First ever road trip in rocky Georgia

Rocky, full of mountains, ancient and different from other countries but enchanting at the same time - welcome to Georgia!

Visiting Georgia was in my head for almost a year and what attracted me the most was incredible nature and cheap prices. It felt like a perfect destination for frequent traveler which crave wandering around different kind of places in the world. And the best idea to do that in a total free way? Renting a car! It was my first time and the best part about it, when you're on road almost all day and you're surrounded by huge mountains and rocks - totally magical moment. And yes, I highly recommend to do the same because you will get a chance to see almost every part of this incredible country and you can go wherever YOU WANT. Also, try not to listen to people who want to discourage you from renting a car because Georgian drivers are crazy - yes, it's true, they're a bit crazy BUT 1-2 days on a road and you are completely used to that! The most important thing is to follow the rules on the road and everything will be fine. Nothing is more exiting than to be free as a wind and go wherever you can while you travel - this is the privilege we all have when we are travelling and not to take advantage of it, I think, is an offense. :)

Starting with this trip review, before writing this blog post, I asked for people on Instagram to write some questions what interest them the most about this trip and to be more concentrated, I split these questions in 3 different topics, so here we go: 1. The most beautiful places according to me: (this question is not as easy as it sounds because while you travel with car, you can stop wherever you want and those places don't have specific name or I can't remember it so I will try to focus on places that are more known which I liked the most) BATUMI: Too poor to visit Switzerland? Visit Batumi! You will understand what I'm talking about when you have been in Swiss and then go to Batumi which have mountains and sea view which is incredible with palm trees&yachts around. Also this part of Georgia is very different from other because it's more modern with artistic skyscrapers and cafe shops all around the city - it was really interesting to be in this resort which as I know, is very active in Summer time but because we were in Georgia in the middle of March it felt kind of empty and sky was a bit foggy so the atmosphere was strange but great at the same time. I recommend to give it a try!

BORJOMI: If you crave peaceful atmosphere and want to relax a bit, you can visit Borjomi which is a great place to be around nature which is also a resort but nothing similar to Batumi because of Kura river and Borjomi gorge - to see this incredible beautiful gorge from top - please, get up with a funicular which is very safe and you can see all the beautiful mountains around you, I was very happy for this opportunity and the view from the top was just so magical with all the birds sounds around.. I felt refreshed like never before and before leaving Borjomi - give yourself a vitamin dose freshly squeezed pomegranate juice - ahh I can already feel this taste in my mouth while I'm writing it hehe.

VARDZIA MONASTERY: So after leaving Borjomi, your perfect next destination should be Vardzia monastery which is 2 hours drive before you reach this destination and by saying drive , prepare yourself to be amazed by rocky mountains which is all the way to monastery. Don't worry, it's safe to travel but it can be a little chance that stones can fall down on the road and you can see a lot of road signs about it and fallen stones but as I like to say, those who do not risk, don't drink champagne, yes? ;) It's much more worth to visit than your fear and a lot of tourist can't imagine trip to Georgia without seeing this ancient legacy. Also, I still can't forget the moment we got up and saw Christians with religious clothing wandering around this magical place which is surrounded by huge mountains, those moments will always keep in my head while I think about this trip.

TBILISI: Now it's time to introduce you to the capital city of Georgia where I only spend 4 hours, because we were staying in Kutaisi and we had to wake up very early to get to this city (3 hour drive) and also our idea was to visit Kazbegi the same day so to not lose the chance to see all of the places in daylight, we had to hurry up. In Tbilisi was comparatively warm, we had 19 degrees celsius at the middle of March! We decided just to take some time to relax, walk around the city, get up with funicular to see Tbilisi panorama view which I recommend to do it if you have just a little time in the capital city of Georgia. And also, my must thing to visit was very Instagrammer bridge which looks super modern and looks super different from all the Tbilisi architecture - you can even see it when you're in funicular - it looks extremely huge!

KAZBEGI: So I think, the most amazing part about Georgia is mountains and especially huge, mixed with clouds, different forms and lines, with snow and without it - this road to Kazbegi is all about it which is very exciting! To enjoy mountains to the fullest, my and my friend decided to ride to the top of the mountain and the craziest part was that the more we approached the top, the more it was cold and snowy! I was wearing my sneakers and skirt so what the hell ?! :D and we reached skiers which made us felt like in absolutely different world! Anyway, it was too freaking cold and we decided to go back to the road and to take a little photoshoot surrounded by mountains. I was cold, hungry and super excited at the same time so I'm not very proud of the result but I will never forget this adventure! It made us super happy:)

KUTAISI: Now it's time to introduce you the city where I spent almost the most of my time and where my plane landed - Kutaisi, fun fact, this city feel so small that we already get to know it after spending there 3 days! This city have that special relaxing vibe with big paintings on the walls, cafe shops all around the old town which architecture looks modern but aged at the same time and last but not least, the most beautiful and most interesting Rioni river which flows out from Caucasus mountains and flows into the Black sea. Just looking at this fast flowing river with mountains in the background looked incredible.

2) What was the thing that surprised you (in a good way) about visiting Georgia? By answering this question I think I won't surprise anyone by telling that nature was the most surprising thing in Georgia especially I didn't expected to see so much rivers and... cows everywhere - they were just walking freely on the streets and fields - not sure if it's a good thing but looked a bit exotic hehe.

Also, surprising was that this rocky and mountainous country have those artistic, colorful areas, especially a lot of it was in a city we were staying - Kutaisi. I know, that a lot of countries have those artsy local streets but Georgia for me looked very moody with earthy tones everywhere (which I crave a lot) but at the same time it showed us other part of the city which you can only see when you're really searching and wandering around just like me ;)

3) Did I like it? And the last question is the most personal hehe. To answer this question I feel ambiguous because I really enjoyed mountains and all the rivers, cheap prices, artistic paintings and the first experience with road trip was really successful but at the same time, I missed green nature and everything looked very gloomy. Even very often it felt like all the country is a big countryside and it reminded me a lot of my hometown apart from mountains. Also, I was annoyed that everyone talks with you in russian (eastern europeans will understand me :D). It was the most exhausting in Tbilisi when everyone wants to offer a service for you and talks with you in Russian language. ughhhh But beside all that, I really from the bottom of my heart, recommend to see Georgia with your own eyes especially that it has so much to offer.