What a difference 12hours made. We left Batumi on the 26th September to pouring rain and very rough seas.
From the central station we could barely see the city which had been so clear the previous days. We were
glad to have our long train trip that day. We discovered by it took so long to Kutaisi when the train stopped
at every station.
The train was an old soviet style one – very wide aisles and seating was quite comfortable (the seats were
realatively new) and when the train drew in there was a rush to sit in the direction of travel.
The conductor was a jolly fellow who gave out instructions along the way in Georgian. Several women came on board at various stations with buckets of snacks and bread for sale but I hardly believed my eyes when two women paraded up and down the carriages with fresh fish complete with a hanging scale. A few people bought them but the fish smell lingered a bit.
The new station in Kutaisi didn’t have a lift and the stairs were very steep. Not great with our amount of luggage. After half an hour of battling with our Maxim app to get a taxi we arrived at Guesthouse Veneto which belonged to Caritas and had been renovated into smaller rooms and bathrooms. It had been a grand old house and we could see what it had been like previously. Sofia who worked there was like a ray of sunshine and spoke good English and Russian and was very helpful taking us to the beauty salon and arranging hair cuts, colour and pedicures. Prices in Georgia were very cheap for most things and we only paid less than $80 for everything. The guesthouses all have washing machines so we managed to catch up with the washing. One day was a bit cool but otherwise we were very blessed with sunny, warm weather overall.
We spent a couple of days around the small city and walked up to Bagrati Orthodox church on the hill overlooking
the city. I also found an Italian coffee machine in a cafe which was not always an easy thing in Azerbaijan or Georgia.
In Azerbaijan they mostly drink tea and in Georgia it was Nescafe but I chose Turkish coffee which was preferable
if I couldn’t get an Italian coffee and reminded me of Kopi Bali – just not swallowing the last mouthful.
Everywhere were persimmon trees laden with fruit as well as apple and pear trees.
We hired a taxi the next day to take us to Motsameta monastery which was nestled in the hills above Kutaisi.
Joni the guesthouse manager spoke Italian thankfully so we could communicate and we arranged for him to take
us in his comfortable BMW 4WD up to Oni in the low Caucasus the following day. We stopped first at Gelati Monastery which was a large complex in the process of being restored. Another Australian who appeared at the guesthouse (only the 3rd person we discovered in our many years of travel from Perth and Ken decided to join us for the 2hour trip into the mountains where we stayed for three days.
Joni told me that Georgians only wanted peace. Four wars over the last 25years had taken their toll on Georgia
and the catch up was very slow. Food and dinners in Georgia were very cheap with several dishes, bread, mineral
water and a couple of glasses of red wine costing about $20-25. The tomatoes in Georgia were exceptional – dense and so very tasty, so I consumed kilos of them. A traditional meal usually consisted of cut tomatoes,
crunchy cucumbers, bread and large slabs of homemade cheese.