Before starting reading this article, please have a look to the actantial model you can indentify in stories and fairy tales - here with the example of Star Wars.
Keep it in mind... but it is another story we want to tell: one of our little stories, the one of Georgia! A well-built and well-ordered little story, with introduction, frame of the actions, helpers and adventures and an (happy) end.
To be in the right mood, please play [Chakrulo], a typical Georgian polyphonic choral folk song!
Enjoy!
Introduction: Georgian culture thanks to Lela
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| First day in Georgia and already a beautiful landscape! |
When the sun rose on the first morning, we were passing the border of a new land: Georgia! We were very excited and very glad to share this experience with our American friends. We got one of our last stamps of our trip!
After some organization (finding money, couchsurfing and coffee – which is needed), we were able to contact one of Hannah's friends: Lela, from Georgia. She lives in Tbilisi since a while and last time Hannah went to Georgia, they met each other! That day, she invited us for breakfast to her place.
We left our friends for that moment and we found slowly the way to her place – which was not an easy task! But with her two children and her partner she welcomed us very nicely. We also met Dogokan, Kathie, … (colleagues, friends or friends of friends of her) – Dogokan even offered us to stay at his place in Istanbul, where he is living! We had an entertaining international breakfast!
After some organization (finding money, couchsurfing and coffee – which is needed), we were able to contact one of Hannah's friends: Lela, from Georgia. She lives in Tbilisi since a while and last time Hannah went to Georgia, they met each other! That day, she invited us for breakfast to her place.
We left our friends for that moment and we found slowly the way to her place – which was not an easy task! But with her two children and her partner she welcomed us very nicely. We also met Dogokan, Kathie, … (colleagues, friends or friends of friends of her) – Dogokan even offered us to stay at his place in Istanbul, where he is living! We had an entertaining international breakfast!
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| Mtskheta |
Few hours later, after the others left, Lela drove us and her children to Mtskheta, an old village in the north of Tbilisi. The place was really beautiful and interesting! We had a late lunch – with (a lot of) traditional food!- and we saw the monastery of Djvari and the cathedral Svetitskhoveli.
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| Georgian sweets (with nuts inside!) |
We didn't see that the time was going so fast and at some point we had to go back very quickly to the center to meet our couchsurfer on time. We want to thank Lela for the quality moments we had with her and her two lovely children, in spite of her busy schedules!
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| Hannah, Lela and her two children! |
Frame: Tbilisi, between Europe and Georgia
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| Mosaic on the Clock Tower |
We walked through the Capital during the night: it was already beautiful. The atmosphere during daylight was a bit different but we enjoyed it as well. After leaving our backpacks at the guest house of our American friends, Hannah chose the places she prefers in Tbilisi to show it to Julie and we made an efficient and nice city tour: Clock Tower, Sameba Cathedral, Metekhi Church, old Hamams and finally fortress of Narikala.
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| The impressive Cathedral |
Most of all we enjoyed the peace of the Sameba Cathedral: the place is amazing and we were impressed by the deep and powerful sound of the bells. We also liked to climb up on the top of the hill, on the fortress, to have a wonderful overview over Tbilisi.
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| Hannah - on the top of the world! |
Helpers (and friends): our lovely American gang
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| Souvenir of the ferry boat |
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| Hannah, Eric and Julie at the Bus Station of Baku |
We kept on meeting our friends. The first evening we met Casey, Brittany, Gina and Elva for a yummy dinner and a night stroll. We had a lot of fun and nice conversations – by the way: it is insane how you nver get bored with these guys! Brittany even stayed with us for a promenade on the Bridge of Peace and a drink.
The day after, we met randomly Gina, Soloman, Eric and Brittany in the cathedral and again non-randomly for a late lunch. The last one! We had an amazing time with them and it was really hard to say good bye. We wish them all the best for their project (if you want to have a look and to support them, it is here: Jordan project) and to keep on spreading love and happiness wherever they go.
The day after, we met randomly Gina, Soloman, Eric and Brittany in the cathedral and again non-randomly for a late lunch. The last one! We had an amazing time with them and it was really hard to say good bye. We wish them all the best for their project (if you want to have a look and to support them, it is here: Jordan project) and to keep on spreading love and happiness wherever they go.
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| Good luck on your own canoes! |
Adventures: far far away, in Kutaisi
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| Parks in Kutaisi |
However we had to leave the capital so as to achieve our project: going closer to Europe. That's why we went further... Kutaisi was waiting for us! We arrived in the night, met already nice people in the hostel (no Couchsurfer in the area) and planned to visit the town the day after.
Adventures, we said: indeed we visited some mysterious caves close by, the Prometheus caves! We don't have any picture of the place, unfortunately. But we can tell you: it was wet, slippery, mysterious, cold, impressive, dark and crowded.
Afterwards both of us made a city tour… we needed calm and peace after the throng of tourists in the caves! We enjoyed walking slowly in the streets of the small town: market, bridges, park, fountains, religious buildings… everything was nice! We were especially very interested in the churches and in the orthodox services we saw inside.
Adventures, we said: indeed we visited some mysterious caves close by, the Prometheus caves! We don't have any picture of the place, unfortunately. But we can tell you: it was wet, slippery, mysterious, cold, impressive, dark and crowded.
Afterwards both of us made a city tour… we needed calm and peace after the throng of tourists in the caves! We enjoyed walking slowly in the streets of the small town: market, bridges, park, fountains, religious buildings… everything was nice! We were especially very interested in the churches and in the orthodox services we saw inside.
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| Cathedral |
The evening was also entertaining: we had dinner with one of our friends of the hostel, Sascha from Ukraine, and we bought a delicious Georgian wine we drunk in the company of another Sascha from Ukraine and David, the owner of the place. We had a lot of fun! And it was also really interesting: Sachsa is a new policeman in Ukraine – he choose recently this job because he thought he could influence the political changes of the Ukrainian society. We also learned that David is the brother of a quite famous Georgian photographer: Georgi Abdaladze. He is known for his pictures of the Russian-Georgian war of 2008 – which gave us the opportunity to have an overview of the complexity of the political situation in the area.
Happy End: leaving Georgia via Batumi
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| Batumi |
On the way to Turkey, we stopped before the border. Our hitchhiker left us in Batumi, a seaside resort on the Black Sea, where we spent some hours. It is a very touristic city with very impressive and fancy buildings and parks. We walked here and there under the sun and we had an incredible lunch. The magic recipe was: bread + a lot of cheese + a lot of butter + one egg. What else? It was super fatty but also super yummy!
Afterward we started to hitchhike again but it was 2pm and the sky was not cloudy at all. But Iraklim saved us from the dehydration: he was going to the airport of Batumi but he had time and dropped us to the border between Georgia and Turkey! The border is surrounded by an amazing landscape (mountains and sea) through where we left the country… one of the last of our trip!
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| Between Georgia and Turkey |
Do you remember the actantial model of the beginning?
Georgia's story seen like a tale:
- subjects= Hannah & Julie
- helpers= the American gang
- object= go back home
- sender & receiver= ourselves and our friends and new friends
A tale but... without huge adventures and most of all with no villain in the story. Only heroes and heroins! So...
Thanks all of you for helping us and thanks Georgia for the beauty of your cities and countrysides!
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