Heading up to the mountain town of Kazbegi near the Russian border Hannah and I were about to embark on a little hiking in the Caucasus Mountains. After a 3 hour ‘marshuka’ ride from Tbilisi - through some of the most stunning green mountains I have ever seen - we arrived. Staying the night in a guest house where the owner “Mery” kept telling Hannah that she was a “good girl” because she could speak Georgian, Hannah and I shared a pullout sofa bed.
That evening we witnessed cows being led back from pasture by herdsmen. It was hilarious to see the cows stand in front of their owners’ homes and moo until they were let in. How do cows know where they live?
After buying a trail map of the Kazbegi region, Hannah and I opted to explore one of the “paths” rather than the typically traversed “trails”. While we never quite found the “path” that we were looking, we found ourselves walking through a pasture where we encountered 3 local men and their donkeys. Just before we approached the men we caught sight of two bears running in the hills above us. At first we thought we were mistaken but nope... they were definitely bears. The men, accustomed to shooting bears, were disappointed that they had missed them. We on the other hand were thrilled!!!
Back in Tbilisi we took a trip out to Hannah’s newly acquired “Soviet-style” cottage - first so that I could see the place that was to be renovated over the next few years and second to grab a bicycle. In some serious need of TLC, we took the bicycle to one of the few bike shops in the city which happened to be located next to an old Soviet velodrome (an experience in itself). After getting the bikes tuned up we headed back to Hannah’s apartment and I will never forget the reactions we received while riding through the streets of Tbilisi. Obviously NO ONE rides a bike in Tbilisi, least of all foreign women. We had so many people staring, giving us thumbs up, and telling us we were crazy. It was priceless!
The day before I was to fly to London, Hannah and I were enjoying an early dinner in this small café in Tbilisi. As we were leaving, this table of 8 men were so impressed that Hannah spoke Georgian that they offered to pay for our dinner insisting that we have a drink with them.
Drinking in Georgia is a national pastime. Georgians love to give toasts and typically drink shot glasses filled with “home-brew”, aka vodka. It’s considered an offense to leave the table before you’ve sat through at least 3 toasts. But being a woman you are allowed to completely forgo the alcohol or only take miniature shots.
The men at the table turned out to be famous Georgian Poets and what we thought would only be 10 minutes - turned into 3 hours. Besides giving each of us a copy of their most recent publication, they also showered us with endearing toasts, talking about how happy they were that we choose to come to their country, a place of only 4 million people, and learn their language - a language spoken ONLY by these 4 million people.
I have to say I will always have a soft spot for Georgia and Hannah, I will be back!
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