Tuesday, May 21 - Day 1
I rode to the airport using the ÖBB Railjet, it is a great option - faster and cheaper than the CAT service.
The flight was not entirely full and the price of the ticket included premium seating , so I chose the seat of the Queen (or the King, now that she is gone), 1A, first row, no one next to me or even in the aisle. As luck would have it, a disabled, large-size lady got onboard, she had crutches and was headed for a row in the back. However, due to her being impaired, she was directed to sit right beside me, in the middle seat. I asked the flight attendant whether she could at least take the otherwise empty aisle seat, she declined, saying that in case of an emergency, the large lady would pose a blockage. Ah, yes, the Laws of Murphy are very much alive, aren`t they? Having said that, it was a smooth flight and soon we were over the Black Sea, then the snow-packed peaks of the Caucasus mountains showed up, quite a view.
The landing was over a large green area, I did not find out what it was, but must probably been a national park - one of the many in the country, for miles and miles, I saw no houses, nor any traffic. It was in quite fine weather that we landed in Kutaisi.
Kutaisi is the third largest city in Georgia and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The airport was new and very modern; right after immigration, I was surrounded by pretty ladies trying to convince me to buy properties in Batumi, on the Black Sea coast (a place I would visit on this trip), in modern high-rise buildings - I declined, was not carrying that much cash.
Florian was still enjoying the Black Sea Coast and we were scheduled to meet Tbilisi two days later. He suggested I take the airport bus to Kutaisi and I had an hour or so to spare, so I looked around the arrivals hall and purchased an e-SIM card for four weeks, it was rather inexpensive, I think around €8 or so. It would work reasonably well in the coming weeks. It was rather uncomplicated to get this card, just a few signatures and pronto! There, I was surrounded again, this time by taxi drivers, starting at €50 to drive me to the city, going down to €25, but no further. The bus was just €3 and I was in no particular hurry, so I declined the "kind" offer.
The airport bus left pretty much on time on a straight patch of road; it was not a particularly pretty area and took quite a while. While not really scenic, it was very lively, with lots of commerce, restaurants, grocery shops, all kinds of commercial stores that lined the road. It was in quite heavy traffic that I arrived in a not-so-scenic downtown area. Soviet-style house blocks, which were pulled up apparently without any consideration for aesthetics - that was my first impression. Street dogs were everywhere, minding their own business, usually sleeping or just resting in the shade. While there is a saying "you can never have a second first good impression", things did improve when I got to the middle of downtown, the high-rise buildings gave way to villas and more scenic buildings. There was a large park, which, alas, was closed due to renovation. I got to what seemed to be the very center, with a scenic fountain in the middle of a roundabout.
That is where my first accommodation was - overnight stays are very much affordable in Georgia. It took me a while to find my Airbnb apartment, the owners of which had sent me a 16-step instructions to get there. There was an array of smaller, rather unattractive, and even dirty houses overlooking each other, laundry drying on wires, a maze of garages - well, Georgia is not the richest country. I did my best to follow the instructions, still got lost a few times, suddenly I was in an uninviting staircase, walking up to the second floor. Expecting the worse, I opened the door to a really cool, nicely upkept spacious apartment, everything was up to standards one would expect in New York or London. For €20, quite a deal - and that in a central location.
After unpacking, I started discovering the city. I changed some money, then started walking around , seeing a flower market, meeting stray dogs, crossing some scenic bridges.
A definitive highlight is the Bagrati Cathedral on the hills above the city, I walked up there and was quite amazed by the thousand-year-old church. It is a masterpiece of medieval Georgian architecture, which used to be UNESCO World Heritage site, however, due to controversial renovation processes, it has since been removed from the list.
Despite not being on the UNESCO list, it was indeed impressive and to add on, there was an orthodox liturgy in progress, with more priests than followers...I counted 8 priests who were chanting ancient Georgian prayers - and just a couple of followers looking on. There seems to be a pattern to this, apparently, in Georgian churches there is almost always someone singing or chanting, even if no one is present.
Orthodox churches face east - and on this late sunny afternoon, the sun was shining through the main entrance of the church (which faces the opposite side, west), it created a wonderful light effect, making my stay in the church even more magical. The ancient, thousand-year architecture, the chant, the rays of the sun - were all very wonderful.
Leaving the church, there was a wonderful view of Kutaisi from above. A couple of local tourist teenagers struck up a conversation with me, it was a perfect spot form making some pictures. In the far, the outline of the High Caucasus Mountains were to be seen.
I walked back to town, crossed the bridge and got a haircut for 5 Lari, which equates to €1.70, I would say it was quite a good deal. The rather plump and somewhat grumpy barber did quite a good job. probably the best deal I have ever had.
Back in downtown, I found a restaurant in a nice area, and had a tasty dinner, consisting of the must-have hachapuri, a famous Georgian dish of cheese-filled bread as a starter, then some quite delicious meat in walnut sauce. With the hachapuri in my belly, it was less than half of the main course that I ate, so I had it "to go" and went for a walk. There is a nice river, small alleys lead to it, but one would search in vain for a promenade next to the water - the houses were built right next to it.
I was quite tried when I got back to the hotel an fell asleep soon.