travel inspirations
Georgia ISSUE #SEVEN
#07 Autumn 2017 | Lu€15 www.diariesofmagazine.com
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WELCOME
გაუმარჯოს* Georgia – Land of Hospitality A toast to Georgian hospitality! A toast to Georgian food! A toast to Georgian Caucasus! A toast to Georgian freedom and to the Mothers of Georgia! A toast to peace! Raise your glasses; drink your chacha, or your Georgian wine, here served in five-litre plastic flagons. There is no more genuine way of being introduced to Georgian culture than with a toast, specially a vakhtanguri, a toast amongst close friends.
Whether or not you are invited to a supra ceremony, there is no way to avoid hospitality, which in Georgia is taken to a brand-new level. Georgians invite the foreigner to their table, they feed him and toast him and struggle with language to understand him and to make themselves understood. They genuinely want you to feel welcome in their country. They may change their original plans to show you around town; they will knock on your door with a plate of fruit, cook for you or graciously add some herbs to your bag of freshly bought vegetables. All these actions are seasoned with authentic smiles; first shy, then wide-open after a relatively small exchange of words. It goes without saying that Georgians surpassed all our expectations. But we came here because of the mountains, the Greater Caucasus. This issue will be about the remotest villages, hidden in these mountains, some of which are UNESCO sites, to show what is there for the traveller to discover. But we also go out of the Caucasus, to the Riviera of the Black Sea where the sea is quiet and beaches are warm, some even with medicinal properties. There is something indescribably wonderful about the region of Kakheti, the birthplace of winemaking, where we will search for the kvevri wines. When we finally reached Tbilisi, there would still be place for astonishment. Its turbulent history and its flourishing present are represented in the architecture of the city. Soviet era buildings in a state of disrepair sit side-by-side with illuminated, ornamented contemporary constructions, or well-kept Art Nouveau buildings. There’s a district that’s completely dedicated to the art of relaxation, with the traditional sulphur baths, and districts, such as the Kala, which are much-sought after by the bohemian. In the Sololaki district we found some of the old town’s most charming backyards. Above the city, caring for a metropolis that never sleeps, the fortress and the Mother of Georgia, with a sword that protects from enemies and a bowl of wine to welcome who comes for good. *Gaumarjos! (Cheers!)
Cover Photo Hikers enjoying a deserved break at the viewpoint overlooking Mestia, Svaneti. Photography by Jorge Valente
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Georgians have refined the art of toasting in the supra ceremonies, in which a tamada (the toast master) will lead the party into a series of well-thought out toasts, following a certain order. As someone told us, ‘Supras used to be our Facebook, where friends and family met to be together and the wiser and older members would give advice to the younger’.
CONTENTS
EXPLORE
Ambushed in Kakheti, The Wine Country
ADVENTURE
Riding The Georgian Roads
EDITORIAL 3 CONTRIBUTORS 11 FACTS & FIGURES 12 POSTCARDS 14 CITY 20
Tbilisi – The Hot City of The Caucasus
INTERVIEW
Fashion: Ani Datukishvili 34 Art: Vaho Muskheli 36
Food: Tekuna Gachechiladze 38
FOOD 40
Georgian Cuisine
EXPLORE
Ambushed in Kakheti, 44 The Wine Country
The Pearl of The Black Sea 132
NATURE
Exploring The Mighty 56 Caucasus – Svaneti
Horseback Riding in Tusheti 80
ADVENTURE
Georgia on a bicycle 70
Riding The Georgian Roads 90
44 90
Beauty and The Beast 110
CARING 106
Music Therapy in Tbilisi
PORTRAITS 122 Face to Face
ESSENTIALS 144
Essentials of Georgia
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CONTENTS
NATURE
Horseback Riding in Tusheti
144 ESSENTIALS
Georgian Cuisine
NATURE
Exploring The Mighty Caucasus – Svaneti
CITY
Tbilisi – The Hot City of the Caucasus
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Essentials of Georgia
80 40 56 20
FOOD
Our highlights of Georgia > Find our highlights on the indicated pages
Mestia 56
Stepantsminda 110 Kutaisi 144
Ureki 132 Batumi 132
Vardzia 144
Omalo 80 Telavi 44 Tbilisi 20 David Gareja 90
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CONTRIBUTORS
John Olmsted & Micky Ryan are Americans who no longer work full-time in their professions of teacher/psychologist and lawyer. Instead, they’ve travelled to nineteen countries since they met four years ago. They were on their way to Turkey when they started hearing about Georgian food and wine. They detoured and Georgia was all that they imagined it would be – unique, exotic and traditional. They are always planning the next trip and figuring out how they can get closest to the local food culture. Follow them on mickyjohnhittheroad. wordpress.com
Paul Frielingsdorf & Julian Kaspar are friends from Switzerland and Germany. Their passions include mountaineering, cycling, travelling and nature. When they met, in 2016, they decided to combine all of these and are now travelling by bicycle, mountaineering and rock climbing on their way. When at home, Julian works as a carpenter and Paul is an arborist. In their free time, they head into the mountains as often as possible. Follow them on bike2climb.word-press.com
Thomas Walsch Born in Germany, in 1979, Thomas is passionate about travelling, especially when he can do it on his bicycle. After several smaller cycling tours throughout Europe and a longer experience of cycling in Slovenia and Croatia, Thomas has recently started his dream trip, on the Silk Road, connecting Georgia to Kyrgyzstan. Without rushing through Georgia, a country he reckons has a lot to discover, he hopes to make another stage of this trip next year.
