Georgia Roadtrip: driving across the country, not the US state
Back in 1991, I was 11 years old, and I was so enamored with geography. I spent every Friday night with my grandparents, and my grandpa shared my love of geography. We both loved maps, and my grandpa had tons of maps that I would look through. He also had a hard copy set of these green and white encyclopedias, with a letter per book (this was obviously long before Wikipedia), and I would pick countries at random so that I could read about these other obscure places in the world. I’d ask my grandparents over and over again to list all the places they’d been in the world, and since he was a World War II Veteran and spent his entire career in the military, they had traveled extensively. He visited 49 states in his lifetime, only missing Wisconsin. My grandpa would quiz me on world capitals (I memorized the US state capitals by 2ndgrade), and I still remember most of them to this day.
However, in the early 90s, the Soviet Union fell apart, and all of a sudden, there were these new and very unusual countries to learn about. There were all of the “Stans” which seemed impossible to learn or pronounce, and the others that were basically always part of Europe (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). But then there were those few other countries, sandwiched between Russia, Turkey, and Iran that really piqued my interest: Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Yes, Georgia: I couldn’t believe that there was a new (to me) country called Georgia! Didn’t they realize that there was already a place called Georgia – it was my home state after all?
I finally realized that there was room for another place called Georgia, and from that point on, I always wanted to see it for myself. I wanted to go to the capital city that had such a weird name – Tbilisi. In my small, English only mind, I just couldn’t understand how that was the name of a place.
Roughly 26 years later, and while living in Greece, I was considering places to visit for Fall Break. I was looking for destinations that would be new for both Jimbo and me. There were some places in the Balkans that we wanted to see, but while scouring Google Flights, I noticed that there was an easy and relatively quick flight to Tbilisi, plus it was only a couple hundred bucks, round-trip on Turkish Airlines, passing through Istanbul.
Jimbo and I started watching some YouTube videos about Georgia, and I was reading everything I could find online: blogs, Wikipedia, and WikiTravel. So, we booked the flights, and I developed a full itinerary. I’ve wanted to visit this country my entire adult life, so I really couldn’t wait to see it for myself.
In subsequent blogs, I’ll describe the places we stayed and ate and visited. But as an overview, Georgia is a place you must see. I was captivated by it – it is beautiful and rugged; modern, but with an old soul; cautiously proud and optimistic, but always seemingly suspicious of its large, easily-provoked neighbors.
I didn’t know what to expect by the people in Georgia. Would it feel European, or Russian, or Middle Eastern? Would they welcome westerners? Would people be trying to take advantage of us? The answer to all of those questions ended up being yes, and no, and sometimes.
Georgia is a country of contradictions – it’s part Soviet infrastructure and part EU funds building modern highways. It’s American chain restaurants, juxtaposed with old women selling loaves of bread along the major highways. It’s building a new parliament house in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by bleak, condemned houses and apartments. It’s a place of cities with some of the most modern looking building façades, but unfinished interiors. It’s a country that gave birth to one of the most-feared and infamous dictators of all time, but a capital city with its major thoroughfare named after a modern American President. This is what Georgia is.
Visiting Georgia made me value the opportunities and freedoms that I have had as someone born and raised in the United States. At the same time, I was envious of the opportunity and excitement that seems possible in this dynamic, untapped country.
My thirst for seeing new places was exponentially increased by visiting this unusual, yet exciting place. It also made sense why the Soviets invested heavily in Georgia (Tbilisi was supposedly the smallest city in the Soviet Union to have an underground subway built). Plus, the Black Sea coast offered some of the best beach weather in the former Soviet Union. Georgia has some of the oldest wine regions in the world, and there is something so refined about the architecture built on wide, grand boulevards, as well as tucked away in narrow, winding alleys.
Still today, there are two small breakaway republics (Abkhazia and South Ossetia) aligned with Russia, so there is conflict in this small country. As an outsider, I simply hope that Georgia can find peace, and that the country will have the ability to determine its own future – not being coerced or influenced by its neighbors. It seems that they are looking West, hoping to be considered by the European Union, but hopefully Georgians will be the ones to determine their country’s destiny.
I think that Georgia has a bright future. In many ways, I feel that Tbilisi could the next place for hipsters and creatives – maybe it’s the next Berlin or Portland. Regardless of what the future holds, I’d encourage you to get there and see it before it changes too much. This Wayfaring Georgian felt right at home in Georgia – and I have a feeling that you would too.
