Red phone? We flew to Georgia
As soon as you get on the plane, your head is clouded with doubts . You have had to make it clear to your friends that you are not going to the United States but to Georgia , former Soviet republic of the Caucasus and, although you are not able to place the country correctly on the map, you have heard of local mafias, kidnappings of unsuspecting tourists and a few other misfortunes.
You have also heard about the secessionist conflict in Abkhazia during the process of independence from the USSR, in the early 1990s, and the recent war of South Ossetia, against Russia, in 2008 . As if that were not enough, the country is a stone's throw from Chechnya and where there was fire there are always embers. Was I right to come? Should I have gone through the notary before to make a will?
For some mysterious reason, flights to Tbilisi –Tbilisi for the Georgians– from Istanbul or Munich, the most common stops, they land in the Georgian capital between three and five in the morning.
Darkness, signs written in an alphabet in which it is impossible to identify a single letter, taxi drivers swirling around us... Are they going to kidnap us now or will they wait a while?
Stamba, the quintessence of the modern hotel
Fears dissipate as soon as the sun rises. The city is quiet there is not a single hint of insecurity . And despite being three thousand miles from home, there is something oddly familiar and reassuring about people. The faces, the gestures, the factions seem Mediterranean . The Romans rightly called this territory Iberia. AND It's like meeting cousins whose existence we didn't know.
But at the same time, we feel the difference and we want to know more about these distant relatives. That is the main attraction of Georgia, the mixture between east and west, Europe and Asia , encapsulated in a small country the size of Castilla la Mancha and preserved over the centuries.
FROM ROME WITH LOVE
If it were a cocktail, Tbilisi would have a measure of early 20th-century Constantinople, a measure of 1970s Moscow, a dash of Belle Époque Paris, and a dollop of post-Wall Berlin.
Divided in two by Kura River , the old part is the most visited by Russian and Iranian tourists, but there are still not so many as to prevent enjoying the narrow streets and its typical corralas with wooden balconies, of a charm as decadent as the cracks in the walls.
Here is the best-known panoramic view of the city: on one side, the metekhi church , hanging, like the neighborhood to which it gives its name, over the river; of the other, the Narikala Fortress, to which you can go up by cable car and next to which stands Kartlis Deda, "the Mother of Kartli ”, a statue of more than sixty meters (and questionable taste) and symbol of Tbilisi.
Another must-see in this area are the Abanotubani thermal baths , as old as the foundation of the city.
Here, youth hostels, restaurants and a hotel welcome modern Georgia
Legend has it that the king Vakhtang I Gorgasal i was hunting in those parts when one of the birds he had shot fell into one of those steaming streams and was cooked on the spot. Hence the name of the city: in Old Georgian, Tpili, "hot water".
Since then, and following its Ottoman heritage, the benefits of the sulphurous baths attract many visitors. Speaking of heat, you may be aware that Tbilisi is one of the cultural hot spots of the moment. Outdated guidebooks tell you about Rustaveli Avenue, a crossroads between the Castellana and Paseo de Gracia, with its sidewalks full of old book stalls, as well as theaters, cinemas, museums and the Opera, always with an excellent program and even better prices.
But, beyond the official culture, the Georgian capital is experiencing a effervescence similar to the Berlin of the nineties . Five years ago, in an unlikely place, the ground floor of Dinamo Tbilisi stadium , the birth of the Bassiani, a nightclub that has become a reference on the international techno music circuit, kicked off the new Georgian move.
For those of us who are aware that our time as masters of the dance floor is over but we still like to think we're cool, our place is Fabrika , a former soviet textile factory converted into a huge post industrial space which includes a youth hostel, coworking offices, designer shops, alternative hairdressers and several of the best bars in the city.
The project is the work of adjara , the hotel group that is doing the most to transform Georgia's image abroad.
Taking advantage of a government law that cedes Soviet industrial buildings at ridiculous prices on the condition that they be used for tourism, the group, owned by a young businessman who made his fortune gambling, opened its first hotel, **Rooms,** in an old abandoned printing house.
Its shabby chic style with a local twist was an instant hit, attracting design lovers from all over the world. Another lodging soon followed in an old abandoned military hospital in the mountains of Kazbegi.
A red bus serves as a cafeteria in the town of Kazbegi
And last year it opened in Tbilisi **its most luxurious bet with Stamba**, the quintessence of the modern and cool hotel and internationally awarded, a worked cross between the Stalinist rationalism of the 1930s and the latest New York trends.
