From Romania to Georgia and back
We continue our wandering and this time our destination is Georgia. We started in Romania and are on our way via Bulgaria and Turkey.
September 3, 2022
Cabana Dochia, Romania
Cabin in the mountains
Tonight we slept in a cabin in the mountains, we wouldn’t have written about it if it weren’t for the road to the cabin – an hour and a half by car on a dirt road with a mountain on one side and an abyss on the other, and when you get to the end of the road you load your backpack on your back and walk another hour and a half up a steep goat trail to the cabin. So what’s the story here? Well… it rained all the way, the path is muddy and the wind hits you so that there is not a dry spot on the body. You’ll still say it’s not really interesting, so we’ll add to that an altitude of about 2000 meters, a temperature of zero degrees and zero visibility (and we went up here for the amazing view that we probably won’t see). OK, so the background is clear and this is where the story actually begins. The cabin is heated and straight away we are served hot chowder soup, and while we are thawing, life begins to take a positive shape. Then the other guests, who will spend the night with us, start arriving. First comes a man pulling a cart with flower arrangements, after him comes another man with a wedding cake and then the bride arrives (the wedding dress is wrapped in plastic)… and slowly the wedding guests gather. We are the only ones not invited to the wedding that will be held tomorrow. Just to emphasize – there is NO other way to get to the mountain, but by hiking.
And we thought why? If you have decided to get married, why here? Do you hate your guests that much? Why?
There are no photos in this post because the fog is still here and shows no signs of dissipating. But knowledgeable sources (Ilana and Stefan who brought us here) claim that the view is simply amazing and on a good day you can see Damascus :).
September 5, 2022
Silistra, Bulgaria
We crossed from Romania to Bulgaria (on our way to Turkey and Georgia). So here is the story… Google sends us by ferry (we have to cross the Danube) because it should save us about an hour and a half on the road. So we wait for the ferry for an hour and a half and then sail for about an hour completely contrary to what Google thought – it planned a short crossing and we find out that the ferry continues along the river and we start to wonder if we are heading to Serbia? At the end, we turn towards the coast and reach Bulgaria. And then the journey begins – first of all there is a checkpoint where you pay the port tax (if you saw the poor wharf where we docked, you wouldn’t think it was a port under any circumstances ), drive another 50 meters – another checkpoint where some substance is sprayed on the car (perhaps grounds for a lawsuit in the future in several decades ), we continue another 50 meters and reach the border of Bulgaria – there is no one at the checkpoint… we have to wait for about fifteen minutes for a grumpy officer who obviously does not understand a word of English… another 50 meters another checkpoint, customs, with a bored clerk who signals us to continue, and finally another checkpoint where you pay road tax (again, if you were driving on the roads here you wouldn’t think of having to pay for them)… and suddenly everything looks very similar to South America . Welcome to the third world!
September 9, 2022
Safranbolu, Turkey
About tea and coffee..
Most of you probably guessed – there is no coffee in Turkey! I mean there is… sometimes… you have to ask specifically… or if you are in a very touristy place and then in every corner of the bazaar they try to tempt you with the Turkish coffee! The tea rules here! – in a designed glass cup with a thin waistline (like most women would like to have 😉 – it is served absolutely everywhere – without food, before food, after food, morning, noon, evening… well, you get the picture.
We are traveling in northern Turkey along the Black Sea coast, a chain of mountains that seem to be visited mainly by locals (so far we have only met one couple who does not speak Turkish). There are decent hotels and good restaurants (I must note that so far the food here is several levels above neighboring Bulgaria). The level of English is so low that even Google Translate gives up, but it really doesn’t stop people from talking to us in Turkish and sometimes throwing in a few words in German, all with a lot of goodwill and kindness.
And what is the first thing that stands out here? – The flag! The Turkish flag is proudly flying everywhere (giant bright red flags) and we’re considering becoming local patriots.