Nicklas Combelles, Robin Lockyer von Dorrien and Tamina Weiss Three college students (economic engineering, political science, and molecular medicine), who study in different cities now, but who have remained close friends from growing up together in the south of Germany. Still sharing the same interests, a message was enough to plan a trip to Georgia this summer. The welcoming people and the wilderness of the Caucasus have been the greatest temporary escape from their University lives.
Anabela & Jorge Valente Born in Portugal and Luxembourg respectively, they explore together their passion for travelling, preferably with the motorbike. Naturally curious, they love to explore new places and to meet new people. They have travelled to all the continents, including Antarctica, and contribute with their stories and photographies to several travel magazines. In 2015 they quit their jobs to be full time editors of the travel magazine diariesof. Follow them on diariesofmagazine.com
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CONTRI BUTORS
Georgia
or Sakartvelo (meaning the land of Kartvelians), as the locals call their land, is a country located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe. The fivecrossed flag, which was originally a banner of the medieval Kingdom of Georgia, is the national flag. It was also one of the most recognizable symbols of the Rose Revolution in 2003.
Tamada
Georgian feasts (called supras) are celebrated at the table and always include a toastmaster (the tamada) who introduces each toast and is traditionally the host, and the eldest or the wisest at the table. The supras are a way to pass on traditions and knowledge, but also advice to the youngest, therefore the tamada should know all the guests at the table.
33 2,345 3 12 The Georgian language is one of fourteen unique languages in the world and has its own alphabet. The Georgian script has evolved from three writing systems – Nuskhuri, Asomtaruli and Mkhedruli – the latter of which became the standard script for the modern Georgian alphabet, which comprises 33 letters.
Europe’s highest permanent settlements are located in Georgia. At an altitude of 2,345 and 2,100 high, respectively, the villages of Bochorna and Ushguli are the highest continuously inhabited villages in Europe. Both are situated in the uplands of the Greater Caucasus, where winters are long and snowy and summers are much too short.
There are three UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites in Georgia. One of them is an Orthodox monument – the Gelati Monastery – situated in Kutaisi. The other two are the Upper Svaneti villages and several historical monuments in the old city of Mtskheta.
Georgia has twelve different climate zones, ranging from the alpine (Greater and Lesser Caucasus) to the humid subtropical (in Western Georgia) and the semi-desert climate of the steppes of Eastern Georgia. The country is one of the most ecologically diverse areas in the world, with 49 different kinds of soil where flora thrives. Georgia is also home to bears, wolves, leopards and lynxes.
FACTS&FIGURES
FACTS& FIGURES
Georgia declared its independence before the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 1991, and after a referendum. In 1995, Eduard Shevardnadze was officially elected as its president, but after being accused of corruption and nepotism he was deposed in 2003 in the Rose Revolution led by Mikheil Saakashvili.
The Krubera-Voronia Cave is a complex cave system that is more than 16,000 metres long. It starts high in the mountains, at an altitude of 2,256 metres. At the same time it is also the deepest, known cave in the world. Parts of the cave are made of vertical wells that have been explored to depths as low as 2,197 metres.
Mount Shkhara is the highest mountain in Georgia, at 5,201 metres high. It is located in the province of Svaneti, the highest inhabited area of the Caucasus. Four of the ten highest peaks of the Caucasus are located in this region. The highest mountain in the Caucasus, Mount Elbrus, is situated on the Russian side and stands at 5,642 metres high.
