Friday 21st – 27th  March

Georgia in the daylight was a civilised shock. We had no idea what to expect and after spending over 2 weeks in Iraq with no idea what to expect there either, we kind of came to the conclusion that it would be similar.

We had never heard anything about Georgia and were determined to find out whether we should be on alert or not and where we should head next. With no map and no plan we followed the road along the coast until we found the beginnings of a bustling metropolis…and the famous golden arches! McDonalds, which to us translates as WIFI!

The McDonalds itself was a shock, an architectural fete of stunning curved glass which looks like something from the future. Dubbed as the ‘fast-food chains most stunning eatery‘ by Huffington Post and named one of the ‘Worlds best buildings of 2013‘ the restaurant / gas station was a pleasure to abuse wifi from. There is an indoor garden to create an ‘ecological shield’ from the gas station and reflective pools surround the modern glass building. I actually loved looking at the beautiful building opposite which had spooky mannequin type gargoyles on every plinth…anyway, I digress. But the architecture all around us was astounding. I was already blown away by the city we loved instantly, Batumi.

In recent history Georgia has been pulled from pillar to post between Turkey and Russia and nestles between the two along with Armenia and Azerbaijan. We were surprised to find that Georgia is predominantly of the Orthodox Christian religion but on further studies felt stupid that we were surprised by this. Russia and Armenia are also mainly Christian while Azerbaijan and Turkey, especially in the east, are majoritively Muslim. While it doesn’t matter to us who believes in what, seeing the beautiful churches after seeing so many mosques was one of the biggest shocks to us. That, and finding ourselves in what could easily be a European city.

With our plans hatched in McDonalds and an offline map downloaded, we left and parked up on the promenade that runs along the Black Sea to eat our lunch and reflect on our decisions. The sun reflected on the water and the palm trees blew in the wind around us. It truly was a strange and mesmerising place and we were happy we had found ourselves there whilst we considered the next leg of our journey.

The Iranian visa problem had become so ridiculous and we just couldn’t see a way around it. Without a visa to drive through Iran our only other option was to drive around the Caspian Sea through Russia and the ‘Stans’. From Georgia we would need visa’s for Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kirghistan and would find ourselves in the north-west of China…which was also a visa hell hole. Not to mention the difference in mileage. It was a logistical nightmare, and a dangerous one. We knew that if only we could get through Iran that we would have guards across the dangerous territory in Pakistan, and before we knew it we could be in India. But to drive through the Stans, we would pass closely with Afghanistan and we doubted that we would receive any kind of help from the Tajikstan government with our passage.

Iran looking impossible we were forced into making the decision to ship Peggy directly to India and to meet her there. We were devastated at the prospect of missing Iran and discussed flying into Isfahan for a fleeting visit. Decision made we set off to get the ball rolling with a shipping agent and to find the Iranian embassy for one last push.

View of Batumi across the Black Sea

We of course got lost looking for the embassy and while we were sat trying to make sense of the new digital map there was a tap at Peggy’s window. A gentleman had recognised our Canadian license plate and stopped, incredulous to ask us how we came to be in Georgia with a Canadian vehicle. George spoke perfect English and explained to us that he had spent a lot of time in Canada, Alex got the sense that he would be an instant believer in our adventure and told him how we had found ourselves there.

The rest, as they say, is history, we were instantly friends and George led us to the Iranian embassy through the cobbled streets of his beautiful city. When we arrived he told us he worked for the Batumi tourist board and that he may be able to help us arrange a Georgian wedding. We couldn’t believe our luck, we had made a new friend already, had found the Iranian embassy (although it was closed for Iranian holiday, Nowruz and would not open again until the following Monday) and had a contact to help us with a wedding, all on day one of arriving in Georgia.

George invited us to meet him, his wife Nana and colleague Mamuka, that evening to discuss the wedding. We talked ALL night and everyone seemed excited to help us in our quest to discover the local culture and traditions. So much was instantly set in motion, George arranged an interview with local news for the following day and we were invited to George and Nana’s home for dinner that evening.

We spent the day in between interview and dinner wandering the streets enjoying the eclectic buildings. Seemingly ancient brick homes sat aside modern apartment blocks, gothic masterpieces stood across from brightly coloured balconies and the churches nestled next to brand new high rise hotels. We ate a picnic on the beach in the sunshine and contently watched the black sea gently roll and observed the people passing along the promenade.

The dinner that evening was fantastic, I LOVE Georgian food. We tried Khachapuri which is cheese filled bread in the shape of a boat with a raw egg cracked on top, we loved Khinkali, spicy meat or vegetable filled dumplings boiled in stock. The secret to not scalding your face is to bite a hole in the side and pour the captured juice into your mouth and then eat the rest in as few bites as you can manage.  We ate dishes of stewed beef, amazing golden potatoes with onion(my favourite), beets, eggplant rolled around walnut pesto and all washed down with home brewed Georgian wine and Chacha, the local spirit.

Khachapuri

We had such a lovely evening and loved hearing everyones stories about Georgia. We learned about the Tamada (you MUST read the link, it is so true) and the 9 toasts, Victory, peace, family, wife and so on, and how to say cheers, guamarjos. We listened to the beautiful story of how Georgia came into existence. It is said that when God was giving out countries, Georgia was late but was forgiven when he explained to God that he was late as he had been toasting to Him. Sadly God had already given away all of the land but he was so happy that Georgia had been toasting Him that He decided to give Georgia the little piece He had set aside for Himself. So Georgia became known as Gods paradise.

We felt truly blessed to be in such wonderful company and staggered back across town in the early hours under the yellow street lights to Peggy, thanking fate for bringing us to Georgia and to George and his family.

We spent the rest of the week living in Batumi, we loved it. I fell in love with an apartment that was available to rent and almost talked Alex into stopping for 6 months and then panicked and said I had been kidding the whole time. I felt at home there, at ease. We had friends and the city was so welcoming and so beautiful, I worried that if we stopped for 6 months we may never go again. We continued with the shipping plans and chasing the Iranian visa’s. We may have alternative plans in place but we weren’t ready to give up just yet. The wedding was all being arranged for us by George, Nana and Mamuka, all we had to do was wait and show up on the day! It was so exciting!

The apartment…a little large no?