Georgia - The Balcony of Europe

If the balcony is always seen to be the beautiful part of any apartment buildings, well, it is exactly the same thing as the country Georgia. Many of travel advertisements had been saying that Georgia is the balcony of Europe.

This one Georgia, however, is not part of America; as a matter of fact, Georgia, which declared its independence off of the Soviet Union on April 6, 1991, is located in between countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia.

Tbilisi – The Heart of The City

Tbilisi, also known as the capital city of Georgia, is the heart beat of Kaukasus. This city is making an effort to catch themselves up and get everything back together, especially after they were left behind during the days where they were still part of the Soviet Union. The presence of fancy hotels, restaurants and the nightlife, there are genuinely felt at the center of the city. I arrived at the capital city of Georgia at 5:00 a.m and right at that moment, I noticed that the street was filled with a lot of young people who just finished partying, and right off the bat I realized that, as most people do, all of these young souls own ever Saturday night there is.

Some part of Tbilisi is surrounded by the fort of Narikala, which has been there since the 4^th century and it also shaped the city so vigorously, that it would create a silhouette of a fort.

On that Sunday morning, as I was heading towards the fort of Narikala, I found out that there was an old church of Saint Nicholas, which I assumed was filled with lots of believers. 

The Saint Nicholas church is an old-fashioned church that is built during the 13^th century. Unfortunately, as of right now, the building of the church itself is not that the original one that they had up during the 13^th century. They had to rebuild it in the 1990’s because of the fact that at one point, it was burned down and every single part of the building was torn down.

The sound of the bell of the church ringing is a sign that the church’s service is about to begin and, one by one, the congregation would come inside the church. Every man and woman, old and young, would give respect to the creator by bowing their heads while making a cross sign on each of their foreheads and their chests as they enter the church. Every single one of them would dress in a very formal way, and all of the females would cover up their hair with their scarfs.

I really enjoyed having attended the Saint Nicholas Church on that very beautiful Sunday. Not to mention the beautiful sight from the top of the fort is the old city of Tbilisi itself. Furthermore, the weather that consisted of some breeze of fresh wind, along with a bright sunlight with some red poppies really made my first day staying in Georgia undoubtedly enjoyable and the one to remember.

The mix of the old and modern style of living can really be sensed in the city of Tbilisi. The majestic bridge called the Bridge of Peace is a bridge that is spanned as long as 150 meters right above the lake of Kura. It was built from the order of the town hall of Tbilisi, which served as a median that connects the old town of Tbilisi to that of the modern one.

The sight of nature, religion, and its churches

It doesn’t matter where you will go, Georgia’s nature will have you speechless. It is really hard to believe with the fact of how magical this country is that there is a little amount of tourists had ever taken their chance to visit Georgia.

Try to keep in mind that while staying in Georgia, one should enjoy the beautiful spectacle of the mountains. The country owns the mountains of Kauskaus, which what triggers this country to be one of wonderful places I had ever visited in my life, or in other words it is simply immense and beyond words.

The Orthodox Churches in Georgia have got a lot of sense of mystique within them and also is the tradition of the country itself, it is mainly because of the fact that Georgia is one of the old Christian countries in the world so, therefore, it has got lots of old –style kinds of churches who are built following the steps of the history of how Christianity came into the country in the first place. All of those churches are also located at some of the most beautiful places in the country. 

For me, Gergeti Trinity Church is definitely the best church out of all the churches that the country has and is also my favorite one there. It is located in Gergety Village and it is as tall as 2.170 meters below the Mountain of Kazbegi.

The Church of Gergety Trinity, or what people also go by “ The Holy Trinity ” was built during the 14^th century and its located had been isolated right above a very steep mountain side and it is surrounded widely by the nature has made itself as the symbol of the country Georgia.

House of Stalin

As a country that parted from the Soviet Union, everyone would see that the Soviets had been there by driving in some old vehicles that are made in Soviet Union, just like some that are still going around some of the cities in Georgia, especially outside of the Tbilisi.

As we all know, Stalin who used to be the leader of the Soviets from the year of 1920 until the year he passed away, was born in Gory, which today is a city in Georgia. Even though Stalin is one of the most violent and the strongest dictators in the world, there are a lot of Georgians have a huge respect for him, especially the locals; However, the tour guide that was assisting me did not explain to me specifically about some facts that have something to do with Stalin’s brutality whilst still in power.

Connect through the local culinary

The unforgettable experience that I had while staying in Georgia was no other than the times where I got to socialize with the locals and of course, while enjoying their traditional meals all together with them at the same time. 

There is a huge variety of choices offered to tourists from all over the world who are looking for some traditional cuisines and eating their traditional food in a very simple way of manner, which to have them all together with all of the locals is the best way to do so.

The uniqueness of the food in Georgia had been influenced by that the style of European and Middle Eastern. 

Their traditional meal is called Khinkali, which reminded me of dumplings and dismsums. Khinkali is usually filled with some seasoned pork, beef, and sometimes lambs. However, there are steps on how to eat this traditional meal of Georgia. First, after the first bite of the Khinkali, one has to suck all of the water from the inside of it, and lastly, you just have to enjoy the remaining of the khinkali itself.

Georgia made me see and realize what the true meaning of the word authenticity, especially during the quality time where I had the pleasure to spend with the locals there. If I ever had it pictured, they were exactly like strangers who I never met before in my life, yet they still treated me as if they have known me for a long time and made me feel very welcomed.  However, during the first confrontation with these locals they might look at you in a very bizarre and odd way, but really they just need a quick second until they would make you feel at home with some really bright smiles on their faces and offer you some helps if needed. There are a lot of reasons why they tend to do these things to tourists, but the main and the number one reason is because for them, guest is a gift from God.