Kutaisi

We landed at Kutaisi International airport just after 10 pm where we experienced a short wait for passport control. the information lady quickly ushered over a taxi driver quite informally who offered to take us to our homestay for just 20 Georgian lira (that's roughly about 7 euro)

Waking up at about 10 am I made it a point to get on the move asap. After some conversing with the landowner and my still limited Russian I found out that not far from us are some places to get breakfast. Due to a little misunderstanding, we ended up taking the long way to the train terminal where we bought our first ham and cheese katzapuri. It was quite nice and quite filling in fact. We made our way to the red bridge where we were told is where the marshrutkas to Perseus cave with a transfer some town were to be found.

A few minutes after walking about a very soviet era looking taxi driver approached us and started persuading us for a fare. Due to the language barrier and the inconvenient ramifications of getting lost in another town we went with it without any hesitation - 30GEL for the both of us return. The ride itself was another story. The first thing I noticed was the cracked windscreen, the constant backfiring of the engine, and that "museum antique" smell of the upholstery. The driver himself was a true Eastern driver weaving in and out of traffic while also managing to stall 10+ times. Well, the car handled the journey and we arrived at the destination relatively quickly.

Prometheus Cave

The cave itself at first was a bit underwhelming, with nothing incredibly breathtaking during the first stretch. Even the photos didn't turn out that interesting. The tour guide did speak in both Russian and English so it meant we could focus on our surroundings instead of trying to make out every word. Finally after what seemed like a couple Kim's of walking about we arrived in a massive cave hall with a high ceiling full of stalactites and many interesting natural shapes.

We hopped on a return bus right away that took us back to the cave entrance where our taxi driver was waving and waiting. On the drive back the taxi driver attempted to coerce us to have him drive us to other interesting tourist spots for an additional fee of course. In retrospect, it was more the unreliability of the taxis themselves than the cost that prompted me to say no. As we got nearer to Kutaisi the driver started to look visibly agitated and drive aggressively while swearing to himself. We asked him to drop us at the Bagrati cathedral instead of the red bridge. However he drove us to the red bridge, his reason being that the taxi broke down. Looking behind us as we started for the cathedral I noticed him waving the 30gel around to other taxi drivers. Maybe a typical driver here makes much less than that.

The walk to the cathedral was about 1.3km uphill. We got there relatively quick in my opinion. The cathedral had a distinctly Eastern Orthodox look to it that you wouldn't find in Poland and especially west Europe. It had a fair bit of history behind it though.

Random homemade wine and tea with locals

The best part of today was yet to come. On our way down back to town we went via a different route. About a third of the way down a group of Georgian men sitting under a tree by a makeshift table signaled to me and showed me a cup of wine suggesting I come and join them. I did and shortly after called out to Magda to join. We ended up spending an hour speaking with these locals, drinking their homemade wine, eating cake, getting by with broken Russian. This is what I really love about visiting distant parts of the world, getting to know what it’s like from a local’s perspective, without any staged or cheesy tourist scenarios.

Next: Batumi