We assume the year 1949. This is the year when ‘Pipi Langstrumpf’, authored by Astrid Lindgren, was published in German. Each Euro (€) of our numerous guided mountain bike tours over Alps, in Piedmont and over the Atlas has been super invested. Only because of this we master today’s descent into the gorge of the Paravani River where we have booked the night in Khertvisi. Also, the patience and concentration we muster in tackling the potholed slopes is based on the wealth of experience we have gained with our guides Malte and Gabriel from 2012 to 2018.
In Khertvisi, a lively place with 35 people, store, dwarf school with 25 children up to 9th grade, castle and Georgi & Manana’s Guesthouse where we spend the night.
In the morning we first take a detour through the enchanting gorge to Vardsia, a 12th century cave monastery that took a hundred years to be built.
Through the rock we descend on tunnels cut into the rock with steps. Impressive! What probably moved the people back then to build something like this. Today, the uneven steps, the narrowness and height of the tunnel are a challenge for us.
Back in Khertvisi, we head towards Kutaisi along the Mtkvari River and Borjomi National Park which is mostly forested. This is where all the great drinking water, you get in Georgia, comes from. Our campsite today is a horse paddock. In the guesthouse across the street we use the bathroom.
The horse calms us at night with its snorting and farting. The nature is magnificent, the ride along the highway stressful and exhausting. Trucks come in spurts. Then, it often happens in the afternoon, thick dark clouds move in and there is lightning and thunder. We chose the side road marked in yellow on the map. What a decision! A dirt road with thick holes over 42 kilometers.
We are rightly afraid for our belongings, especially computers and cell phones which sit in the side pockets and keep slamming into the holes. Hopefully the bikes hold out. It starts to rain more and more thick drops from the sky. The road is a construction site and in addition a new railroad line is built here by Chinese. No guesthouse to stay overnight and it does not look like a place for wild camping. So we ride kilometer by kilometer. Suddenly a picnic area appears. We take it. Emergency camping instead of wild camping.
Three minutes later it pours from buckets and we sit under. Really lucky! Two hours later we get a visit from two dogs, a short time later from Lascha, the owner of the two dogs and the tent meadow. There is Chacha (Georgian Grappa) full, after we have refused Marijuana and wine. Gaumardsoss! means Cheers! in Georgian.
A good night’s sleep, a delicious latte, home-made, and we set off in the direction of Kutaisi. It is a great panoramic ride, so that yesterday’s adventure tour is quickly forgotten. In the end, in three days, we have ridden the entire 2000 m altitude. The fauna has changed. There are fig trees, pomegranate and lychee trees and even palm trees. It is over 30 degrees Celsius hot. Not only on gravel roads is the highest concentration required of road users – on the idyllic country roads the motto at all times is: Watch out! Because free-roaming cows, horses, sheep, goats, geese and chickens make up by far the largest number of road users – especially in the evening, the animals are on the roads when they go home to their owners!’ (from: Stefan Loose travel guide) Today we even see two cows in the cemetery, calmly grazing a gravesite. (We are still annoyed that we did not catch that picture on camera). Countless pigs grazing along the roadside. A pig is being herded through town, just like in the movies.
Kutaisi is the second largest city in Georgia with 142,000 inhabitants. We like it very much. Entering the city on a bike path, the second since the little piece in Tbilisi. This city is also slightly hilly, so there are good views, including the northern Caucasus.
A cable car leads over the Rioni to the obligatory hill with amusement park. This actually seems Soviet heritage and can be seen in every major city. We eat at Eldepo, Georgian (and) vegetarian cuisine and know right away, tomorrow we will go there again.
The day after we loiter the entire morning at the market where everything imaginable is sold and resoldo cars give up their ghost. Where entire households are laboriously pulled through the street, live rabbits and chickens are sold. And of course coriander is available everywhere. There is much to look at, to smile and to laugh.
From Kutaisi we continue on the route designated as the “Wine Route”. Much better fits “pig route”. This is a pet zoo! We have never seen so many free-range, happy pigs in our lives. They live up to their name, are lazy, wallow in the dirt and sometimes look quite cunning. Cows wander across the road or lie down on the warm asphalt. Horses accompany us for a while.
120 Kilometers ride past the picturesque Martvili Gorge we see more animals than wines. We have great cycling weather and stay dry. The houses all look the same. They must be from the Soviet era where there was only one prefabricated house model. Very successful! Each, like the Villa Kunterbunt, square ground plan. To the first floor there is an outside staircase to a veranda.
In Sugdidi, very close to the Abkhazian border, we have booked a room to go up to Mestia by bus the next day and go on a hiking tour. After seeing snow covered mountains every day for four weeks, the clouds are now hanging low. A Russian family, with whom we have a good exchange and consultation, have the same plan. They go to the mountains but we decide to go to the coast, to Poti. After four weeks we see the Black Sea and the port.
How disappointing and depressing! The brown water slaps against the non-walkable shore we ride to via hobble paths. The shelters in the harbor area are come down as any refugee shelter with us or that we have ever seen on TV, but fully inhabited – unbelievable. We ride to the nearby national park, where you can camp abgeblich at the visitor center. We have no luck. There are tents to borrow, but camping is not allowed. In the attached hotel one can stay overnight for 120 Lari. We have not paid that much anywhere in the last four weeks.
We should have accepted Chiko’s invitation. He waited for us today at a crossroads before Poti and gave us two iced energy drinks. Afterwards we were invited to his house for fish soup and overnight stay. He would be home at 6 o’clock. He wrote the phone number in the dust of the windshield of his car. He had the fish catch in his car. He works in Poti as a fisherman. That is what we got from it.
We shoot at Booking.com a private room for 25 Lari (9 €) thirty kilometers away. Super! Here it is like last year in spring at the Italian Adriatic Sea. The accommodations are a bit run down and the inhabitants loud and temperamental. Life takes place outside. We sit on the veranda of the house and eat pasta with tomato fish sauce.
In Kobuleti we have breakfast on the beach promenade and then cycle 40 kilometers to Batumi. Batumi can be seen from far away. We make a small detour to the Botanical Garden and then to the Green Cape Tower. You never know what you will miss. A house that also rents rooms. We enjoy coffee with fresh homemade cake and a view over the whole bay to Batumi.
And then … Time jump in Batumi: ‘Miami’ between Europe and Asia. We booked a room with lake view and mountain view. 100 meters to the beach and on the 23rd floor with balcony.
The bikes are right outside our room door and also have mountain view. Now take the offer and make two days vacation and beach vacation at 25 degrees and sun-cloud mix.
A surprising and successful conclusion of our Caucasus trip.