September 16, 2022
Zilkale, Rize, Turkey
For over two weeks I haven’t drunk wine… or any other type of alcohol… it’s not that there isn’t any, there is, mostly in hotels or some restaurants but you have to ask for it specifically (it doesn’t appear on the menu). However, there is no adequate atmosphere, and you do need this special vibe for the wine. The tea that is served everywhere doesn’t really do the job… so we settle for a really good food and many amazing views – as the poet said ‘I am drunk but not from wine… I am drunk from everything my eyes see..’ We are in the north of Turkey, and already very close to Georgia – and there is a lot of wine there!!
September 18, 2022
Turkey - Summary, part I
What comes to mind when you think of Turkey… “All inclusive”, bazaar, Rahat Lokum. In short, expectations are not too high. On our way from Romania to Georgia we “must” go through Turkey, we’ll get it done with and reach the land of wine (in Georgia there are 500 types of grapevines – about that in another post). Let’s start with the bottom line, a pleasant surprise in all parameters.
First surprise, everything is calm, the Turks we met are calm, talk quietly, walk slowly, drive calmly, don’t beep on the roads (not even once), although they don’t smile, but are always ready to help. I would say paradise for tourists, but there is one thorn in it. Not a word in English/ Spanish/ Russian/ Hebrew/ pantomime (we tried everything). Not a single word, not even, “yes” or “no”, nothing, nada, niet, no. Except in really touristy places, only Google Translate will save you.
Second surprise – the infrastructure is really great – the roads are of a high standard, the communication works everywhere, the hotels are of a reasonable level plus, the nature reserves are quite preserved. Although the ‘final touch’ isn’t that good, the total is far above expectations. An interesting fact is that the European side of Turkey is much less maintained and cared for than the Asian side.
Third surprise – the feeling of security, after travel warnings, Erdogan, the Iranians, the photographs (of the palace), we expected that the Israelis, how to say, would not be popular here. This is not the case. Most of the people knew nothing about Israel, with the exception of Maccabi-Tel Aviv (one word). It’s interesting when we arrived at the northeastern corner of the country (close to Georgia) suddenly all the signs are in Arabic and it turns out that the majority of the tourists in the area are from Syria and Iraq and despite that we didn’t feel any hostility… (and maybe they’re just nice to everyone).
After Romania and Bulgaria, where the food is not really to our taste, Turkey sits firmly in there (well, they did rule Israel for 400 years) – the breakfast (everywhere) contains at least 20 plates of all kinds (8 types of olives are a must), the fish, the meat and the halvah … We were less thrilled that there was no wine or Turkish coffee.
The route – we arrived from Bulgaria, bypassed Istanbul from above and drove along the Black Sea, since we prefer our roads with one lane (and along the entire Black Sea the high-way is with at least 4 lanes), most of the time we drove in the mountains, winding roads, Swiss scenery, picturesque villages, road-side restaurants, cute hotels and great people (if we understood them correctly).
And you can’t talk about Turkey without referring to the price. All-inclusive-everything is cheap. The first time we went into the grocery store we were sure they were wrong… a bottle of mineral water 20 cents, entrance to nature park sites from 1 to 2 shekels, dinner of 3 dishes (without alcohol) a few tens of shekels, a hotel a third of Europe (because you can’t compare it to a hotel in Israel – it will be a fraction) and even the fuel is significantly cheaper than in Israel or Europe… even when you get to tourist areas and the prices jump, it is still very cheap. By the way, not even once did they try to cheat us (at least that’s how we felt).
In conclusion, we will now travel for about a month in Georgia and maybe Armenia as well, and then we have the way back (to cross Turkey again) and we already miss it.
September 19, 2022
Batumi, Georgia
We arrived in Georgia and hear mainly two languages here (besides Georgian of course) – Russian and Hebrew, so I feel at home! Immediately after crossing the border (which, I must say, went quite smoothly) we felt a difference in the atmosphere – women walking around in shorts and tank tops, full of young tourists, churches (Georgia is an Orthodox Christian country), wilder driving (much more traffic offenses) and of course wine flowing everywhere… in general resembles Eastern Europe country. We loved Batumi – modern, young city with a nice old town and lots of cafe shops and restaurants.
