A hitchhike adventure from Tbilisi to Ananuri

I haven't really been travelling around Georgia yet, mostly due to not being sure if there would be wifi for me to work.(Georgia isn't as well connected as western countries.)

But sitting at home is really starting to get to me, so I surfed the web and found a portable 3G router where you can put a simcard in and it is also a powerbank to charge the tablet. It sounded perfect for me, so I decided to buy it so that I can travel around as much as I want without having to worry whether or not I will be able to work. Now I can work from anywhere around the world as long as there is a mobile connection. (All I have to do is put a simcard in it and the tablet connects right away with the device.)

So today it was time to test it and I decided to hitchhike to Ananuri, which is about an hour drive. I've been wanting to go to that place since forever, so now it was time to do it.

Ananuri Fortress Complex

I woke up early this morning, so I could catch an early morning bus to the edge of the city to start hitchhiking from there. Hitchhiking inside the city is nearly impossible and since the citybusses are so cheap (0.50 lari/0.17 euro), the best option was to get as far away from the city center as possible. So I took the bus to the last busstop along the highway out of Tbilisi and started to hitchhike.

A few cars stopped straight away, but they didn't go in my direction, so I let them go.

The 3rd car who stopped didn't go where I was going neither, but they were able to drop me off at the beginning of the road towards Zhinvali (where I was heading). Two lovely Georgian guys who spoke pretty good English to my surprise. We had a nice chat and we exchanged facebook and when they dropped me off they made sure that I had another ride before they left. So they stopped a car for me and off I was again! This guy didn't speak any English, so the ride itself was mostly in silence. He had to be in a town close to Zhinvali, so I only had to hitch another 5km after he dropped me off.

This time an expensive private taxi stopped for me and I told the driver I didn't have any money. He shrugged and told me it was fine. He dropped me off right at the fortress.

The fortress itself is beautiful! Unfortunately the river/reservoir behind it was completely dried out. Normally there is a lot of water with a turqouise color, so I guess I have to come back some time in summer. There is a newer part which is operating as a church and there is the old fortress which is more a ruin than anything else. But I love ruins and decaying buildings, so I went to explore with much excitement.

The old fortress

Other part of the old fortress

Other side of the old fortress

The wall plus watchtower of the old fortress

One of the towers had a stairs going up, so naturally I wanted to explore and see what's on the top. It had several chambers and the stairs itself was really narrow.

Narrow stairs

One of the chambers

At the top there was a lovely room with a small window with the greatest views!

From the top of the tower

After exploring the old fortress and tower, I went to the church to have a look inside.

The church from the outside

The church on the inside

Church

It wasn't very big so after a few minutes I went out again to explore more of the region around the fortress. Just down the hill there was an old abandoned church which looked lovely in it's decay. It didn't get a lot of attention from the tourists who where at the fortress as well, I guess not everyone is drawn to buildings like this. For me it's incredibly beautiful!

Abandoned church

The inside of the abandoned church

After exploring all the corners of this church, it was time to test the device I bought and I looked for a nice spot in the sun to work for 2 hours. I found a lovely spot on the riverbank and connect my tablet to the device. It worked beautifully and fast! I'm really happy I bought it, now I can really work from anywhere. So I sat there for two hours and did my work.

When I was finished I went for a little walk towards the town of Ananuri.

View from my "office"

Same view, but this time with the old bridge as well

One of the roads in town. The dog you see there is a stray dog who liked me very much I think, because he kept coming for cuddles and walked with me the rest of the way.

After exploring the little town, it was time to slowly hitch my way back to Tbilisi. I walked up to the main road and waited for a car to come. Not much traffic is passing today, so I thought it might be a while before getting picked up, But fortunately I saw a car coming after just 1 minute and he stopped for me. It was a Russian guy on his way to Tbilisi. He didn't speak any English and I didn't speak any Russian or Georgian, so we tried to communicate with pointing and gestures. He knew a few English words, so we managed to have a little conversation. When we were almost in Tbilisi he asked if I wanted to have sex. This is actually the first time this happens to me while hitchhiking, so I was a little flabbergasted. I politely told him no and fortunately he didn't ask again. He was a but ashamed for asking I think, so we just laughed it away. He bought me some food and a drink and drove me all the way to Vake where I live. He dropped me off at the main road and from there it was only a 3 minute walk home.

So I've got my intake of exploration vitamins again, which is good because the coming days the weather is gonna be pretty bad. Next time I will take the same road as today, but all the way to Kazbegi (Russian border). I will pass Gudauri as well (skiresort), so if there is still snow, I will probably snowboard for a few hours as well.

Cheers and see you all next time!

Enjoying two days in the beautiful canyons of Birtvisi!

I needed to get out of the city, period. I was starting to lose myself and become more grumpy with the day, so I needed some medicine called nature!
Irakli texted me and asked me if I wanted to go to Birtvisi to camp and that was my chance for a much needed break away from the concrete jungle I hate so much.
So yesterday we went and stayed until today.

Yesterday we took the metro to get out of the city and the bus to get to Birtvisi. It's a 1 hour drive from Tbilisi and super easy to get to. Once we arrived we started the 1 hour hike to get to the camping spot. The walk there is incredibly beautiful, canyons on both sides and lots and lots of nature. And best of all, no city noises and smells! I forgot what clean air smelled like, living in Tbilisi for quite a while now which is an insanely dirty city.
I instantly forgot the city and just enjoyed the sun, the smells, the scenery and the sounds. One with the planet and living in the now.

