Let’s start with the surprising fact – Tbilisi is a great city. It is just incredibly under rated. A liveable city. A safe city. A vibrant city. A sleeping giant crying to be found. I expected nothing much from it, I expected an eastern grey textbook dull drab dreary ex-communist Stalinist patchwork of Soviet style…
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Georgia is a backpackers dream and should be on your list before you venture to places like Germany and Thailand. Hindsight is wonderful thing – I did the same as everyone else and only visited Georgia in 2013 when my bandwagon had finally rolled me to the Caucauses. After visiting Stalin’s town of Gori, the…
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Before I tell my story of the trip to Gori, a bit of background is needed here. In 2005 I visited Poland for the first time. The city where Stalin built the Palace of Culture and Science. A few months later I was working in Bournemouth selling hot dogs with Rafal and Artur- two top…
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It would be a bit ridiculous to write Batumi in Georgia off completely as a mere “pass through town” and we almost made that the plan. The reason is, we only headed to Batumi in order to get our visas for Azerbaijan. In fact the odd thing is, this was also the only reason we…
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“Tunnel of love might amuse you, noah’s Ark might confuse you” – Richard Thompson. Our first stop off in Georgia on our return to the country was in the city of love, Sighnaghi. We had only been absent from Georgia for 10 days backpacking in Azerbaijan. After crossing the border from Zaqatala to Lagodekhi we…
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Having spent 10 epic days in Azerbaijan, it was time to head back to Georgia. We were heading early morning, north west from the city of Seki (Sheki) and aiming to be in Sighnaghi in Georgia by the afternoon. Here’s an overview of our journey which saw us use the Balaken to Lagodekhi crossing –…
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You’ll know I’m a hostel freak when I go backpacking and I found a great place to base myself for over a month in Tbilisi, Georgia! The Why Not? Legend Hostel is a superb place to socialise, hang out, sleep and relax. You can stay on the top floor in a massive room, basically one of the…
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In my latest episode of world borders, I’m covering the border between Georgia and Armenia. I admit I’m well behind in this series (not enough time to update the numerous borders I’ve crossed) but this one will fill in the pieces on my current Caucauses backpacking experiences. Here’s my rundown on how to get from…
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While my motives for visiting Batumi on Georgia’s West Coast were purely visa related (I got my Azerbaijan visa there), I found myself with time on my hands as I waited around. Every morning in Batumi it was time for a massive breakfast/lunch feast. On the first morning we got a tip off from Nina…
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Georgia is famous for having a load of these “cave towns” and while you’re backpacking in the area, you really should try and get out to at least one of them. The top ones are Davit Gareja and Uplistsikhe. Our visit to Uplistsikhe was a bit extra special for me as I was joined for…
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