Today we went up to the mountains (Mtirala National Park) and the views matched the expectations – the nature is very beautiful, old country houses scattered on the hillsides. Most of the tourists we met spoke Russian. A Russian tourist, in the absence of another language, will address everyone in Russian – Georgia has always been a popular destination for Russians and now, given the circumstances, all the more so.
September 21, 2022
Mestia, Georgia
We went up the mountains towards Mestia. The road is winding and beautiful, and since there are only few vehicles on it, it is also very nice to drive… but! The road is very bumpy and mostly surprising 😉 – for example, it has leves, that is, you are driving with pleasure and then it turns out that you are on the second level and boom (!) all of a sudden you go down a level :), and there are also cases where only one side of the car goes up / down a level and the other half continues as before… In addition, more often than expected, the black coating that should cover the road ends and the road turns into an obstacle course with holes and stones that have deteriorated and also other occupants of the road – cows and pigs. The smart pigs will usually run along the side of the road eating the grass leisurely, and the cows, unlike them, prefer the middle of the road where they mostly stand or lie down – we have not yet been able to understand the meaning of this puzzling preference. In light of all this, the drivers use both lanes regularly (including the opposite lane) so that we often see a car speeding towards us and turning into its lane at the last moment.
All this does not detract from the beauty of the surrounding mountains of course. I must point out that in my imagination I expected to see much more colorful villages on the way, but most of the houses are quite old to the point of neglect and there are still many trucks here from Soviet times which of course look accordingly. HOWEVER, so that I don’t leave an impression of poorness or anything, the nature is amazing!
September 22, 2022
Mestia-Ushguli-Lentekhi, Georgia
I wrote yesterday about the challenging roads in the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia… so relative to today’s experience these were highways! Today we drove from Mestia to Ushguli and from there to Lentekhi – 120 km in total for almost 5 hours. In the first part the road was mostly paved, but after the heavy rain and the hail during the night there were some additions: a river that flows on the road and requires a half-swim crossing, an avalanche of huge stones that cannot be crossed over without a 4×4 and all kinds of pitfalls and challenges. Ushguli is the highest village in Europe that has been continuously inhabited for over a thousand years (by the way, a confusing fact – we traveled east but returned to Europe – one should check where the border between Europe and Asia is), and despite its distinguished status it is not visible which the village strives to be a tourist attraction, although most tourists do come to it because there are breathtaking views and many trekking routes. Along 30 km from Ushguli towards Lentekhi the road is a real 4WD road… luckily the weather was good although there were many puddles and water reservoirs from the rain of the night. So some of us really enjoyed driving this way… and some of us (the part that sits tensely next to the driver and is thrown to the sides and in different directions in three dimensions) less so…
But… it is SO BEAUTIFUL here!! Sorry for the many photos, but the choice is difficult…
September 25, 2022
Kutaisi, Georgia
If you are getting married in Georgia, first of all you need a decorated Mercedes (with an especially loud horn) to lead the convoy around the city accompanied by sirens (with everyone around answering them with their own horns). In front of the church there is a traffic jam of couples waiting for their turn and taking advantage of the time for photos with at least three photographers (stills, video and drone). Around the ‘queen for one day’ the excited bridesmaids gather in dresses of spectacular colors… although there is a big doubt about their choice of design and colors in my eyes 😉
September 28, 2022
Stepantsminda - Kazbegi , Georgia (the Military Road)
It’s called the ‘Military Road’ (built by the Russians at the beginning of the 19th century to allow passage in the Caucasus Mountains between Georgia and Russia)… the name is intriguing… indeed the road and the surroundings are amazing in their beauty – mountains, lakes, waterfalls and valleys (and again, it’s really good to have a 4WD here). This is one of the most famous destinations in Georgi we met people from all over the world.
