travel
-
Republic of Georgia: Last Thoughts from our Trip
Today is the last post chronicling this summer’s two week vacation to Georgia. We were able to visit two areas during our visit, the capital, Tbilisi, as well as the sea port of Batumi. We ate and walked and spent time with our friends. We shopped and ate some more, and really enjoyed what this beautiful country has to offer. This was our 3rd visit (the first two being 7 and 6 years ago), so we knew what to expect, but still were able to visit new parts of the city and country. One thing we had not done before was go to one of the flea markets. There were…
-
Mtatsminda Park and Funicular
The funicular from Chonkadze St to Mtatsminda Park is 501 meters long and gives you a pretty view of the city. The amusement park at the top offers fair type rides which you pay for individually (just a few laris each). The ride was 10 laris one way so we paid 20 laris each (the 6 year old was free). That came to 100 laris for the 5 of us (my husband hadn’t come back from church so this was an adventure on our own) which equals to $36 total. The walk was about 30 minutes from the hotel and it was a pretty warm day. We had taken a…
-
Batumi Fortress: Gonio Apsaros Fortress
We are nearing the end of my posts about our trip to the republic of Georgia! Today, I am sharing our visit to the Gonio Fortress which is the oldest fortress in Georgia. It dates back to the Roman times. The fortress is 15 km outside of Batumi and 4 km north of the Turkish border. The oldest reference to the fortress is in 1st century. You are greeted at the entrance with 2 large statues. The outside walls of the fortress all remain and it is quite impressive to behold. I have been to medieval castles in France and seen some old ruins in Italy, but never something of…
-
Batumi Botanical Gardens
You probably will agree with me after you admire the pictures in this post, but I think this is the most beautiful botanical gardens I have ever visited. And we didn’t even get to see everything because it was much larger than we expected and with all of our walking, we decided to stick to some of the highlights. Welcome to Batumi Botanical Gardens! By Georgian standards, the botanical gardens were a little expensive, 20 laris per person (our 6 year old being free). So we paid 100 laris ($36) for our family of 6 which wasn’t too made by American standards. And it the picture above, you see a…
-
Batumi Singing Fountains
On our first walk on the boulevard by the sea (Batumi Boulevard), my hope was to end at the Batumi fountains which I had read about. The fountains move in synchronization with music and with lights in the evening. However, we walked in the wrong direction. The boulevard or promenade is 7 kilometers long and since we had walked probably several kilometers in one direction, we decided to leave the search for the next evening. The second night found us once again stopping for ice cream and this time, we ordered the next size up with was still less than $2! Yum! We walked as it got darker and came…
-
Batumi Boulevard: A fun walk
Our hotel, the Hilton Batumi was in the perfect location to enjoy both the Black Sea and to take leisurely walks along Batumi Boulevard. The boulevard is a multi purpose pathway along the sea and is bordered on the other side by different hotels and restaurants. There are several paths so that bikes, scooters and such can have a pathway separate from walkers. There are also many trees bordering sections of the boulevard. Our hotel was very near the octopus structure where children and adults enjoyed roller skating. It is such a picturesque spot! It also offers a little bit of shade. We stayed 3 nights in Batumi and we…
-
Tbilisi Wine Museum
While researching some things to do in Tbilisi that we had not done before, I came across this blog Wander Lush written by an Australian journalist who now lives in Kutaisi, Georgia. The website turned out to be a great resource from itineraries, boutique hotel suggestions, places to shop and places to visit. The Tbilisi Wine Museum was only 5 min from our hotel and its location underground perfect for a hot day. The museum is underground this building which holds another museum as well as some fancy shops below. Our guide spoke great English and we learned a lot about the special process of qveri wine: Georgian wine made…
-
Adventures in the Kakheti Region
We rented a car for a week in preparation for our trip to Batumi and took advantage of having a car with AC to take a trip a couple hours out of Tbilisi. My husband wanted to visit the monastery of St. Nino and we booked a horseback ride nearby. As usual we used the Maps.Me map, but we still had to ask for directions! On the way, we saw a small fortress near the road and stopped for a bit. We can never pass up a fortress! There are a lot of lookout fortresses and towers throughout the country. Georgia used to be part of the silk route and…
-
Tbilisi Botanical Gardens
This is our 3rd time going to the botanical gardens in Tbilisi. They are just a short steep walk up behind our hotel, and it was the perfect outing the morning following our arrival. The city had gotten a lot of rain the weeks prior to our trip, so there were a few areas where you couldn’t go because of some landslides, in particular the waterfall where everyone had dipped their toes the last time we were here. However, since we were taking our time, we discovered a few new areas we had never explored. Since it was late May, early June, the roses were in bloom! We enjoyed them…
-
Mtskheta: Vibrant Center of Orthodoxy in Georgia
Mtskheta stands at the confluence of two rivers, Mtkvari and Aragvi about 20 miles outside of Tbilisi. It is a UNESCO protected site and “was a site of early Christian activity resulting in the Christianisation of Iberia, where Christianity was proclaimed the state religion in 337. It remains the headquarters of the Georgian Orthodox Church.” (Wikipidia). The Svetitskhoveli Cathedral (meaning the Cathedral of the Living Pillar) is an Orthodox Christian cathedral. It is a treasure of the Early and High Middle Ages, and is the second largest church building in Georgia. Below are two of the tombs you can find in the church. The one on the right is of Erekle II. Ten Georgian kings…