Tbilisi: A Heartening First Meeting with Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia (B)

Ever since my trip to Azerbaijan in the winter of 2018, I’d been wanting to return to the Caucasus region, so when Covid-19 finally slowed down over the autumn and I’d received my two vaccines on top of a recovery, I felt it was finally safe to go. I chose to fly into Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, and out of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. With 2,5 weeks to spare for the trip, I knew it wasn’t going to be enough to see everything these two magnificent countries have to offer, but at least I’d get a good taste of both – or so I thought. Because I actually ended up spending most of my time in Georgia and had just one afternoon to spare for Yerevan. The reason for that lies in Tbilisi and the amazing people I met there, but also in how gorgeous Georgia is. I just couldn’t get myself to rush through it.

I arrived at 4 AM in Tbilisi International Airport, exhausted after a most uncomfortable sleep in the plane (seriously, it’s so hard to breathe when sleeping with a mask!). I’d also had hardly any food as both Frankfurt Airport and Munich Airport where I had layovers had run out of vegan food, so I had to survive on pretzels which I don’t really like (sorry, Germans!). And in Tbilisi Airport nothing was open (thanks, Covid!). I took out some cash in the local currency (Georgian lari) and tried to find some info on the public bus. I was told that it wouldn’t be running until the morning (again, thanks to Covid), so I looked around for a fellow backpacker to share a cab with, and that’s how I met Yente from Belgium. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).