8k Many say that Georgia is the cradle of winemaking and it has been producing wine for at least 8,000 years. Their traditional winemaking method, called kvevri, which entails keeping the pressed grapes and their juice in clay jars, has been listed in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
‘ When three people say you are drunk, go to sleep ’
~ Georgian proverb
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1991 2,197 5,201
‘The Hills are Alive’ Military Road Paragliders enjoy the landscape along the Military Road. There are several stands that offer tandem-flights of twenty minutes to see valley and mountains from above. Anabela Valente
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POSTCARDS Send your photos with a description to jorge.valente@diariesof.lu
‘Carrying’ Ushguli This is always a preferred subject to photograph. It is absolutely surprising the amount of things that one can carry on a truck. In Ushguli the transport of hay for the cattle is still made with old Soviet trucks. Anabela Valente
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’Let’s Look out the Window’ Old town of Tbilisi The wooden terraces are typical of the architecture of Tbilisi. Some are completely enclosed with windows. They are characteristic and found all over the old town. Jorge Valente
‘Early morning fishermen’ Batumi Near the recreational marina, amateur fishermen try their luck in the early morning. The place is spectacular because of the view it gives over the mountains. Jorge Valente
‘It’s not Capri, it’s Batumi’ Batumi After leaving the Lesser Caucasus, on a beautiful summer evening, I reached the bustling city of Batumi on the Black Sea. The sun was setting and illuminating the promenade with wonderful warm colours and I was just happy.
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Thomas Walsch
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The Hot City
Tbilisi
of The Caucasus Text by Anabela Valente Photography by Jorge Valente, Nikita Melnichenko
[previous page] Woman in the large atrium of the Sameba cathedral
Tbilisi
There is no other capital quite like Tbilisi. The city attracts visitors in its own unique way. It’s traditional and modern, quiet and vibrant, humble and glamorous; with a cosmopolitan style that coexists with a parish feel. We were not at all surprised that we kept returning to this Euro-Asian capital.
T
bilisi is located in the heart of the Caucasus, in a privileged situation, which protects it from the rigorous winters, allowing it to maintain a mild climate. Its people have been moulded accordingly‌ Lying at the crossroads between Asia and Europe, its history has seen it turn towards one side or the other, or be influenced by both
sides, but always struggling for its place and autonomy. Due to its location, the city has been conquered by several empires, which explains the diversity of its culture, particularly its architecture and gastronomy. When we look at the buildings of the city and when we taste the Georgian food, we understand better who has been here: the Romans,
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CITY
[top] Dilapidated houses with typical balconies in the neighbourhood of Kala [opposite] Detail of the pedestrian Peace Bridge, a glass and steel project by the Italian architect Michele De Lucchi
the Arabs, the Persians, the Byzantines, the Mongols and the Russians. We were looking at a huge Stalinist building from the Soviet era, on a street whose name we strove to read, and we approached a pedestrian, randomly, to ask how to pronounce that street’s name. This was the excuse for the start of an interminable conversation that lasted longer than the answer required and culminated at the end of the Tsi... Tsinam... Tsinamdzghvrishvili street (yes, we know, it is difficult, try again!) where, this new friend told us, there was a place with good chacha (a type of Georgian grappa). Is there any lovelier city where locals have the time to chat with strangers and to invite them for a drink (or two)? And the talk continued: ‘Tbilisi
hasn’t always been like this. Not so long ago, in the 1990s, we couldn’t even walk the streets, in the evenings, because we were worried for our lives. At that time, under Shevardnadze’s regime, Tbilisi was the scene of frequent, armed confrontations among mafia clans that threatened local businesses and who didn’t hesitate to shoot those that did not comply’. Hard to imagine that quiet Tbilisi, whose sole tumults today come from the bohemian nightlife dandies, was once a dangerous city. Opposite the colossal parliament building there’s a memorial that pays tribute to those killed in the Rose Revolution (2003), the uprising that put an end to this black period of Georgian history. It brought Mikheil Saakashvili to
CITY power – the man who would reform Georgia. We learnt about how Saakashvili managed to clear corruption from Georgia in less than two decades, when chatting with another Georgian who explained: ‘He got rid of the mafia but he also reformed the police (don’t even think of bribing a police officer in Georgia!)’. Saakashvili’s taste for modern architecture is the reason for the numerous progressive and stylish buildings in the city, including the police buildings – built in glass, to symbolise the transparency of the institutions, throughout the country.
