Tbilisi
3 Apr 2013 | თბილისი, საქართველო
Like
Georgia. Non-stop, he will be there tomorrow night.
So either I found myself in the middle of the night in the suburbs of huge Istanbul, not even knowing where to go or... the temptation is huge: "can I go to Georgia with you?". Vaja is one of the nicest guy on earth, he speaks a little of French and English so we can have some interesting conversation. And here we go, 8hrs sleeping in the car at the exit of Istanbul and then 13hrs non-stop driving to Georgia. He leaves me at the border, and after half an hour chatting with a Turkish custom officer who wants to train his English for the TOEFL, I put myself in the crowd of hitchhikers with a sign "Tbilisi" and get a direct ride in a truck. It's almost midnight there, Tbilisi is 400 km away, 8hrs driving with a few hours sleeping in the middle. But I learn a few words of Georgian and how to read it on the way. But fortunately everyone speaks Russian here so at least I can communicate \o/
Having nothing planned, I find the cheapest hostel in town (5e/night) where I meet a few nice people and wander around the city. Tbilisi is really a cute city, there is a nice atmosphere around, nice view on the mountains surrounding that probably allows good hikes; but it's the kingdom of cars, crossing a big street is quite a sport, they would even honk at you if use the pedestrian crossing, and the air is sometime hardly breathable.