We're Marianne and Chris and we've been traveling full-time since 2018.
We're currently spending a few weeks in the country of Georgia.
A country with fantastic mountain views, crazy roads and even crazier driving!
You can't see!
What is that?!
And let's not forget unusual architecture,
delicious food and cows on the road!
Good morning! We have woken up just on the outskirts of Kutaisi,
we had a lovely quiet night sleep here, at this little campsite we found.
And this morning we're going to get head into the city and show you around.
I think this has to be the biggest roundabout that we've ever been on!
This is nuts!
I love it!
So now we just got to find somewhere to park ....
watch out there, it is ok we are merging !
There you go, there we go!
That's lovely we just had a car stop and welcome us!
So we're pretty sure that that is a parking meter,
it looks like a parking meter!
Purchase a fixed time, please enter the zone and your parking number - Oh!
This might get confusing!
We have no idea how the parking meter works and Marianne's just popped into the little shop here to see if she can get some help.
It's a little bit confusing, because the lady's done it on the machine,
and then it doesn't accept our Georgian phone number or her phone number.
So the lovely lady in the shop that was helping us she's assured us,
don't worry just leave your van here,
and go off, enjoy the day, and she'll look after the van for us!
So we're going to go and have a look at the city!
Welcome to Kutaisi!
Georgia's second largest city.
Located 221 kilometers west of the capital city of Georgia - Tbilisi!
And is on the Rioni river which runs straight through the heart of the city.
It is the capital of the western region of Ameretti.
So our first stop this morning is Bagrat Cathedral,
which you can see just through the trees there,
it's about a 10 minute walk so that's where we're heading right now!
The bridge we're crossing now is called the Chain bridge,
hence all this decorative work here,
and all the way up there are actually chains holding the bridge up!
If we're going to film somewhere we look at the weather forecast and try and plan to go out
when it's nice and dry,
sometimes you don't always have that luxury,
and today is looking a little bit cloudy!
The heavens may well open for us later!
We're just walking up the uh the back streets,
there's lovely little staircases going to these houses,
a few vintage cars on the way!
This is Bagrat Cathedral,
and it's called Bagrat Cathedral because it was built by Bagrat the third in the 10th century,
and he was the first king of a United Georgia.
It's considered to be one of the best examples of Georgian medieval architecture.
And it was completed in the 11th century,
and is a symbol of Unity!
It's really nice carved stone on the outside of the cathedral here.
This city dates back from between the third and the sixth century when it was the capital of the Colchis.
From October 2012, to December 2018,
this city was actually the seat of Parliament here in Georgia,
before it moved back to Tbilisi.
Marianne, what are you doing behind the bars?
I'm practicing for breaking road laws!
Marianne's been locked up for her driving! Actually no she hasn't really!
Have you heard of the myth, the legend that is Jason and the Argonauts,
searching for the Golden Fleece?
Well this city was named to be their final destination, in search of that Golden Fleece!
And from the Cathedral you get probably one of the better views over the city,
with the mountains in the background they're overlooking it.
It's a big city!
It goes all the way into the distance in both directions.
Marianne's decided that's her new home!
How cool would that be to live in a tower with a big metal door?
It's a very cool looking tower ?
And it's got a very nice view!
It has, although it would be the same view every day!
In Trudy we get a different view every day which makes life interesting,
and now we're going to head back into the city,
we're going to go and find the Green bazaar!
We're just walking back down the hill,
can you hear those cicadas?
It's literally sounds like we are in a jungle in Borneo!
It's really really loud!
Okay we come back down into the into the city,
and now we're going to try and find the local bazaar,
the green bazaar.
Oh a local bakery, smell that!
Oh it smells like custard vanilla slices!
So i think the market should be somewhere over here,
that looks like a market!
Hello !
Wow let's have a little look around!
As soon as you come in you can smell the spices,
there's the spice shop - Hello
Smells good
There are sacks of spices here in the store,
and a freezer full of fish and fish bits,
more spices.
Walking around the local markets you really get a feel of local life,
lots of vegetable stands here.
We're going to buy some of these apples
we've never seen them this sort of colour red and sort of yellowy but,
try some local apples.
So i've seen these things are like a snack, i think in Georgia?
Thank you
So we're just going to try this, my first time trying this here in Georgia.
It's basically like jelly with nuts,
and it's made a bit like a candle,
there is a wick that goes all the way through it to form it so they obviously dip it in.
Fruity nutty!
There's a string, what do you reckon?