The hot sulphur baths – A visit to the baths is a must-do experience, after walking up and down the hilly city all day. We indulged in the pleasure of soaking in the hot waters of several bathhouses. The enjoyment started when we undressed in a warm cloud of sulphur steam. Then, the body rejoiced with the first step into the huge rectangular hot tub. When we sat, we created a small tsunami that splashed part of the water onto the ground, and the sound resonated like the noise of water gushing out of a spring. After a couple of minutes of submersion in the blue-tiled tub, that was lit up by a thin stream of daylight coming in from the glass in the brick dome, we needed to cool down. The cold shower struck us as a soothing massage and we lay our newly-softened bodies on a cooler slab waiting for the scrub to start… Totally reinvigorated, we walked back to our hostel, through the heart of the old town, almost stumbling on the tiny statue that honours the Tamada on Sioni Street. Then we passed Sioni Cathedral, where worshippers followed the sermon from outside. Women prayed with modest gestures, scarves tied under their chins to cover their heads, listening to the priest through loudspeakers. We continued past the iconic pedestrian Peace Bridge. Now much loved by the residents of the city, the bridge was originally a source of disagreement because of its excessive cost. Once the project was ready, it charmed even the most sceptical people, [from left to right] Tbilisoba: Girl during a traditional Georgian martial arts performance; Grilling meat (mtsvadi) on the spit; Traditionally, girls wear crowns of flowers during popular festivities; Crowds near the Peace Bridge; Churchkhela is a candy made of walnuts coated with thickened grape-juice; Male traditional costume from Svaneti
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The legend of the city – the name T’bili is derived from old Georgian and means hot city. According to an old legend, a pheasant was injured during a royal hunt and fell into a hot spring in the forest. The animal ended up boiled to death. The king was so impressed by the incident that he ordered the forest to be cut down at that place, and a city to be built that would be called Tbilisi. The hot springs turned out to be sulphur hot springs, which the Georgians use without moderation. There are dozens of sulphur baths, all located in the old town, in the Abanotubani district. Situated underground, their dome-shaped roofs are made of orange brick, at ground level near Abano Street. It is impossible not to walk over them. It is said that Georgians cure their hangovers with a sulphur bath followed by a khashi soup. We didn’t really have a hangover, but being attracted by all things that include hot water, massages and scrubs, we were up for such an experience. There are bathhouses for all budgets, with different levels of luxury and Zen-like atmosphere. The cheaper, the more authentic the place. Communal bathing is also popular, but with the men separated from women, with no place for embarrassing nakedness.
[top] The Moorish-styled Orbeliani bathhouse in the Abanotubani district and the minaret tower of the Tbilisi Mosque [bottom] The brick dome-shaped roofs of the bath houses
Enjoying the sulphur baths inside the Orbeliani bathhouse
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The monumental and brand new Sameba Cathedral (also known as Holy Trinity Cathedral) was consecrated in 2004, and took a mere nine years to build
The Presidential Palace and the Rika Park Concert Hall and Exhibition Centre are two of the most impressive contemporary buildings of Tbilisi
and the cost was quickly forgotten. It connects the old town to the new city, through Rika Park, which displays another of Saakashvili’s extravagant heritage sites, the Concert Hall and Exhibition Centre; beautiful from the outside, but apparently, unfinished on the inside. From there we just needed to follow Kote Afkhazi Street, the place to have a snack or find a restaurant. It pulses with life, especially at night, when many oenophiles (or simply partygoers) search the nearby wine bars for a taste of the many Georgian wines. We hesitated, wondering if we should stop in one of them. The friendly waiter
outside, who invites passers-by, noticed our indecision and approached us with a glass of Saperavi. This fleeting taste eliminated any trace of doubt we still held. We surrendered to the harmonious taste of this red wine and were inside the wine bar in less than one minute. As we tasted other grapes, the Rkatsiteli and the Orjalesh, and as the chachas approached the table, we were grateful that Georgians have refined the process of curing hangovers with soups and sulphur baths... Tbilisoba, the city’s festival. Next day we woke up to a sense of medieval
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Statue of Saint George, the patron saint of Georgia, and the dragon in Liberty Square
The massive twenty-metre high statue of the Mother of Georgia (Kartlis Deda), symbolically holding a sword to warn Georgia’s enemies and a bowl of wine as a sign of Georgian hospitality
One of the many traditional backyards in the Avlabari district
The flea market at the Dry Bridge is the place to find old soviet relics, from photos of Stalin in old frames to Georgian drinking horns
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Tbilisi by night with the well-illuminated Sameba Cathedral in the background