Travel

Tbilisi Georgia: You Left Me Wanting More

September 22, 2017

The first sight of Tbilisi Georgia was thrilling in a good way. There wasn’t any hint of snow when we arrived from Armenia by car painstakingly submitting to a six-hour land trip. Even if it was almost eight months since I traveled this country, memories are still vivid.

Arriving, we passed by skimpy busy streets loaded with restaurants, cafés, nightlife and even massage houses-this place is alive. My eyes skimmed through the locals who gallivant around. Some wearing big and fluffy trench while others managed to strut their way to the cobbled stone street wearing inches of heels, thin stockings, and gorgeous looking outfits ready to have a pint. Even if there wasn’t any hint of a falling snow, I still don’t know how Georgians managed to show some skin in such a frostbiting weather. They must’ve have gotten used to it.

Looking for our Airbnb house located in Ikalto street is driving us nuts. The house is somehow distant to the buzz of Tbilisi. It was atop a hill overlooking Tbilisi Georgia day and night and even if it’s quite a ride from the center, the view which took my breath away sufficed somehow. It was freezing cold when we went out for dinner to a nearby restaurant and while I was waiting for food to be served, I caught a fever. It was the coldest weather I have encountered in my whole life and my body just seemed shocked about that fact. Pretty much, restaurants in Tbilisi Georgia are cheap without sacrificing quality and quantity.

The next day, when I woke up and my fever was gone so I had the energy to prepare breakfast for the gang. When I looked over the huge window pane, I saw the city covered with snow. It’s amazing to see the whole city covered in ice in over night’s time. Streets and buildings alike are covered with such beautiful and delicate ice. The one thing that I have noticed with Tbilisi Georgia are its infrastructures. If you have traveled in Tbilisi Georgia, you must have noticed how old their infrastructures are. With all honesty, the building where we stayed looked like an abandoned building judging from the outside. Elevators are old, too old you need to drop a coin in a slotted machine for it to move up and down but once we enter inside the flat it’s like we’re are in different world-old on the outside but modern on the inside. I wonder how the city looks like when the country is in full color.

Continuing our Tbilisi Georgia adventure, we toured around old Tbilisi, bought wines, sipping coffee in between, having lunch with a shot of vodka, but what really caught me off guard was their churches. A few people really talk about the churches. Usually, they think of Tbilisi Georgia as a quick holiday destination for people living in the sandpit like myself but there’s more to it than just that. I remember promising to myself to bring my mother in Georgia just to see these wonderful churches. It’s so historically beautiful, however taking snaps inside are strictly prohibited. I wish I was stubborn I could have taken some snaps to share but I decided not to. I chose to respect their culture.

From outside, it would seem like it’s just a normal place where people worship but you’ll be surprised to learn that there’s more to it. At first, I was not allowed to go inside because as a woman you have to wear long skirts, luckily they have wrap around skirts that tourist can use to enter. Given that I am a Christian who practiced Catholicism faith, I initially looked for seats upon entering the holy place, I was shocked when I didn’t find any. People who go there usually stands when they pray (I am not quite sure if there are seats in modern churches). The place was full of statues, paintings, and images depicting religious figures. In terms of mass ceremony, they usually held it inside a small room and before you are even allowed to enter and join you must be sure that you’re properly dressed for the ceremony. One nun actually thought I was going to enter since I keep on peeking through the door, the she approached and asked me to remove my hat before going inside. I decided not to because I can’t quite decipher every word they mumble.

Speaking of making sense of what Georgian people say, what I find difficult in Tbilisi Georgia is communication. You’ll find very rare people who know how to converse well in English. Asking for directions from strangers is hard. Some may even seem annoyed because they can’t express what they really want to say. It’s even more frustrating as a tourist when you give directions to taxi drivers who don’t understand English. We had to ask for the police officer to talk and relay the message to the driver before we understood each other. Challenging eh? But that doesn’t stop me from admiring Tbilisi Georgia.

I guess the reason why Tbilisi Georgia is so dear to my heart is that this is exactly the place where I got my first tattoo. This is the place where I had my very first holiday somewhere other than the Philippines and the UAE. This is the place where I have started to go out and conquered my fear and because of this, I left myself in the open looking for new things to experience. Looking for stories to share.

It seemed like we did a lot but not really. There’s something that I have yet to experience in this country. There’s that feeling of wanting more, of getting to know more that I can’t quite figure out. I must go back and I think I will.