THE PIZZA THAT CAME FROM THE GRIO
The aesthetic taste and design that the Adjara group has imposed can be seen in many of the new restaurants in the city, such as Lolita , ** Art House ** or Keto & Kote , which offers the best views in one of its most beautiful typical houses.
But we didn't come to Georgia to see instagrammable places.
The important thing here is the food , one of the best kept secrets for intrepid foodies. The most obvious dish is the khachapuri (either Jachapuri ), a delicious version of pizza –in my opinion, far superior to the original recipe– and, according to the locals, older than the Italian one.
Khachapuris restaurant, the Georgian pizza
Overflowing with cheese, with egg (the way adjari ), meat or potato, is eaten for breakfast or dinner, in a dive lost in the middle of the countryside or in the most elegant urban restaurant.
The second national dish is khinkali , similar to Chinese dumplings but bigger and juicier. They are eaten with the hands and it is not easy to do it without getting dirty, but leaves a delicious explosion of flavor in the mouth.
An essential complement to any meal is the pkhali , a kind of cake made from chopped vegetables, spinach, aubergines, cabbage and beans mixed with nuts, onion, garlic and spices.
To try all these and other local specialties you can opt for the traditional atmosphere of aripana , with typical recipes from each region, or go to what everyone considers the best restaurant in the city, barbarestan , where chef Levan Kobiashvili makes great efforts to recover the recipes of Barbara Jorjadze, a 19th-century feminist aristocrat and intellectual – the equivalent of our Marchioness of Parabere – author of Georgian Cuisine and Checked Notes for the Housewife , a gastronomic bible present today in almost every home in the country.
THE GEORGIAN WINERY
A good supra – the Georgian banquet, full of liturgy – is never complete without huge amounts of wine , an essential element of the identity of this country.
The first traces of winemaking have been found here, 8,000 years ago, and the Georgians continue to use an original and unique method that UNESCO has distinguished as Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
It is the fermentation kvevri (or qvevri), large clay pots that are buried after being sealed and that, according to experts, stabilize the wine and avoid the need to use chemicals, in addition to preventing turbidity. Although everything is said, it also loads it with tannins and the result can be somewhat quarrelsome.
For this reason, and with export in mind, producers have been making international-style wine for some time with excellent results, as the winery demonstrates. Pheasant's Tears , with native grape vineyards saperavi.
Interior of the Svetitskhovell Cathedral, in the city of Mtsheta
If wine is your thing, consider traveling to the region of Kakheti, Georgian Rioja , especially during the harvest.
And it is that the attractions of this country are not limited, far from it, to Tbilisi. Near the capital there are interesting day trips, such as Mtskheta, the ancient capital of the country, or the disturbing city carved into the rock of Uplistsikhe , or (attention, geeks) Stalin's birth house in the city of Gori.
Georgians' relationship with their more famous compatriot is complicated: while for young urbanites their image has become a pop icon , many continue to admire the "last tsar" of the Soviet Union as the great winner of World War II. Coincidences of life, the driver who takes us there is called bland, as the intimates nicknamed the dictator.
For lovers of mountain walks and winter sports, the closest option to Tbilisi is the Kazbegi Municipality (also know as Stepantsminda ) . On the gigantic terrace of the Rooms hotel, the panoramic view of Mount kazbek , an extinct volcano of more than 5,000 meters, with the church of the Holy Trinity of Gergeti at its feet, already makes the excursion worthwhile, but, in addition, this is the starting point of countless routes, on foot or on horseback.
Exterior of the Svetitskhovell Cathedral
If you're looking for even wilder horizons and still untamed beauty, try venture a few hours on the poor Georgian roads –or by helicopter, if you consider it an option– to reach Svaneti , in the northwest of the country, a fairytale landscape with green valleys full of fortresses, medieval towers, small towns and lakes.
Lastly, if you can't conceive of a vacation without going to the beach, Georgia has more than three hundred kilometers of coastline on the Black Sea . Although if you flee from the crowds, the best thing is that avoid Batumi, the main port city, which with its skyscrapers is on its way to becoming a mini branch of Dubai for Turks and Iranians.
But this is the exception that proves the rule. Georgia remains an undiscovered destination that, although it sounds like a tourist slogan, It leaves you wanting more because it is a nearby country –oh, that Roman Iberia–, different and something almost impossible today: authentic.