….and Georgia has certainly been on our minds since we visited! In this post Tiffany and I share how we went from “I know nothing about this country but it sounds cool” to “we’ve totally fallen in love with the place and when can we go back”! Before we begin, let’s just clarify- this is NOT the Georgia of the south but the Georgia of Eurasia!
Georgia is a place that not many people know of, let alone have traveled to. Me and Tiff had read some great things about it and our buddy Jimmy insisted we HAD to check out his homeland. Technically Georgia is between Asia and Europe so we thought “Why not check it out?”. We went in with no expectations thinking we might be there for a week or two. Instead we fell in love with the country and left almost a month later and are here to tell you- there is a TON to love! Making it even easier to love is the fact that one of Georgia’s national sayings is “Guests are a gift from God”- and every Georgian we met from Tbilisi to the remote village of Ushguli truly embodied this saying. Georgians everywhere asked us where we were from and offered us wine, food, lodging, life advice and gifts at every turn- they’re quite possibly the most friendly people we’ve ever met. The first thing to know though is Georgians don’t call Georgia…well, Georgia, it’s called Sakartwello and they will give you a ton of extra points for using the Sakartwello name instead of Georgia. With the goal of easy understanding though for this post, we’ll use the country name “Georgia”.
Tiffany: One of the things I enjoyed about traveling is meeting the locals and getting to know them and their culture. Georgians are the kindest, sweetest, and friendliest humans that I have ever met in my life. I really enjoyed getting to know them and loved listening to their stories about life and their deep passion and pride for their country. They inspired me by their kind hearts, open minds, and beautiful spirit. “Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have” –Rabbi Hyman Schachtel. The people of Georgia are living embodiment of this quote and overall wonderful magical humans.
Tim: They really are that nice! Even when we met people who didn’t understand English, they went above and beyond to communicate any way they could. It was really impressive!
We flew into the capital of Georgia which is called Tblisi. Like many European capitals, it has a big river (the Kura) running through it and the city is complete with castles, gorgeous hills and easily walkable streets. It seems around every corner there’s some restaurant, wine bar, art gallery or historical building. This is great because one of the greatest cultural heritages of Georgia is its wine (which was invented here) and its food. Georgian wine is made today a lot like it was thousands of years ago- in huge subterranean terracotta containers where they ferment the grapes. Its ridiculously delicious and we were blown away at the quality of the wines from their Kahketi region (more on that later).
One of the true stars of Georgia for us was the Georgian food which we had never had – or heard of- before. Since we were in Asia for several months, we REALLY were craving cheese and bread and Georgia did not disappoint in those categories! Katchapuri- Georgia’s take on pizza- has many forms all of which include soft, pillowy bread encasing delicious molten cheese, sometimes soft cooked eggs and spiced meats. Each region of Georgia has their own version of it and we loved every one of them.
Georgian Soup Dumplings 
A slow cooked potted bean dish you find all over 
Spicy lamb meatballs 
Khachapuri stuffed with spiced meat 
Lemon Chicken Soup 
Tim holding up kinkhali 
Chicken shkmeruli 
Yet another type of katchapuri!
Kinkhali are Georgia’s version of soup dumplings. They’re about the size of your fist and filled with savory soup broth and a big meatball. There’s even a special way you’re supposed to eat them! You let them cool, you bite off a corner then suck out the soup, then eat the meat! It’s so freaking tasty I’m getting hungry just writing this. Another national treasure is their dish Chicken Shkmeruli which is a roast chicken in a savory milk sauce. Georgians also know their way around beans and they have two dishes which really stood out to us. One they slow cook beans in a clay pot which tastes a lot like a really delicious version of slow cooked pinto beans. They also have several versions of lentil soup which we loved. Pork belly which can be easy to screw up- was transformed into several amazing meals where it was typically braised in crispy, delicious fashion. Finally, we’ve never had mushrooms that were tastier than the ones they had in Georgia- and we had a lot. The mushrooms were typically slow cooked and hard a delicious meaty feel to them and when bitten, release amazing flavor explosions with each bite. We could just go on and on but in terms of food, we can easily say Georgia is one of the greatest food countries in the world. No joke!
We were so blown away by the food in Georgia that we HAD to learn how to make it. Fortunately for us, we found Culinary Studio Carmel and we got the chance to not only learn how to make some of our Georgian Favorites, but also doing it in one family’s kitchen! Asya was a super funny, ebullient guide to making Georgian food. Over the course of a few hours, we learned how to make Katchapuri (the pizza like cheese bread), Kinkhali (the soup dumplings) and chicken Shkmeruli. It was surprisingly easy to make all of these dishes and we can’t wait to get home to make them!