Nope ! it's a bit ...... it's not Haribo!
it's not Haribo! It's not that sweet.
So this way we're going through the butcher's section, they've got some chickens.
Lots of nuts - Hello
through the butcher section, the meat section
and fish, they've got lots of mainly chicken here and beef.
So now we're coming down into a massive fruit and veg section,
you can smell all the herbs it's a really big market!
oh look at all these spices smell oh
Oh it smells really good!
Beautiful
Paprika, Georgia saffron, wow they've got saffron in Georgia! I didn't know that.
That is a good taste of local life here in Georgia.
And it got a little bit hectic in the market,
it's always a little bit hectic in markets!
So as you come out of the market here,
look at this!
This is a very good example of,
it is called a Soviet bass relief this type of artwork,
and that is absolutely amazing the detail on that is fascinating!
It's unexpected to come around the corner and see a Dunkin' donuts
and the Wendy's here in the city centre, but there is!
There's daisies on the zebra crossing,
maybe there's one for every person that was killed!
The good thing walking around Georgia is when you come to a zebra crossing,
the cars will stop
99.9 of the cars will stop.
So after a little walk around the market now,
we're going to go and find a bit of lunch.
We've just come to this little restaurant called Paulo's,
Looks like they do some Georgian food, so we'll see what we can get for lunch!
There's a lovely building behind you? Is there? Yeah! Hello.
So we've got a nice bottle of spring water from the Caucus mountains,
which is local Georgian,
and it's nice because it's in glass!
Wow look at this!
This is a traditional dish apparently from this region here in Georgia
and it's a bean dish it's sizzling in a little clay pot there,
beans with some herbs and vegetables, some pickled chilies, pickled cabbage, some sort of homemade bread?
Oh it smells really good!
Mmm it's a lovely beef stew, and pickled cabbage,
lovely, the bread is actually quite dense,
the bread actually tastes quite bland,
but it's deep fried and presumably it's made to be dunked and get the flavour from the beans!
And mushrooms with Georgian cheese,
and it's called - cheese and mushrooms in a little clay pot.
This is actually two of my favourite foods!
Cheesy mushrooms, i don't think you can really go wrong with cheesy mushrooms! How does the cheese taste?
Thats nice! tasty cheese.
Generally when you go out to eat they don't serve all your dishes at the same time,
they tend to just come out of the kitchen as and when they're ready in the kitchen.
So you can finish your meal before your partner's dish even arrives,
and that seems the normal over here,
or you finish your main course before your vegetables and your potato side dishes arrive.
Right i'm going to tuck in!
So after a quick lunch we are
heading back to the river,
there's a bridge called the White bridge,
which everybody's told us we have to go and have a look at, which is about five minutes walk this way.
But this part of the city feels nice and modern, little parks tree-lined little streets.
So we have arrived at the white bridge look at that for a view over the river!
It's a really nice spot!
I'm pleased people told us to come down here,
the sun's just come out again!
On the floor they've got these glass bits here,
so you can walk across and look straight down at the river below,
although they are quite dirty, it's quite hard to actually see.
And it's all metal here engraved panels on the floor of the bridge,
but look over there, that's really cool!
Oh yeah look
they've got a very funky looking bar down there,
and look at all the way the rocks have been washed and actually carved out by the river!
And a very cool statue of a little boy sat on the edge.
So there is actually a little cable car that runs from down here up to the top of the hill,
I can see the little red cable car up there,
but at the moment it doesn't seem to be running.
So we're just going to go and see if we can find where it leaves from,
and see if it will be running at any point today?
We've just checked, unfortunately it is closed at the moment due to covid restrictions,
but if you do come here it looks pretty cool!
Another thing that Kutaisi has is a cool street art feel.
So we're just going to go and have a little walk around and see what street art we can find to show you!
We've had a lovely walk, haven't we? We have,
it's been a day and a half walking around,
but we found a lovely shaded area with benches right next to a monument!
Yes, the monument you can see behind us is 'The Glory to Labour Monument'
and is located just next to city hall.
It's a wonderful example of soviet art
So in the middle of the square here there is the Colchis fountain.
On the fountain there are 30 golden animals,
as well as Tomada a traditional Georgian toastmaster.
And the statues are all replicas of statues they actually found during archaeological digs,
which date back to the Colchis times,
in fact the originals can be seen in the museum in Tbilisi.
Okay, we've arrived back at Trudy.
No ticket? No ticket! Always good!
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