Niche Exploits in the Caucasus

Almost a month in Georgia and Armenia

Published 26/08/26

For the first half of this year, one of my most important commitments was supporting one of my dearest friends through a very difficult time, in the hopes that she would complete her degree after four years of tremendously hard work. Our combined efforts proved successful, and something we kept discussing during this long academic journey was the incredible nature of the Caucasus - a part of the world I was already quite familiar with, having travelled there twice before. This culminated in a 24-day trip to Georgia, which started from Heathrow Airport.

We arrived in the capital of Tbilisi very early, at around 05:30am. Those who have visited will no doubt be aware that the city doesn't really wake up until 10am - its difficult to even find a coffee shop open earlier, so we simply rested for a while after getting to the apartment we would be using as our base for the next few weeks. After some searching, we did manage to find a locked in cafe that was open from 08:30 onwards. We had lobiani and kompot, which made for an excellent breakfast at a very reasonable price of less than 7 lari (£1.97). That was exactly the fuel we needed to climb the steps up to the Mother of Georgia monument for some breathtaking views over Tbilisi. After taking in the view and yapping for a bit, we moved on to the Tbilisi Botanical Gardens - another location that I'd happily recommend to all visitors to Tbilisi. It has both indoor and outdoor sections, a very impressive collection of plants and the scale of the place is massive. It literally contains a waterfall and you can essentially go on a hike entirely within gardens!

Our next day one stop was the Atashgah Zoroastrian Fire Temple, which is supposedly the northernmost Zoroastrian temple in the world, having been built at some point between the third and seventh centuries when the area was under Persian control. You can really tell how old the structure is. We weren't sure it was open at first as we only heard a guard dog when we approached the door, but just as we were about to leave, a kind older gentleman let us in to have a look around. The temple is free to visit, but voluntary donations fund the structure's upkeep.

For dinner, we went to Pasanauri. This is a chain that we kept referring to as Georgian Wetherspoons due to its cheap but convenient food and alcohol, though that description feels somewhat unfair in hindsight. We ate the first of many portions of ojakhuri there, and it actually set quite a high bar. There were some fancier restaurants we went to later in the trip that did a worse job! After dinner, we took a quick trip on the metro to an anime and manga store in the Saburtalo district, though their selection proved a bit lacklustre. Afterwards, we returned to the flat and started watching the 2006 TV series Life on Mars; a scifi police procedural which could arguably be described as a British isekai. A product of its time in some ways, but great fun. John Simm and Philip Glenister do an excellent job playing the lead roles.

Our second day started with another portion of ojakhuri - noticing a pattern yet? After filling up, we went to the Tbilisi Wine Museum and opted for the tickets that include a wine tasting. The guide who showed us around the museum was a funny guy who spoke excellent English and had some great stories about Georgian winemaking. He made damn sure that we knew about the importance of toasts in Georgian drinking culture, and explained that Georgians tend to prefer white wine precisely because you can drink more of it without having to worry about health problems. Inside the wine museum is a weapons museum - essentially the personal collection of a military history enthusiast whose actual job is literally as a toastmaster. Yes, we did go to swing around swords and guns immediately after having a few drinks. That's the Caucasus for you!

That evening, I was able to tick off a long-time bucket last item. I had witnessed traditional Georgian folk dancing on my first visit to the country five years prior, but what I really wanted to see was a Georgian National Ballet performance. We went to see exactly that and were treated to a spectacle involving some incredibly cool sword dances. For an example, see this video. I was holding back happy tears by the end - really glad to have seen this art in person.

The next few days were spent exploring Tbilisi in a bit more detail, while completing a few missions like obtaining Stalin socks for a mutual friend. Stalin merch is incredibly common around Georgia, and the country has a somewhat bizarre relationship with its most famous son. People tend to resent the Soviet period for the oppression they faced, and hate modern Russia for having invaded Georgia in 2008, but remain proud that such an important historical figure was born in their homeland.

One of the next ports of call was the Chronicles of Georgia Monument, which depicts kings, queens and stories from the life of Christ. The monument looks kind of ancient, but was actually only built in 1985 and has since become a major attraction. Despite having been to Georgia twice before, I'd never quite made it out that way. We ordered a Bolt taxi over there and took in the mesmerising monument, though the presence of drones made us bug out a bit. Having been to wartime Ukraine, I kept thinking about how traumatic that noise must be for some who have fled the war and sought refuge in Georgia. On the way back, we had an Azerbaijani taxi driver who I was able to yap with in Russian about topics ranging from corruption to music. He had only recently moved to Georgia and talked about his desire to visit Ukraine once the war is over - an adventure I encouraged him to pursue.

