Two days ago I decided to climb the mountain to visit Turtle lake. I met up with a traveller and we both went up to check out the lake and scenery.
I woke up early in the morning so I could work a few hours before killing my muscles with the climb. At 12PM I was finished with work and went for a cup of tea with Ani before going to the mountain.
We had a little chat about our lives and plans and then it was already time to meet up with Niko.
We crossed Vake park and started to climb the stairs. It's a pretty good excercise since it has a looooot of steps to get to the top with the statue. But the view is already great.
View from the stairs in Vake Park
The statue on top of the stairs
When we were on top of the stairs we decided to go ofroad instead of following the path up. Going straight up was faster and ofcourse more of an adventure. You know me!
I do have to admit that it was kind of tough and I realized how much the smoking killed my endurance. Time to cut it down a lot and start training on this mountain more often! After a few minutes of climbing, we got to the main road that leads to Turtle lake and we went to have a look there.
The lake itself is not very special and super dirty with trash everywhere. Unfortunately this was something we saw on the mountain as well. There was literally trash everywhere. So far for wanting to feel like I'm "into the wild". We walked around a bit until we decided to climb the mountain behind Turtle lake. I was already killing my muscles anyway, so why not right? We just started to follow a small path when we encountered a canal. I think it used to be a canal to transport water from one side of the mountain to the other. But ofcourse I wanted to explore, luckily Niko was in for some exploring as well, so off we went!
Inside the canal
My legs and back started to hurt like crazy from crouching all the time and not being able to stand up, so we went back out to continue our hike up. There was a great steep rocky part going up, so we just climbed up there instead of following the path. Much more adventurous and we got the most incredible views over the lake from there. After a while we finally got to the top and the view on both sides was simply amazing! Steep cliffs, several other mountains and we had a great view over most of Tbilisi. Not many people were around, just an occasional mountainbiker and 2 guys with crossmotorbikes. Niko wanted to make a timelaps, so we sat down and enjoyed the scenery for a while.
Having a rest at the cliff after climbing up
View from the top
View over the lake and Tbilisi
View on the other side of the mountain
Enjoying a moment in silence
When Niko's camera was finally done with the timelaps, we made our way down again because I had to work again. This time we decided to take the path, because some parts of the way we climbed up were too steep for descending safely without gear. Especially because of all the lose rocks everywhere. Better safe than sorry! On the way down we passed a lonely tree standing proudly as if watching over Tbilisi.
Poor lonely tree
Going down was definately a lot faster than going up, but just as enjoyable non the less. Once we were back in Vake Park, we said our goodbyes and I went back home to finish off work and then get a rest and sleep.
The next morning I woke up a little too late to start working, so I went into town to try to find some proper food. The other day when I went for grocery shopping, I had a hard time finding products that weren't expired months past their expiration date. So I went again and checked out some local markets with better luck this time. So I was finally able to cook myself a normal, tasty and healthy dish! My legs were killing me from the climb, so having to walk back up to my house (which is on the hill and the road moves upwards) was quite a torture.
In the evening I met up with an American called Gary, who is here for work. We had nice drink in the park with incredible views over the city. It looked quite pretty with all the lights and everything.
I finished the night with way too much vodka, but it was definately a good day!
The day after was quite boring as I had to work a lot. But luck wasn't on my side because it was super quiet. So I kind of gave up and went to the mountain to explore other trails and enjoy the sun. I forgot to bring my camera, so unfortunately no pictures! At night I met up with a Georgian guy named Oto and I went over to his place for a nice drink (the rose wine here is delicious!!!) and some good conversations. He gave me his address and I put it in google maps. After 15 minutes I ended up somewhere with dead ends and google maps kept telling me I had to take a road with a dead end. It was already getting close to 2AM in the middle of the night, in a city I don't know yet, in an area I haven't been yet, so I started to get quite nervous. I saw a gaurd walking around and I went to ask for directions. He didn't speak any English, so with me trying to communicate in English and trying to communicate in Georgian and Russian, I finally gave up and texted Oto. The guard even called Oto for me and it turned out that Oto wasn't even living anywhere close to there. Why google maps send me there, I still don't have a clue. Oto took a cab and came to pick me up, which was a relief for me because I didn't want to end up getting more lost in the middle of the night.
When we arrived we had some really good and deep conversations and I really enjoyed my time. The initial plan was to stay until 3AM max, because I had to work again in the morning. But we got lost in time and I left around 4AM. This time without getting lost, because apparantly he is practically my neighbour.
All in all the first few days were great! Can't wait for the next days to come and meet more awesome people and see more of Tbilisi.
Stay tuned!
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