area as the capital in the 5th century.

Legend has it that the King was in the area on a hunting trip and either poached or healed a pheasant in the boiling sulphur waters, thus spurring his decision to move the capital city to that very spot.  In fact, "tbili" translates to warm so perhaps there is some truth to the story.

A key spot along the Silk Road, these sulphur baths were historically a huge draw for weary travellers, at one point hosting 60 different baths in the area.  Today, there are five surviving bath houses in the city - one which is public, one which is open 24 hours and the others where individual rooms can be booked.

Upon advice from our tour guide, we booked at the Royal House, supposedly the nicest of the group.  Even still, this cavernous spot felt like it was from a different era - and though we told ourselves that the tiles and furniture had been replaced since the baths were first developed centuries ago, we weren't entirely sure.


Nonetheless, we forged ahead excited to plunge into the warm bath.  Until we stuck our toe in and panicked that our foot was being burnt right off our body.  The water was scalding hot!

We did our best to adjust the temperature with the cold water hose nearby but the boiling water was simply too intense. Geoff braved the bath by spraying the hose right on himself as he slowly and painfully waded into the water.   Beth did her best to even keep her feet in the water.

By the end, we both managed to get ourselves all the way in but it certainly did not meet the vision of the relaxing and leisurely baths we had dreamed up in our minds.

All in all, we left the pools feeling clean and even a little relaxed but admittedly looked much redder and in the back of (Beth's) mind wandered if we had suffered any third-degree burns or other long-term consequences.

The Renaissance...

Having visited the Old City, we were eager to learn more about life on the other side of the Kura river, which is considered by many to be the cultural hub of Tbilisi.

This area has undergone a bit of a renaissance in recent years, attracting artists and "progressive" types.  Still rugged and full of history, pockets of new development and pedestrian hotspots have quietly integrated.

Naturally, we thought it important to go and check it out.

The Fabrika neighbourhood is grounded by a 400-bed hostel which is where we met our tour.    From there, it was walking distance to all types of churches (German, Catholic and Orthodox), former brothels, soviet era architecture and several museums and pedestrian-only streets.

During the tour we learned a lot about the mentality and culture of Georgians, particularly their relationship with the Russians during Communism.

For example, one of the buildings was covered entirely with mosaic tiles, created by the Russians to temper the concerns and restlessness of the Georgians who were discouraged by the drab architecture going up around the city. To this day, no one knows what the mosaic is actually meant to represent.  Nonetheless, there are mosaics all around the country to make the Georgians feels happier and brighter.

Much of the construction during the Communist-era was focused around compounds and courtyards, giving people an opportunity to connect with their friends and both spend time with and rely on each other.  The staircases would have also kept people in good shape - both from the exertion of climbing all those stairs everyday and the need to stay slim to actually fit into the very narrow curved stairwells!

Georgians are proud of how they managed to build a subway during Communist times, which was based on convincing the Russians that they needed to build deep bombshelters around the city to protect themselves should anything happen. By the time the Russians thought to question why the bombshelters had train tracks running through them, it was too late and Tbilisi had its metro!

Courtship and marriage on the other hand seems less strategic.  To propose, men used to stand outside their lady's window and hold a bowl of burning oil for as long as they possibly could before she gave her answer.  To us, this also gave an indication as to why there may have been so many fires in the city over the years!

Statues of wedding dancers and other poets/artists are all over the city, indicating once again Georgian's passion for the arts and for life.

With quite a different feel than the Old City, the other side of the river is clearly also on the rise.

Not your average puppet show

The puppet performances at the Gabriadze Theatre's puppet shows are some of Georgia's most celebrated artistic achievements.

Under the direction of Rezo Gabriadze, this intimate and unique marionnette theatre has upended the concept of traditional puppet shows offering mature and complex storylines and a mastery of puppeteering.

Having read about this special place, we tried to book tickets a few weeks prior to our trip and still were unable to get seats together.  Nonetheless, we headed over to the quaint theater - designed by Gabriadze himself - to see if someone might be willing to switch with us. Luckily, with some maneuvering, we were able to get it all sorted out.

The play "The Autumn of My Springtime" is the story of Boria, a small bird with a big heart.  Set after the war,  Boria's "grandfather" dies, leaving him the only one left to take care of his grandmother.

Performed in Russian, with English subtitles running above set for the English speakers and headsets for the Georgian speakers, we all followed this journey through Georgian folklore and the trials and tribulations of this little bird as he did his best - sometimes falling to the dark side - to support his beloved grandmother.


Although we clearly didn't understand the nuance of the folklore or Russian humour, the mastery of the puppeteers was something that was easily understandable by all of us.

A pre-theatre drink protected from the rain

Tbilisi's Old City

Because of its location on the crossroads between Europe and Asia, Tbilisi is a city that has endured more than most.

Destroyed and rebuilt 29 times over the years (whether by occupation and war, earthquakes or a surprisingly large number of fires), the layout of the Old Town luckily remains largely intact with narrow alleys and crooked houses overlooking the river.

Its geographic location and history has resulted in Georgia being a blend of East and West, historical and modern.  Throughout the city, you find classical buildings steeped with history right next to modern architecture with an eye to the future.

