The cold never bothered me anyway

I've always wanted to experience winter when I was still a kid. I always want to experience what it feels like to taste the snow. Is it sweet like my favorite chocolate ice cream? Is it super cold like the ice on the refrigerator? The other side of the world seems so different from the place where I grew up.

February 10, 2017. 4am. I arrived at Georgia.

Where is Georgia?

Georgia, a country at the intersection of Europe and Asia, is a former Soviet republic that’s home to Caucasus Mountain villages and Black Sea beaches. It’s famous for Vardzia, a sprawling cave monastery dating to the 12th century, and the ancient wine-growing region Kakheti. The capital, Tbilisi, is known for the diverse architecture and mazelike, cobblestone streets of its old town. (ref)

Religion:

Most of the people living there are Orthodox Christian. Maybe this is the reason why they have so many 'monestary church'

Georgia's Capital: Tblisi

Commonly known by its former name Tiflis, and often mispronounced as Tiblisi, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of roughly 1.5 million inhabitants.

Exploring the city on the first day is extremely tiring but I must say that is far more than I could ever imagine.

We had lunch at Tiflisi which is a restaurant near our hostel (Emberton Hostel) that was referred by our receptionist. As we are walking the foreign streets I got mesmerize by the look of the European houses. I just cannot believe that I am travelling and the feeling cannot be expressed by the words made by man.

Road going to Tflisi

Tfilisi Restaurant

Inside Tflisi Restaurant

Where did we go next?

Wandering the busy streets of "I-cannot-remember-the-street-name" we look like treasure hunters looking for Yamashita. Carrying a map that can cover my entire face, there we go.

We got lost. We cannot even ask for the people around due to language barrier but then I realized that when you are lost in a different place, You got a chance to explore how beautiful the world is. Our destination should be the Bridge of Peace (bow-shaped pedestrian bridge) but then we landed to different souvenir shops.

On the other side of the bridge there is a cable car and that marks my first ride in the said vehicle. We managed to have a glace of the Old Tblisi which is a classic.

Old Tblisi

At the end the other side you can see Mother Georgia who seems to be protecting the whole city and guiding Tblisi to be better than before; after all, that is what mother's do right?

Mother Georgia

 The whole day end up walking around the city of Tblisi and we would really want to have a mouth-watering Georgian cuisine.

Spaghetti, wine and Khachapuri (cheese bread)

And our day end up just how it started.

Day 2. Gudauri and other monasteries.

This is the start of making the reality same as the fantasies in Disney books. All of us came in Georgia at this of the year for one main reason: SNOW. We are really expecting to touch the snow flakes in our hands, to be familiarize how it taste like and the greatest of all (according to my travel buddy) to do the SNOW ANGEL.

We are a little disappointed before because the weather changed and it looks like the snow cannot wait for us anymore but I guess mother nature wants us to have a first travel experience that could never be forgotten.

My friend noticed that there is something amazing with the snow flakes. I was busy taking picture of the scenery when she came to me - amazed of what she discovered. 

The snowflakes really do have designs like the one in Frozen

I cannot even believe what we saw and I just have to take a picture of it just to remember how it feels to be Elsa even just for once.

Frozen rocks with water along the way

And of course I couldn't let you not see how our face looks like when we see this white thing falling down our face.

Finally! Hello Gudauri!

Gudauri is another city of Georgia, merely 2 hours away from Tblisi and it is famous for the sports activities and yes - we did the snow angel here. We tasted the snow and roll around like crazy people given freedom for the first time.

How did we end up our day 2?

We went to the funnicular, a cable car like train, that lets you see how beautiful Old Tblisi is in a bird's eye view.

Old Tblisi City lights

Day 3. Winery, Bread and Stuffs.

One of the main products of Georgia are wine from fresh grapes and we will miss an important event in our life if we will not have a chance to visit the place of how everything started.

Before we reach to the winery, we first went to the museum - too bad I wasn't able to took pictures because I was so busy appreciating the different artworks.

Toastmaster

According to Georgian tradition, when they drink, they have a "toastmaster." They are the one who first make "wish" or "pray" for different things before they drink wine.

Inside the winery

After drinking cha cha (traditional Georgian alcohol)

Making the Georgian bread

Day 4. Adios. Sayonara.

We ended our trip by buying souvenirs for our friends and walking to the streets of Tblisi for the last time. We hope to see Georgia once again - but please not on winter! :)

It is true that experiences and memories are some of the things that cannot be taken away from you. My first time to travel and explore the world turns out to be a freezing one but the cold never bother us anyway!