Georgia: the words cannot express
I have heard a lot of amazing things about Georgia from my friends and just random people. They told me about their excitement of coming there, and about their sadness while sitting in the plane which should take them back. All of them said the same thing: “if you once visited this place, you would dream entire life to come back, and you will come back”. Georgia, they told me about, was a place which could not exist in the world. They were not able to recall anything bad about the visit. I was inspired by the talks of the excited people, but, frankly speaking, had not plan my trip to this country.
It was Tuesday. I was at work, finalizing my report, and did not thought about any vacation. I realized that that summer will be missing holidays, because as soon as my work ended, I should go back to Riga and start studying. I prepared myself for hard work. I do not how and why, but at that very moment, I just randomly bought tickets, which said “Minsk-Batumi”. I still had 3 days to work, but my tickets claimed that I departure tomorrow. I negotiated with my boss that I would finish my work right after coming back. However, I had no idea when I will be back. I did not buy a ticket back. In some 30 hours, I was stepping on the board of the plane going to East. I remembered everything people told me about Georgia, but I did not know what it actually will look like.
When I was looking onto the sign “Welcome to Georgia!” in Tbilisi airport and listening to the cabin crew saying “Welcome on the board of the flight on the route Tbilisi - Minsk”, I had only one, but solid expression: I love it! And will surely come back! Maybe I was sentimental, but I realized that I was almost crying. It was the time when I completely forgot about existence of anything, but what is really around me. Endless green cover of the mountains, the landscapes of Mars, churches which make you believe, European vibes, the soul of eastern bazar, hospitable and opened people and surely incredibly delicious food. All that did not ask much time to win my heart. I felt like I am leaving home.
Batumi.
Even though this city has quite a long history, it is all covered with plastic facade. I am happy that it was the place I came first, because that gave me an expression of usual resort which I definitely did not want to visit this summer. I wanted an experience of culture, which is different from what I used to. Arriving at night gives you a lot of perks: you can see the real city and its architecture. Batumi has an imagined architecture, it does not stand for any style. It was built just to impress the world: Batumi “eye” in the middle of the skyscraper, the restaurant in the upside-down house, coliseum, or the alphabet tower. You feel like impressed, but you do not trust it. You can realize soon that actually all you see are hotels and restaurants. At this point you can consider that I am disappointed with the city, and probably you want to ask me why I decided to tell about it. The reason is that the beauty is hidden always. The soul is not what you usually see from the first sight. It works the same as with a person. First, you can see how he looks like, how he acts and only after some time being together you actually can see his soul. Going around the town occasionally you can find the lovely sculptures of shadows playing with a heart. As always people like to do, the play with feeling. They are scattered all around the town. There is nothing special about them, but as always happens, the simple things are the most influencing. The Alphabet Tower was supposed to be a must-see, maybe, it is. However, I was inspired not by the tower, but the pictures of the skeleton running after the heart. Such things create a creative atmosphere, you feel that the people tried to message use through the pictures or sculptures. It adds some inside warmth to the town.
If to move from the seaside to the middle of the town, you can actually enjoy the feeling of visiting the real house instead of just a plastic exhibition. The ordinary block of flats, I would even say quite a poor block of flats, but it shows the spirit. All the balconies in this building have brightly colored fences. It is so simple, but it makes you feel so happy, because it sets you on positive mood.
I cannot go without saying about one fact about Batumi. In case you are not super young, and you have grown up in CIS country, at least once in your life you have been to post-USSR resort like Odessa, Crimea or Azov sea. The thing that unites all these places is a person going around the beach offering hot corn, buns or baklava (eastern puff pastry with honey and nuts). Even though Batumi has nothing in common with these resorts visually, you still can hear the voice of an old woman trying to serve you with some good compliments for the beach. At least for me it brought a lot of joy, because it makes you feel home-like. You can call it nostalgia or whatever you want.
Kazbegi.
If someone asks me to name the heaven on the Earth, I would undoubtedly shout “Kazbegi”. There are a few reasons for that: first, I feel obsessed with the mountains, second, it is the place that makes you believe. You come to a small town, which has nothing special and then head yourself to the paths wagging around the mountains. It was not a long or difficult way, I would challenge whether it was difficult at all. But the reason that the town is situated on 2,500 m above the sea level and you should go about half a km up, makes the air weaker. For those who spent their lives on plains it could be an interesting experience, because you get tired very fast and breath twice as much as in usual situation.
But when you are on the top of the mountain, you know that these “struggles” should be, because then you feel rewarded with the stunning view of the nature. Some of the clouds are below your feet. The green cover of the mountains changes with rocks and stone. Somewhere you can see a snow covering of the top. The views from the top are breathtaking. The only thing that comes to your mind being there is to lie on the grass and enjoy the sky, the mountains, the life. When you are standing on the edge and looking down on the town, you feel that all the problems are so small that you even cannot see them.