At the centre of the old city is Freedom Square, formerly known as Lenin Square when Russia occupied the territory.  It is a main artery to reach all other areas of the city.  In 1991, the statue of Lenin that towered above the square was replaced with a monument of St. George slaying the dragon.

One of the offshoots from Freedom Square is Rustaveli Avenue, which is one of the most beautiful and central streets in the city, and also the one where we were lucky enough to be staying.   The street houses many of the government buildings, museums and theatres, including the historic Marriott hotel and the new Biltmore Hotel, which redesigned a 1938 Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute and now offers accommodation with some of the best views of the city.

The Georgian Parliament Buildings

The historic Marriott Hotel

The Georgian National Museum

Perhaps the most notable recent architectural constructs are the Bridge of Peace - a bow shaped pedestrian bridge that crosses the Kura River - and the Exhibition and Concert Hall in Rika Park.

And each is not without controversy.

The Bridge of Peace and the cable car

The Concert and Exhbition Hall (which many claim looks like two dismembered legs)

The entrance to the Bridge of Peace

Both the striking bridge and the unusual concert hall have left many residents angry that their modern designs corrupt the beauty of the classical architecture surrounding them.

Even more, both have become political, with sparring politicians using the constructs to aid in their conflict.  The current ruling party is threatening to bulldoze the bridge in order to get back at the politician responsible for its construction and the dominating concert hall, although constructed, has never been outfitted nor opened to the public as it was built by the previous regime.

Towering above all of this is Mother Georgia, an enormous statue that overlooks and protects the city.  Different than similar statues in many other cities in the region, Mother Georgia carries both a sword AND a glass of wine.  The glass of wine is a nod to Georgia's welcoming culture and heritage - with Georgians claiming that they are the first country to have discovered wine - and the sword is to protect against any visitors who become hostile or try to hurt them.


Georgians are an incredibly welcoming people. who love to toast and celebrate with friends.  In the heart of the old town is the statue of the Toast Master.  He holds a horn for his drink - chosen so he cannot put it down until its empty - and welcomes all who pass by.  They say it is easy to get invited to a local toast and celebration should you wish, but that you must be prepared to stay the full night (which can last until the morning) and that foreigners often suffer from an alcohol tolerance that is a far cry from local abilities.

Scattered throughout the city are a large number of Orthodox churches. Georgia remains one of the most religious countries in the region with over 90% of residents practicing religion.   Many of the Orthodox churches were surprisingly spared when the Russians occupied the country and were instead put to other uses, mostly serving as storage facilities.

The Churches, however, saw a resurgence after the downfall of communism in Georgia, and artworks of Saint George and Saint Nino (complete with her cross made of wine branches) the patron saints of the religion, are now fully painted throughout the churches.  A word of caution to future travellers - Georgian Orthodox are expected to sign the cross on their chest every time they pass a church (which are common around the city) and this applies to taxi drivers...so choose your driving routes carefully!

Supposedly the chains that held Prometheus

Finally, in the heart of the Old Town, we were surprised to stumble upon a waterfall which cascades down into a creek for visitors to sit by, wander around and enjoy.    Even better, they have water fountains scattered throughout the city to keep people hydrated and clean.

The Old City was fare more diverse and extensive than we ever imagined - making it an amazing place to explore and re-visit to learn more.

(Don't) go chasing waterfalls...

On our second day, with map in hand, we headed out to the town of Tsdo to hike to to both a large and small waterfall.

Our first challenge, however, was actually finding the start of the hike. After having reviewed a variety of write-ups and driving directions, we were perplexed to find absolutely no indication, markings or entrance to this "incredibly popular" hike.

Just about to abandon cause, we spotted a taxi swerve off the road and seemingly into the bush.

With few other options, we decided to follow him.

We made it about 50 metres before our small rental car could no longer handle the treacherous road. Parking as far off  to the side as possible, with the car at seemingly a 45 degree angle wedged into a bush, we decided to continue the path on foot to see if there might be something around.

To our delight, we encountered some campers who were bbq'ing an unusual breakfast feast of what looked like a whole animal (this was less delightful).  We then passed an abandoned camping ground, just as was noted in one of the blogs we had read.  We were on our way!

On one of the hiking sites we had researched, this hike had been "downgraded" from a "moderate" hike to an "incredibly easy" hike.  In retrospect,  we can only conclude that this post was written by a macho-man trying to prove his manhood!

The hike was anything but easy, requiring us to actually pull out our hiking gloves in order to grab onto tree branches and rocks as we hauled ourselves across and up steep walkways and hills to get to the gushing waterfalls.  

But the hike was a gorgeous one, with lush vegetation and almost no other trekkers.  As we sat on the rocks and were misted by the powerful waterfalls, we were totally at peace...and the worry that our rental car would actually be able to dislodge itself from the bush in which it was parked was the furthest thing from our minds...

A terrace for all seasons

The best part of Rooms Kazbegi is its outdoor terrace, which we took advantage of at every opportunity.

From our first visit at breakfast (with our makeshift set-up directly in the sunshine) to after-hike drinks to pre-dinner reading to dinner bundled up in our warmest garb, we were undeterred by either cold weather, rain drizzle or anything else that would take us away from that spectacular view.