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Sunday, March 13, 2022

Tbilisi----->Telavi

In the morning I decided that I wanted to walk to the Mother Georgia statue.  I met with a couchsurfer from South Africa and we made the walk up.  There was quite a bit of snow that fell during the night so it was a bit slippery while walking.  We had to be careful not to fall.  The view from the statue of the city was nice, but because it was still snowing, the visibility was not that great. After the walk I needed to get back to my accommodation to pick up my stuff. In order to get to Telavi from Tbilisi I needed to get to Isani metro station. From there I would be able to take a shared taxi to Telavi.  I had to wait until the shared taxi was full and we were on our way.  Since the snow was quite bad we had to take the long and safe way to Telavi.  That added another 1.5 hours to the journey.  Once in Telavi there was a LOT more snow.  Luckily I checked the weather forecast and saw that it was going to snow all but one day so I was prepared.  I was told that the whole winter was sunny with blue skies, but it started to snow 2 days before I arrived.  I was welcomed with a nice lunch from the family.  It was nice to eat home cooked Georgian food again.  However, I didn't want to just stay in the house so my co-teacher and I went for a walk around the city.  The visibility was really bad, but I guess it was nice to see all the snow because I didn't have a chance to see that much snow in the Czech Republic besides the time I went snowboarding.  We walked around the major sights in the city and stopped in a cafe for a quick snack.





















                                                                            my welcome meal
                                                                        so much snow in Telavi


such bad visibility





                                                      Telavi written in Georgian on the bench


yummy khachapuri











Saturday, March 12, 2022

Hello Georgia (Tbilisi)

Last summer I randomly received an email from one of my co-teachers inviting me to stay with her.  I hadn't been to Georgia since I was living there so I thought it was about time I visit.  I was able to find a decently priced ticket so I decided to go.  By chance I bought the ticket so I would be back in Georgia 10 years after I was living there.  The ticket I bought was from Praha to Kutaisi.  I forgot to take into account that Telavi is quite far from Kutaisi.  First I had my flight that was 3.5 hours, then I took a 4 hour bus ride (which turned into 4.5 hours due to the snow and traffic) to Tbilisi.  I decided to spend my first night in the capital and I would make my way to Telavi the next day.  I found accommodation very close to the bus drop off point, dropped off my stuff and headed out for a walk.  It had been 10 years since I was in Georgia and it was crazy that I was able to remember small details about the city.  I was actually able to navigate myself quite easily and saw everything I wanted to see the first night.   

Good-bye Praha
                                                                    Hello Kutaisi!
                                                                        very small airport
   snow!!!

                                                                        Bridge of Peace
President's House in the distance

                                                         randomly remembered this statue


                                                                quarantine travel machine
                                                                    Freedom Square