But there is another interesting thing… Due to the proximity to the border with Russia and due to the recent developments, there is a huge wave of Russians passing through the place on their way into Georgia – the hotel owner actually complained to me that she does not have time to prepare rooms due to the large turnover and she does not have time to sleep because the guests arrive during the night…
And another special phenomenon – along 100 km there are convoys of trucks facing Russia. Each convoy is about 3-4 km long and stands close to the side of the road and waits… 5, 6, 10 days.. After a short inquiry with one of the drivers, it became clear that the customs at the border cannot cope with the load, so already tens of kilometers before the border the trucks stop for a good few days… well, at least they have a nice view!
September 29, 2022
Kakheti, Georgia
We arrived in Kakheti district, a calm wine region – villages, vineyards and many wineries (in one of which we are sleeping). The owner, who was a bit stern at first, very quickly ‘warmed up’ to us (especially after learning that we are from Israel) and gave some tips on what to see in the area – one of them was a hot spring (Torghva Bath) to which leads a difficult road for about 30 km that starts at a height 400m and ends close to 2000 meters. According to him “if you have a 4WD and you’re a good driver then you can make it, but it’s a challenge” – that’s all that Yoav needed to hear… of course we went 🙂 By the way he provided us with local cognac which he said should be drunk before setting off… well, here Yoav was less obedient ;). The road is indeed challenging and beautiful, but unfortunately the entrance to the hot spring was closed for repairs, we were told to come back in a year time :).
We always prefer a local grocery store over a fancy supermarket – there’s nothing like a grocery store that can get you into the atmosphere of the place. And every time the story repeats – they don’t speak English and sigh with a relief when we can speak Russian, then the next question is how do I know Russian, then where we are from… and then always, in 100% of the cases, when they hear that we are from Israel, they have family / friends / acquaintances who live in Israel ( Ashdod and Ashkelon mainly) or they themselves are Jews – and we get a VIP treatment :).
October 2, 2022
Sighnaghi, Georgia
Yesterday we were in Sighnaghi, it is quite different from the towns we have seen so far, much more reminiscent of the ancient towns of Eastern Europe. It is on the mountain ridge with an amazing view, with an impressive fortress and wall. And again we ate Georgian food in a small restaurant where we were the only guests, and again too much food… but delicious!
Today we arrived in Armenia…
October 3, 2022
Vayk, Armenia
We are in Armenia, the second day, here are some initial impressions. Nature is quite arid and desolate, everything is in the colors of yellow and brown, high mountains with almost no vegetation – which is very, very beautiful! Especially the mountains are impressive (once again we realized that we will always prefer to travel in the mountains over sea shores and lakes). The towns and villages look quite poor (we haven’t been to the capital Yerevan yet), a lot of old cars that look thirty plus years old (Lada dominates here), and trucks from the good old Soviet days :). In general, Armenia seems to have remained in those days – there are still many signs here in Russian, and the Russian language is spoken here much more than in Georgia. I don’t know how to explain it, but the atmosphere here is a bit sad, and maybe it’s just my impression.
We wanted to reach the city of the hot springs, Jermuk, but we were stopped at about 20 km from the city (police checkpoint) and told that it is not possible to reach the city due to a sensitive security situation – a conflict with Azerbaijan which is very close to the city. Although the hotel told us that they would forward our details to the police and they would let us in (according to them the situation is quiet at the moment, although there are not many tourists), part of us decided not to be adventurous this time :).
Armenians are the first people to adopt Christianity (a few decades before the Romans) and they have their own church (Armenian) and yet you don’t see many churches here, but the famous Armenian cognac is sold everywhere :).
October 5, 2022
Yerevan, Armenia
On the way from Vayk to Yerevan (the capital of Armenia) we passed through the Dragon Canyon, 4WD way with spectacular views – the mountains in Armenia are mostly desert like and very impressive, you can see 360 round view to the far horizon. On the way we found an abandoned soda water spring – we tasted… not very tasty :).