I wish I tell you more about Kazbegi, because it is the place where I felt completely different from any other time in my life. But I believe it is a case when the picture costs a thousand words. You wish to see it, not hear about it. And while you are there, there are no words for you. Silence and the sound of the wind.
Mtskheta.
This is the case when less than an hour was enough to make such an expression on my heart that I see it as one of the first pictures when thinking about Georgia. Two rivers of different shapes, different colors, different flow meet and go together further on. They are completely different, but still together. If you had such a situation in your life, you will definitely recall it looking on the fusion. The gorgeous view of the line where two souls get together, of the mountains that fences it, covered with the last rays of the setting sun, creates a perfect background for the thoughts about Georgian history. A huge and wide highway going along the rivers challenge the understanding of what is going on.
Vardzia.
In case I would say that there is a city up in the mountains, not as usually on the plain or hill, but on the bluff. The houses, the church, the wine houses, and many other buildings are just holes in the rock. The mysterious feeling keeps chasing you all the time you spent there. When you see actually the church, you start to believe automatically, no matter what you thought before. Going through tunnels from one cave to another feel the infinity of power and possibilities of a man. People are the greatest creatures, they can create whatever they want, even city in caves. The willingness can shape the world in the way you want. A great to recover a soul.
I can tell you about much more places which I visited, but in Georgia it always works like this: the words cannot express the reality of the place. Once you experienced, you understand why it is special. But the words are just odd and they are vulgar in this case. One more place I want to tell about is Tbilisi.
I would call it the city of contrasts. First, you can see this amazing public service hall which looks like a huge mushroom, from the other side, not so far away from the city center you can see slum. Not that terrible as on the far East, however, still contrasting. The atmosphere in the city is changing constantly: from the one side, you can enjoy European vibes; from the other, it is a huge bazar, where everyone is running, shouting, moving stuff, beeping in the cars, etc. Taking a ride in a cabin car brings you to the hill with a stunning view on the city, but not only. There is a statue of a woman which protects the city and the country. You can find similar statue in Kiev, or in Minsk, that gives you association of being at home. The way people dressed in Tbilisi is quite interesting as well. Even though the country is far from being wealthy, people are dressed in expensive branded things. But what impressed me is that even though they are dressed in brand and expensive things, the whole look still modest and elegant. No showing off in terms of clothes.
On the way.
Georgia has a unique and gorgeous (I am wondering whether this word came from the name of the country) nature. While you are going by car somewhere, all the time you can on the sides amazing landscapes: mountains, which are substituted by rivers, followed by steppe and so on. You will never get used to it. The only thought came to my mind and stuck there for a long time is that I want to be lost in this nature paradise. In the evening you feel exhausted not because you did a lot during the day, but because you are emotionally exhausted. You are not able to express anymore of excitement. The ideal way to explore Georgia is to jump in the car, turn the music on and go in any direction without any speed limits.
Food.
I do not how to express a hysteria of my taste buds about Georgian food. The situation when you are not able to eat anymore because you are completely full, but you are still eating because it is incredibly delicious. Khachapuris, khinkali, meat, figs, and many-many other dishes which I simply do not know how to write will conquest you heart and soul. I still remember the taste of each of the dishes, and I would say I miss it so much. Going without mentioning home wine will be a crime. Home wine is easy to drink and fit the food so good that they become perfect compliments.
People.
Here I would say that no words have enough power to describe what I saw in Georgia. The family relationships are developed so much that your third-line cousins are just brothers and sisters. People are together. They help each other, they have fun with each other, they love each other, I would even say, they are part of each other.
I would not say that life in Georgia is easy. But people are happy, they simply do not care about problems. They enjoy their lives with close people, they enjoy what the nature gave them, they enjoy the sunshine. They are looking for the ways how to live and they enjoy the search.
There is a huge difference to be a random person and a friend of one of the family members. If you are a friend of one of the family members, you automatically become a part of this family. You are treated as honorable part of the family. They will give you everything they have, just to make you a little bit happier. The hospitality and generosity which I never met before.
Imagine the situation, you meet a quite random guy in your house, he does not speak the language you know, you are completely different. I doubt that any of you would end up saying “bye, brother” in a day time. I do not know how but we managed to understand somehow each other. We managed to become close without words. Isn’t it a proof that the words are not all-powerful and irreplaceable?
Georgia is a holy country. It makes you believe in life. It makes you realize what is really important. It makes you understand the right values. It changes you and way of thinking. It changes perceptions. You are different from what you were used to be. There is a saying “To see Paris and die”, I would say “To see Georgia and start a life”.
I have a lot more to say about this country, but it will be to long to read. That is why, I will put a full stop here. Once you came to Georgia, you will always remember it, and you will always dream about coming back.