Tiff making kinkhali dough 
Sifting the flour for Khachapuri 
Making the sausage. Literally 
Lots of cheese mixing had to be done 
Chicken schkmereruli cooking 
Tiffany showing off her home made chicken shkmeruli 
Ready to eat what we cooked! 
Asya and Tiffany
Tiffany: I had never had one bad dish in Georgia over the course of a month which is crazy. I’m very grateful that we took a cooking lesson from Asya in Tbilisi.She teaches home style cooking with passion and humor. I love learning about traditional Georgian dishes and the history of Georgia from her. She definitely made cooking fun and interesting. It was like cooking with a friend in her home while sharing funny stories over wine. She also made these local favorite dishes easy to make so we can definitely make it when we get home to San Francisco. I can’t wait to make these delicious tasty dishes for friends and family back home.
Tim: But back to Tbilisi! One of the things that made it so special was our friend Jimi connected us with his buddy Nikoloz in Tbilisi. Nikoloz is a filmmaker who’s passionate about showing the world what Georgia has to offer. Over the course of our stay, Niko was our unofficial tour guide and took us all over to see some of the many sites the city has to offer. Tblisi is a city filled with tree-lined hills and winding rivers and one of the best places to see it is from the incredible view from the front steps of Narikala Fortress. Its the Tblisi version of going up to SF’s Twin Peaks to check out the view of the whole city.
Spanning the Kura River, the Bridge of Peace stands out with its modern architecture and awesome LED light show. At night, street performers take over and the bridge is filled with everything from cover bands to more traditional Georgian Polyphonic singing. Speaking (or singing) of which, Niko took us to see this fascinating traditional singing take place at Phaeton restaurant. Here, three guys all singing at different octaves and pitches create incredibly moving music using just the sound of their voices. As we traveled through Georgia, we heard this music sang in bars, restaurants and event the homes of people we visited. If you do travel to Georgia, it’s truly worth looking for.
Tbilisi is going through something of a hipster renaissance and several parts of the old town are being rebuilt with new, cool spaces being created. One such place is Fabrika which is an old communist era sewing factor that’s been transformed into a complex with a hipster bar/lounge, a ramen shop (!), stores and one of the coolest looking hostels I’ve ever seen. Fabrika’s sister location is the ROOMS hotel whose modern take on a classical library just oozes sexiness. Their breakfast buffet is hands down one of the most impressive breakfasts we’ve had. Traveling as much as we have lately, we’ve experienced a lot of “breakfast included” places and nothing strikes fear into my heart as hearing the words “breakfast buffet”. In the ROOMS hotel, they flip the script. The kitchen is in the dining room and a massive old French stove dominates the room. Chefs are at every station making every conceivable breakfast food, pastry and treat you can imagine. I wish I could bring it back to SF!
While on the topic of food, the restaurants in Tbilisi are incredible. Next door to the apartment we rented is Ezo– a restaurant built mainly in a cute courtyard that created some of our favorite Georgian dishes with a twist. Their roast chicken and katchapuri was some of the best we had during our trip and Tiff went there almost every day we were in Tbilisi. Another awesome restaurant was Zala with the most tasty mushrooms and roasted pork belly. For breakfast, we ended up going to Entree which is a French-style patisserie that has all sorts of Georgian twists on sandwiches and pastries.
Tiffany enjoying Ezo 
Avocado salad at Zala 
Tim’s a little TOO excited to eat here 
The aforementioned amazing mushrooms at Zala 
Looking fancy at ROOMS
In terms of sights, there’s definitely a few “must see” things in the city. The first is probably the “Mother of Georgia” statue that epitomizes Georgians’ stance on hospitality. She offers a chalice of wine to those who come in peace and a sword in the other hand for those who would come to do harm. It’s a pretty striking monument and it’s definitely hard to miss.
A woodland spirit you’ll find in the amusement park 
The TV tower that looms over Tblisi 
Another fun thing to check out In the city is taking the funicular up Mt Mtatsminda. It’s got an amazing view as you go up and on top there’s this big, very Georgian theme park. You’ve got all the usual rides plus up close views of the stark looking Tbilisi TV Broadcasting Tower which looks more out of a science fiction movie than real life. They even light it up nightclub style at night!
One other quick day trip you should definitely check out is the city of Mtskheta. Mtskheta is one of the oldest towns in Georgia and houses the incredibly beautiful Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. We’ve been to a lot of churches on this trip and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral is one of the most ethereal, especially if you visit it at night when its lit only by candlelight and you can hear the monks chanting hymns. It’s a truly moving experience.
Phew! That’s a lot and we could easily write so much more. Tbilisi was a magical place that we came back to several times during our month in Georgia and we will DEFINITELY return. The people, the food and the city truly stole our hearts but the wine region of Kakheti beckoned us and off we went on our next adventure.
Some of the interesting architecture you’ll find 