The road to Yerevan passes through a small enclave that Google insists is Azerbaijan, although there is absolutely no sign in the area. We also saw many very old trucks on the way (from the days of the caravans to Jerusalem) carrying grape harvest. And the highlight is Mount Ararat! The snowy peak that just appeared out of the sky! I don’t know about Noah and his ark, but it seems to me that God definitely lives here.
The capital city, Yerevan, is cool! Modern, young and lively, with countless cafes and restaurants, with many buildings built out of pink bricks (of course I’m talking about the city center), in short a city with a soul, I loved it!
October 6, 2022
Garni, Armenia
Armenia may not admit it but it still seems to be under a lot of influence of mother Russia, you hear Russian in the streets like in Karmiel, a Russian citizen can come to Armenia without a passport (a Russian ID card is enough). Therefore, in the great escape from Russia, a large wave of Russians arrived here (and is still arriving) who are waiting to see what will happen, as a result the price for a hotel in Yerevan is going up like a boutique hotel in Tel Aviv, and according to a Russian guy who left a wife and two children in St. Petersburg, the rental prices here are the same as the prices in Moscow.
We found a small piece of heaven an hour from Yerevan, a B&B owned by a Dutch couple, with an amazing view and nice places around such as the “Symphony of Stones” in Garni, huge rocks that are built from huge hexagonal columns, or the Geghard monastery that is partly carved into the mountain. And of course there is a wedding – there is no doubt, the bride in white against the background of a stone church will always steal the show.
Armenia - Summary
Armenia is a poor country. How do you know that a country is poor? First of all, you can check on Google GDP (122nd place in the world – $4,500 per person per year), but you can also look at the car models, the quality and types of houses, the cities, the education… and Armenia is very confusing because there is an equivalent amount of Mercedes and Ladas (most of the Ladas are Fiat 124 models – for those who remember), including many vehicles that would be considered collector’s vehicles in western countries; the villages are really simple with many abandoned or unfinished houses, and in contrast Yerevan is a modern city by all accounts and can compete with Berlin and Haifa; the prices of hotels outside the city are similar to a hostel in South America, while the prices in Yerevan are similar to a boutique hotel in Tel Aviv. The roads quality ranges from those in excellent condition to others with many holes in the asphalt. And another thing that confused us is that there is generally an atmosphere of peace compared to the amount of army vehicles roaming the roads – in one place (close to the border with Azerbaijan) they even stopped us and did not let us continue – security unrest as they say.
So why Armenia? Firstly because it is possible, secondly because everyone speaks Russian and we are equipped with one who speaks Russian, some ancient churches are over a thousand years old, Armenia is considered the first country to adopt Christianity and has its own unique church. As soon as you cross the border from Georgia to Armenia, the landscape changes, from green hills to yellow and arid mountains. Arid and yellow doesn’t sound like much, but here the mountains’ peaks that surround you in a desert atmosphere are really attractive to climb one on which a church is sometimes located. For those who like 4WD trips, the whole country is one big 4WD trip. By the way, it is possible that in another season everything is green (that’s what people who know their stuff told us). And the population? Really, really nice (provided you speak with them in Russian). By the way (not only for Israeli passport holders), Armenia serves as an entry gate to Iran and we met quite a few European travelers who are waiting for a visa to Iran and in the meantime preparing a long shirt (below the buttocks line) and a head covering (for women of course).
October 12, 2022
Tbilisi, Georgia
Yoav usually doesn’t like cities… all the cities… because there are traffic jams and there are too many people (as it is normal for cities), so when Yoav gets excited about Tbilisi it’s worth a score! Indeed a city with character and soul. For a few days we walked around, every day in a different part of the city, and it wasn’t boring – the old city, the fortress on the hill, the synagogue with Jerusalem Square next to it, and a fashionable street with theaters and select shops. Therefore, here is a recommendation, if you want a long weekend in a nice place with many restaurants and pubs, Tbilisi is the answer!