The road towards the canyons

View along the way

Gotta keep on hiking!

The hike itself is not too difficult, but you need to be able to climb a bit here and there and used to walking uphill. After about half an hour we reached the first camping spot, but I knew straight away that I didn't want to camp there and Irakli luckily also didn't want to camp there. He had another place in mind, on top of one of the pillars/rocks, about half an hour walk further.
While hiking our way up there, we crossed an incredible beautiful place inside the canyon with a tower from an old castle and a lovely stream of fresh springwater making it's way from one end to the other. Completely secluded between massive rocks, it gave the ultimate feeling of being in a movie scene.

The little watchtower

The scenery behind the secluded area

More scenery

After a short rest there, we decided to go further. From now we had to climb a lot. The place where Irakli wanted to camp was at the castle. You can't really see the castle, except for some walls, doorways and some towers here and there. The castle itself is build inside the rocks/pillars, so it was a great destination back in the day! Nobody can get there easily and you will be spotted very soon.

I was also surprised to see how much edible plants, trees, nuts and mushrooms there were. You seriously don't need to bring any food, you can survive for months on foraging. Also the water from the springs is so delicious and clean. We drank only water from the springs and we ate some of the plants growing there as well. I seriously think about moving here for a few weeks. No need for grocery shopping. You can live there without a problem, even if you don't have a tent, because there are lots of caves.

Beautiful flowers

On the way while climbing up

One of the entrances of the castle, you can see the wall between the rocks and the door

After the door was quite a steep climb up, climbing up was easy, but down the next day was a bit tricky.

After the steep climb up, we reached our camping spot and it couldn't have been better. Irakli really knows the best places! See for yourself:

Panorama view

Other cliffs and rocks in the distance

This was the top of the pillar/rock. The area you see was all there is. Steep cliffs on all sides. So it was a bit tricky in the night if you needed to pee. One step too far and down you go!

We arrived just before sunset, so we had the time to enjoy the scenery and watch the sun set. After that we made a campfire and enjoyed the silence before going to bed. In the night we also saw quite some stars, so that made the first day complete.

The next morning we woke up pretty early and we sat and enjoyed the scenery while waking up.

Waking up to this is the best thing in the world

Early morning view from the tent

Having some breakfast while enjoying the scenery

After a quick breakfast, we packed out stuff and set out once more. First back to the little secluded santuary for a more extended breakfast and than off to explore some parts of the canyons even Irakli hasn't been yet. We came across two other people who were camping and we had a little chat and they offered us their leftover food and we gladly took it. After that we decided to follow the small river and do some "canyoning" along the way. Hike, climb, jump the river and get wet feet. We both got so excited from exploring unknow territory, that we never really took a break anymore. We just kept on going! 

Eventually after a few hours we got back to the village where we started. We saw a little castle ruin and we decided to check it out before hitchhiking back to Tbilisi.

When we got there, a lovely family was enjoying a beer and some food and immediately invited us to have a drink with them and some food. This is so typical in Georgia, you don't have to worry about starving to death, they will feed you until you explode. We had a nice little chat and enjoyed the sun over a glass of beer.

Enjoying a beer and the sun with our newly made friends!

When we wanted to say our goodbyes, one of the guys offered us that he could call a friend who could take us to Tbilisi for free. Turns out his friend is a driver of one of the mini busses that travels between there and Tbilisi. So we got a busride back for free thanks to our new friends!

So, 20 minutes later we were on the bus back to Tbilisi.

I'm seriously start to love Georgia more and more. The people are incredible, so hospitable and the nature is stunning. It does however remind me how much I hate cities and I will definately not stay in Tbilisi until the end of the summer. I haven't decided yet when I will leave Tbilisi, but I will make up my mind soon enough I think! 

Hope you enjoyed it and don't forget to think about Georgia when you're planning your next holidays! Cheers!

Paragliding at Tbilisi Sea!

Two weeks ago I went paragliding with a friend. So I'm sorry for not putting this post up earlier. I've been crazy busy with work and becoming grumpy from living in a city.

Luckily two weeks ago I had a little escape from it all. It has been on my bucketlist for years to go paragliding, so when my friend asked me if I wanted to join, I immediately said yes ofcourse!

Tbilisi Sea is an area just outside Tbilisi, where the concrete jungle rapidly changes into hills and small villages. And ofcourse the lake!

We had to drive over small dirtroads to get to the meeting point and that turned out to be quite a challenge. But we managed in the end and we parked the car. Now all that was left, was walking up the steep hill. Another challenge, but after 20 minutes we were at the top and heavily panting from exhaustion.

Everyone was already getting ready to jump off the hill (or run off the hill actually) and soon one of the guys walked up to me and asked if I wanted to go. Yes please!

So they strapped me in, launched the kite and before I knew it we were running off the hill and up in the air.

It kind of had the same feeling as kitesurfing in a way, except that with kitesurfing you're not actually flying. It was only a 2 minutes flight, but it was incredible! It's a feeling which is hard to describe, you have to experience it yourself. 

I didn't have to fly the kite, so I could just look around and enjoy the scenery.

Hope you enjoyed it!