📅 Saturday, 17 September 2016 

🎧 Sea Wolf – Dear Fellow Traveler 

Hey everyone! ☀ Let me remind you, my name is Natasha! I would like to tell you about my first hitchhiking experience. 

This is the story of how I with my friend got to Georgia from the city of Arkhangelsk in the North of Russia. We had a great time. 

There were so many events impressions and emotions. One day we just sat on the highest point of Tbilisi and enjoyed a beautiful view of the city from a height of about 1000 meters. It was an incredible feeling! It seems that the events described below took place a few weeks, not a couple of days! 

We got the border of Georgia for two days by 22 cars and almost everyone who picked us up did not let go without a present and invited to visit! The one who sticked the most to our memory was the Chechen who was racing in a white Priora more than 110 miles an hour and had hidden a pistol at the border. 

The Traffic Police  near Vladikavkaz questioned us about the journey for a long time. Then they tried to catch a car to the border for us and finally treated us Russian vodka and Ossetian pies. Also near Nalchik we visited hot springs with water temperature of 50-60 degrees. Thank you Olga and Vera that took us along. 

We could not slip across a border from Russia to Georgia on foot. We met a good Georgian trucker who took us with him. All together we crossed two borders without unnecessary problems and without examination of our baggage. 

We tented near the village at 2 am and were looking forward to the next day. 

When we woke up we were delighted by the landscape the type of Kazbek mountain rivers and mineral springs! 

In the Morning we took a look around and decided to try the local cuisine, and went into a nearest cafe. A very nice woman greeted us and advised to try Chakhokhbili.

After we had made an order we sat down at the table with a view of the snow-covered slopes of Mount Kazbek. Host’s son brought a mint soon and we were treated with mint tea.  

During a heart-to-heart talk we were invited to visit the spa near the cafe. We headed over there. We scored sparkling mineral water. It was gushing right out of the ground. And then passed on to Tbilisi by the Georgian Military Highway. It is a dangerous mountain road because of the narrow roadway and hairpin bends, but it has wonderful scenery. We climbed to the pass and took the pics of the beauty. 

Two men draw us by the greatest Soviet car of all time – Lada Niva that day. They stayed in any place where we would like to get out and take pictures. We did not expect such hospitality! In the Evening, we were near the capital. Before reaching the city, we decided to put up a tent and spend the night. 

Next day on the way to Tbilisi we met a great man Tengiz. He said he had free time, and it would be nice to spend it with us, to show us the Jvari Monastery. For thousands of years it is one of the main spiritual symbols of Georgia. 

After the walk Tengiz took us to the capital, he advised a good tavern and invited us to visit Tbilisi suburb in the evening. We agreed that take a walk around the city and meet in 3-4 hours. Dinner was delicious we celebrated our arrival with a glass of wine and then remained in the center enjoying a walk along Rustaveli avenue . 

And here's a new day ... We had no plans just knew that we were going to Tbilisi and we would like to see the city from a height. Tengiz really wanted to help us, gathered fruit salami and gave Tkemali sauce for us in the way. He even offered to rent an apartment for us in the capital, but we decided that it would be superfluous. His hospitality did not have scopes.  

And here we were again in the center of Tbilisi again on Rustaveli Avenue. We found a hostel left our backpacks there for a light walk light without things. We decided to find a funicular and go upstairs to enjoy the view of the city and just relax from the bustle and road. 

We just walked around and ate ice cream. We bought tickets for the funicular that took us to the top. There was an amusement park. We were sitting in the shade of a tree looking at the city from a height felt free from everything! It was great!

There were two variants. Go further to the east of Georgia in Kakheti or stay in Tbilisi and leave next day. But that's a whole other story!  

If you like it don`t forget to follow me @uuuhha! I glad to see you on my page! Thank you for  reading. I hope you enjoyed it.