No bikes in the Blackpool of the Caucasus

Well! We arrived in Tbilisi Airport at 3am, and after a stressful 45 minutes trying to get a SIM card, we pushed our airport trolley into the night and towards the cargo terminal (which was probably illegal).

But did we get the cargo, our bikes, which has arrived on the same plane? Hell no! As, of course, we’ve managed to land in one of Tbilisi’s most religious public holidays – the Orthodox Easter. ‘The Customs office will be open on Wednesday’ (this was Monday) ‘thank you’.

This was no surprise as our exit from Dubai has been a litany of mistakes. But then there was also the kindness of Zhen, and then Natasha and Juju, who let us stay in their houses whilst we sorted out money transfers etc.

But more on Tbilisi! This place is a bit odd. There are lovely sections but a lot of oddities. Sean put it very well.

Beautiful in places but a bit rough round the edges.

On our first day nothing was open due to the public holiday. Undeteered we started off with a quick lunch on the local Georgian delicacies, vagina bread. Or to use it’s actual name, khachapuri.

I also had a Turkish coffee and Georgian dumplings – khinkali. Was all lovely but the amount of diary didn’t do anything positive for Sean’s recent bouts of indigestion.

We then climbed up a hill, following signs for a church. I found out later (just now in fact) that this was Mount Mtatsminda. On your way up you can visit an Orthodox Church – Mama Daviti Church – a necropolis which hosts a graveyard of prominent Georgian writers, and a furnicular that takes you to the summit.

The summit is where things got a bit interesting. There’s a certain vibe – like a seaside town in winter – that greats you at the top of the furnicular, and it made our first day in Tbilisi slightly odd. Image gallery should show what I mean:

Think that’s about all for now. Love xx