October 13, 2022
Military Road, Kazbegi, Georgia
Are you going to Georgia? Are you on the military road towards Kazbegi? You must travel through the soda spring. That’s what everyone told us. So we went to the soda spring. It turns out that it is a tap that comes out of the ground from which soda flows with almost no gases that taste like metal and sulfur. The soda is transported through a pipe to the pool where you can probably take a dip in the summer, although there is doubt about its cleanliness and we did not check if the gas was still there. In short, when you are in Georgia, you don’t have to go through the soda spring. Try the local kiosk.
So what is worth seeing? Every place in the area is simply AMAZING in its beauty – churches and monasteries and picturesque valleys surrounded by mountains…
Georgia - Summary
Staying for a month in a certain place does not really allow you to get to know the place or the locals, but in any case little by little the dots are connected, for example:
After several restaurants where the owner tries to convince you that he doesn’t have room / the food runs out / the service is slow… you start to understand that they don’t really want customers – for example, we arrived at a restaurant that wasn’t full, but the owner claimed that he didn’t have tables, a cute Belgian couple offered us to join them to their table and we happily accepted the offer, after we sat down, the owner of the house came and informed us that it would take at least an hour and a half for the dishes to arrive, we didn’t give and stayed anyway – in retrospect, the empty tables remained empty until the end of the evening, the dishes arrived in less than fifteen minutes, and the owner of the house, once he realized that we were here to stay, turned out to be incredibly sweet (no wonder – there were no guests in the restaurant to disturb him), we, on the other hand, had a really enjoyable evening in the company of a police officer and a social worker from Belgium.
When you discover that all the restaurants without exception serve variations of khinkali, khachapuri and compote and that’s it, you realize that this is the food in Georgia and no other – and we have absolutely nothing against khachapuri!
When the fifth driver overtakes you on a solid line inside the road curve with a truck coming in front of him and really doesn’t intend to move to the side, you understand the driving style (and by the way, no one horns, neither the overtaker nor the one being overtaken, nor the truck coming in front).
When for the whole month nobody tried to cheat us (not even a little), and every time we made a mistake they corrected us, gave us back, explained to us… and all with a smile, you understand that it’s in their culture. For example, we bought a kilo of plums and the girl indicated 6 with her fingers, we gave her 6 Lari (2 euros) but she took 1 Lari and returned a change of 40 p., and must have thought in her heart these rich Americans don’t understand what money is.
When you complain at a really high quality hotel about the smell in the bathroom and the receptionist looks at you with a “what are you talking about” look, you realize that their sense of smell is different from yours (and stop complaining).
When everywhere you go they give you a bottle of wine as a gift (once because we celebrated Gil’s birthday, sometimes because we returned for a second time, sometimes because we spoke Russian and sometimes just because we were nice…) you realize that the wine here is like water, in retrospect we didn’t buy wine even once (and we still have a few bottles in the car).
The third most spoken language in Georgia (mainly in Sukkot) is Hebrew (after Georgian and Russian). No wonder it’s a hospitable country – two hours flight from Tel Aviv, cheap, and small so that in a week you can be in Tbilisi (a great city), on the Military Road that crosses the Caucasus (a great view) and Mestia and Ushgali (an even more beautiful view). And if you have a 4WD the sky is the limit.
Much recommended!
October 26, 2022
Transfagaras, Romania
Two months ago we crossed Bulgaria on our way from Romania to Turkey – the people were not nice, the roads were rough, the hotels were not good and in general we didn’t like it. This week we crossed Bulgaria on the way back on a different route, and this time everything was wonderful – the people are nice, the hotels are excellent, the views are really great and even the roads are not so terrible. Which brought us to the conclusion that we must be everywhere at least three times and completely changed our plans for the next thirty years.
So we do as we preach – we decided to pass one more time (for the third time this year) the Transfagaras in Romania, the most beautiful mountain pass we know. We have already drove it in summer and spring and now in autumn the light is completely different and the colors of the trees are like in the movies, which led us to the conclusion that probably three times is not enough.
HE 