After some encouragement and finding appropriate hiking shoes, I managed to convince my friend to come on a hike up Mtatsminda - the highest and most famous mountain in the Tbilisi area. It was a hot day, but we had plenty of fun and were both glad to have done it. At 770 metres, Mtatsminda is a bit lower than Cadair Idris here in Mid Wales, but it was a good way to ease into tackling larger peaks in rural Georgia. There's a park situated at the top of the mountain which boasts a ferris wheel, some fairground rides and various eateries. We took the ferris wheel for an aerial view of Tbilisi before heading down on the cablecar.

The next day, we took a private day tour to northern Armenia as I had a discount code for this. It was a long day, but the scenery was stunning, the air was some of the freshest I've ever breathed and we got the opportunity to visit some ancient monasteries. Also had some really good shashlik, a scenic beer, and stopped to take a few photos of the MiG-21 at the Mikoyan Brothers Museum in Alaverdi. We also received the ever-pleasant souvenir of additional passport stamps!

Our next excursion out of Tbilisi was to Kakheti - Georgia's main wine-producing region, also known for its steppe type environment. We visited a number of wineries and tried some traditional Georgian bread. Both of us tried drinking from a traditional wine horn, which was a really fun experience. No one else in our group wanted to try this, but we did at least get talking to a pretty cool Bulgarian couple who were big fans of the anime/manga series Nana - also one of my all-time favourites. Just a shame I didn't have my UK house keys in my pocket at the time as I have a Nana keyring I could have shown them!

After the wine trip, we went to the Stalin's Underground Printing House Museum back in Tbilisi. This is a place you really should try to visit while you have the chance, because its of huge historical importance, yet probably won't be around forever. In 1903, a young Stalin set up an underground operation in Tbilisi to print material calling for the Tsar's removal. These leaflets were published in the Russian, Georgian and Armenian languages. During Stalin's period at the helm of the USSR, the printing press was restored in its original location and reopened as a museum. This shut after the collapse of the USSR, but was revived in the 21st century by a very passionate Georgian communist who was ecstatic at the fact that I could communicate with him in Russian, proclaiming 'its good that you speak Russian! As should the whole world, instead of English!' - not a particularly common view in contemporary Georgian society, but to each their own. I appreciated his passion, and I'm glad that he's preserving history. Apparently he worked as a KGB officer in Moscow for much of his life!

Our next big adventure was something a little off the beaten track - we took a taxi to Azeula Fortress, near the village of Kojori, and hiked about fourteen miles back to our apartment in Tbilisi. The fortress was cool, it was a good walk and we got to see loads of lizards - something we'd hoped to see back in Aberystwyth as they can apparently be found in Parc Natur Penglais, but neither of us has ever seen one there. Along the way we saw some cool Soviet cars, and were greeted by a cat posing for us when we got back to Tbilisi. Not sure how I've written this much and not mentioned the abundance of stray cats and dogs across Tbilisi! They're adorable, but the fact they piss everywhere does make the city feel dirtier than most in the former USSR. We were advised by a local that you can simply take one off the street if you want to adopt one, which feels very Georgian. Anything goes!

Afterwards, it was finally time to head to the proper Georgian mountains. As we travelled towards Kazbegi, we stopped at the Ananuri Fortress Complex, took in the views of Zhinvali Reservoir which supplies Tbilisi with clean water, and admired the beauty of the Russia/Georgia Friendship Monument, which still stands. We also briefly met a man from Abkhazia - one of the Georgian regions occupied by puppets of the Russian Federation. He spoke of his homeland with a great sense of love, and its an absolute tragedy that he's unable to return there due to geopolitics. Before arriving in Kazbegi, we took a detour to the Truso Valley - a place that can only be accessed in the summer months and requires a 4x4 vehicle. Absolutely stunning place with only about 29 inhabitants - the result of depopulation after the 2008 war. Some of those who remain spend their days making mountain cheese!

Upon arrival in Kazbegi, my Russian knowledge came in clutch. We walked to the hotel entrance and were greeted by a woman herding a cow. She spoke no English and appeared to be telling us we needed a reservation, which we had. After I explained the situation in Russian, she pointed us in the right direction and we settled in. We had a balcony on both sides of the room with some absolutely incredible mountain views. There were also a number of horses in the back garden. For dinner, we had freshly caught local trout with kompot, which was delicious.

The weather was not particularly kind to us on our full day in Kazbegi - it was pouring down with rain that morning. However, we didn't let that stop us from embarking on a hike, though we had to rent raincoats from a travel agency. In the beginning we only intended to climb up to the Gergeti Trinity Church, which lies at 2170 metres above sea level. However, we locked in and ended up climbing around 900 metres further. Our end goal had been the Gergeti Glacier, but sadly we didn't quite make that due to the time constraint of having to return our raincoats before 6pm. We managed that, but it did prove difficult as we kept slipping and falling over on the way down due to the surfaces being wet! Hopefully next time we'll be a bit better prepared!

