The Highs and Lows of Backpacking through Georgia

What I learned about the people, culture, religion, and cuisine of the Caucasus

After graduating from my MBA program in 2001, I spent much of the summer solo backpacking through the Caucasus and Turkey. Using my handy Lonely Planet Guide, I mapped out a few days ahead where I might go next feeling like a carefree spirit.

After walking through the border between Azerbaijan and Georgia, I picked up a car to take me to Telavi, Georgia. Telavi is known as the food and wine region of Georgia. Before leaving Azerbaijan, I had called ahead of time and booked a bed & breakfast there. The car dropped me off at an older Georgian couple’s home. I would be staying in their bed & breakfast and happened to be their only guest.

They gave me a room with a view on the second floor overlooking their gardens and with views of the vineyards and white-capped mountains in the distance!

In Telavi, I paid the homeowners for room and board, and the board was amazing. When I had worked in L’viv, Ukraine a few years back, my colleagues and I frequented a Georgian restaurant, so I knew how tasty Georgian cuisine could be however, homemade Georgian cooking gave new meaning to tasty.

I fell in love with eggplant in Telavi!

There is something magical Georgians do with eggplant that can’t be described other than melting in your mouth, especially with a glass of local Georgian red wine to help it down.

Other than a gastronomical experience, I found Telavi to be full of beautiful churches and monasteries. From Telavi, I took a bus to the capital, Tbilisi, and met up with a college mate of mine from there.

When I told him I was backpacking through the Caucasus on my own back in Atlanta, Georgia, he laughed at me and told me to look him up in Tbilisi if I survived! His warning did not deter my travel plan!

He was happy to see me alive and well in his capital.

Could he have underestimated my survival skills or overestimated the danger of his neighbors?

Tbilisi is an ancient city with so much interesting history. Georgians were one of the first adopters of Christianity as a national religion early in the fourth century a few years after Armenia. The city and the country contain many Georgian churches as a result. The history, architecture, and traditional dress felt like a fusion of the West and the Orient. In Tbilisi, not far from a church, you may find a Turkish bath.

After a few days of catching up with my friend and exploring Tbilisi, I took a private minibus up to Kazbegi, in the northeastern Caucasus. I couldn’t spend time in Georgia and not be in the mountains. Kazbegi did not disappoint.

It is one of the most beautiful places on earth!

The town is situated in a valley surrounded by green mountains and a bit further away glaciers and white cap mountains with the largest, Mount Kazbek looming over you.

However, the most spectacular thing about Georgia other than its mountains is its affinity for building churches high up on hills and mountains!

The only accommodations available in Kazbegi were renting rooms. Arriving in Kazbegi and coming off the bus were two other travelers along with me — a Dutchman and an Australian. A middle-aged woman in town was offering rooms. The Dutchman and Australian bunked together in a room while I took another room to myself.

Since there were no restaurants in town, we also paid a boarding fee for food. Since we were neighbors, the three of us got to know each other. The Dutchman was traveling between jobs and the Australian was a seventy-year-old retiree backpacking around the world.

That afternoon, the three of us hiked together up to the famous Tsminda Sameba church built high on a hill surrounded by snow-capped mountains. During ancient times, during War, the Georgians would hide their most famous icons and treasures in this church far away from civilization.

This was quite smart of them because what army would travel these steep mountains unless they knew treasures could be found there?

On the trek to and from the church, we had plenty of time to discuss our travels. I marveled at the stamina and health of my Australian companion as he navigated hiking without trouble. He also traveled through countries, I would only dare to go on my own like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran on his way to Georgia.

We returned late afternoon to our rooms. Right before dinner, as the sun was setting, a black car pulled up to our location. A woman got out of the back seat of her car and a driver out of the front seat. The driver began speaking in Georgian gruffly to our hostess. The woman came up to us and started speaking in English with a German accent. It turns out she had come to Georgia to visit a friend living in Tbilisi and had hired a driver to take her up to Kazbegi and back.

Unfortunately, her driver didn’t speak English, and she didn’t speak either Georgian or Russian. When she heard that I spoke a little Russian, she gave a huge sigh of relief. A few times in my life, I have looked at a person and instantly gotten the feeling that this person is up to no good.

I instantly knew I could not trust this driver.

Not only did I feel a bad vibe from him, but I also didn’t like the way he spoke to our hostess. He came across as rude and snotty.

When he found out I spoke a little Russian, he started complaining to me about his German client. I guess they had a misunderstanding on the road. I helped them to solve their issue. The German woman stayed in my room with me while our hostess found a place for the driver to sleep for the night. My new roommate and I got along well. I think she just felt overwhelmed traveling in a country where she couldn’t easily communicate.

I could hardly blame her. In the Caucasus of 2001, after leaving the confines of the capital cities, it was hard to find an English or other foreign language speaker. The Dutchman and Australian were also happy to tag along with me in Kazbegi since I was the only one who could communicate with the Georgians there. I didn’t mind helping them. Others have come to my aid in translating before.

The next morning, my roommate asked me how I was getting back to Tbilisi. When I said the afternoon bus, she invited me to join her in the car for the ride back. She said it was a thank you for helping her communicate with her driver. I think she also wanted me to come with her, so she didn’t have any more “misunderstandings” with him. I told her that I had already promised to take the private minibus back with the guys. She then invited all of us to go back by car with her since she had plenty of space.

Even with my apprehension about the driver, I agreed. From my perspective, it was better for her not to be alone.

While I didn’t believe the driver was dangerous, I believed him dishonest and crooked. Selfishly, it would also be a more comfortable and faster ride than the minibus back.

The guys and I explored the village while our new German friend hiked to the Church and back. That afternoon, we got into the car to leave. The guys and our German friend sat in the back while I sat in the front with the driver.

Not too long after leaving, my prescience came true.

The driver began to ask me for money for the transport back to Tbilisi.

I kindly told him that his client paid for his service and the car. It didn’t matter how many passengers he had. She offered to take us to Tbilisi. It wasn’t his right to ask for additional money directly from us.

His client in the back asked what we were discussing. I told her nothing of consequence. My response seemed to quiet him, and we talked about random things like where I had visited and what my future travel plans were. I asked him how he had become a driver.

Like many former Soviets, working in tourism was more lucrative than their former profession.

Then about thirty minutes before arriving in Tbilisi, he began to hassle me again about money saying it wasn’t fair we were riding in his car and not paying him.

I kept telling him no, but he wouldn’t stop.

Finally, I told him to stop the car.

He asked Why raising his voice.

I said so I could get out.

He reacted surprised.

His client in the back asked what was wrong. This time I told her the truth.

I had lived in the former Soviet Union, in Ukraine, so I knew I could find a private car on that road that would pick me up and for a fee take me the rest of the way back to Tbilisi safely. I am not sure if he knew that or not.

At that point, I was tired of his antics.

Once I told him that I told his client why I wanted to get out of the car, he silently drove us back to Tbilisi.

Once we were all safely back, I hugged the German woman and whispered to her to fire her driver as soon as she got safely back to her friend’s home.

Who knows how much money he would have conned out of her if I hadn’t been with her to warn her?

I learned how important my first impressions are about people, and I always listen to that little voice inside my head.

Georgia is a breathtakingly beautiful country filled with many genuine and generous people. I would go back there in a heartbeat. However, I would better screen a driver if I ever needed to hire one.

Thanks for reading.