After subjecting my friend to three hours on a Soviet marshrutka back to Tbilisi, we determined that she could probably tolerate this mode of transport to travel to some more niche places. Next up on this introductory tour of Georgia was Gori - the birthplace of Stalin himself, and an area in which I found my Russian to be particularly useful. We visited the Stalin Museum and marvelled at the trinkets being sold by vendors outside. I think we both kind of regretted not buying one of the flasks with the man's face on it. It would have been a really funny bit!

Gori is a pretty cool city, and you can actually still see some damage from the 2008 war in the outskirts. However, one of the main attractions lies outside of it. I broke out the Russian again to neogitate with a local taxi driver to take us to Uplistsikhe and wait for an hour and a half while we explored. Uplistsikhe is an ancient cave town featuring rock-cut cultures from Anatolia and Iran. Its a really impressive sight, but tends to be very windy! The place is also absolutely full of cute little lizards! Uplistsikhe has been under consideration for inclusion on the UNESCO world heritage list since 2007, and I reckon it deserves it.

Our last big excursion was to Svaneti, a very cool region where people mostly speak a language called Svan instead of Georgian. They are related, though not mutually comprehensible, and Svan has not historically been used as a literary language. Getting up to this remote region is a real pain - travelling from Tbilisi involves a seven hour train followed by a four hour marshrutka. This can be avoided by purchasing a domestic flight via Vanilla Sky, but they have the worst airline website I've ever encountered and their ticket search function didn't work.

Despite the tiring day, it was fully worth travelling up to Svaneti. Our first meal was in a restaurant called Twin Peaks, which felt appropriate as we had recently finished the TV series by David Lynch - which is exceptional, by the way. The village of Mestia had a great rural vibe to it, there were Svan towers dotted all around the place and the mountains were, yet again, nothing short of breathtaking. We embarked on a hike which again took us to a peak higher than Ben Nevis, we saw various cows and horses, and stopped at a niche mountain cafe for mountain soup with svan salt and a mid-hike beer. Climbed high enough to see snow on a sunny day when it was 20c+ in Mestia. Had an interesting chat with some Belarusians at the cafe and saw hordes of fireflies on the way back down as it got dark. A very memorable hike!

While in Svaneti, of course we had to visit Ushguli - one of the highest continuously inhabited villages in Europe, sitting at 2200 metres above sea level. Very pretty village, and the journey there was certainly noteworthy. We managed to find a share-taxi, and halfway through the driver stopped at a scenic spot for people to take photos. At this point in time, he received a call from what must have been his mortal enemy because he left the car, did a Slav squat, took out a cigarette and started absolutely screaming down the phone line - it was a kind of anger I rarely hear; the man's eyes were bloodshot from rage. He did say 'sorry' to the passengers, but as I only know a few basic words of Georgian, I have no clue what he was saying. Funny experience, though!

On the way back to Tbilisi, we were stuck waiting for a train in Zugdidi, which we could only describe as the Georgian Milton Keynes in that its not a very pedestrian-friendly place at all. However, we were able to make the most of it by taking a taxi to Rukhi Fortress, where we caught a small glimpse of Abkhazia - the closest we're likely to get to that fascinating place any time soon. While there, we spotted a road leading towards the River Enguri, which marks the largely unrecognised border between Georgia and Abkhazia. As we started walking closer to the border, we saw a walled sandbag emplacement in which a man appeared to be sitting. Across from this structure, we saw a family swimming in a nearby stream. A large man in a wetsuit, mask and flippers, who was carrying a spear gun, emerged from the river and immediately started heading towards this stream. As he dove in, a border guard left the sandbag structure, fully armed with an automatic rifle, and stared at the stream before staring at my friend and I, who were watching from a safe distance. At this point we decided to walk away and leave the others to it. A month later I'm still not entirely sure what we witnessed, but it cracks me up every time I remember how silly it felt.

After that somewhat hilarious ordeal, we found a really lovely place to eat called Panama Restaurant. It appeared to be entirely run by a Georgian babushka who made some really nice homemade borscht and shashlik. Highly recommended if you're ever waiting around in Zugdidi!

And that's where the trip ends! We were supposed to go to Chiatura on our last full day for an urban exploration bit, but unfortunately my friend got ill and that never came to fruition. Tbilisi was also hit by flash floods that evening, and I remember wading through massive puddles to find paracetamol in the early hours of the morning. Experiencing such heavy summer rain was actually kind of fun, and reminded me of seeking shelter from a downpour on a previous visit to Tbilisi in 2023. On the flight back home, I started reading Sandro of Chegem by Abkhaz author Fazil Iskander. It follows the titular character through his life as a toastmaster in the Caucasus and is very funny - I strongly recommend giving it a read if you're interested in the contrasts between Soviet rhetoric and conservative village life in large swathes of the USSR.