By the Caucasus mountains

So, shall we do Georgia? Asked my dear friend Sandhya. We had been planning forever to do a ‘girls’ only trip.  For almost two years, we planned, we spoke about it, we visited many places together, in our heads though!!

A lot of things came by and bothered our plans, initially our family thought we were too naive to be on our own. Ok we agree that we are ..ahem ahem…young, but not young enough to be under the protection of our parents.  Again, this was just a mental discussion. For the universal happiness, we just pretended to agree.   Then came my health issues and there went all my life plans out the window.

So finally when my body and may be mind also, felt quite stable, our travel plans lifted its head. So, shall we do Georgia? I was excited when Sandhya asked me but by now I have trained my mind not to do the happy wiggle at the sound of any plan.  I had become infamous for calling off planned commitments at the last minute.

After weighing all the pros and cons, we decided to just take off. My friend at the travels arranged our tickets, stay and also the driver to drive us around. The fact that tempted us the most was the affordability of the journey.  My heart leaps with joy at the sound of anything cost effective and economical.

We couldn’t contain our excitement at the airport. We kept giggling like teenagers in love.

Landed at Tblisi early morning and left for Lapota soon, which was about two hours drive from Tbilisi.  The drive was beautiful as the roads and the surroundings were covered in mist. Most of the time it felt like we are travelling through the clouds. What a welcome relief it was  from the 35degrees of heat in Dubai. I watched the thin branches of trees playing hide and seek behind the flying sheer of haze.

Lapota literally took our breath away. We were a little too early for check- in, which meant we have a couple of hours in hand to check the surroundings out. The whole of Lapota resort is built around a lake, hence the name Lapota Lake Resort. Our eyes opened wide despite the previous night’s lack of sleep. We ran like little girls to the various surreal corners of the resort; posing ,clicking, inhaling, absorbing. There were various flowers in bloom. We took in the aroma of this sweet smelling flower and kept walking around to figure out the source. Finally we discovered it was emanating from the gorgeous lilacs.  Oh wish I could just store the scent and inhale as and when I desired. We bathed in the luxury of unadulterated cool air and lush green.

Evenings got even better as the fairy lights came on and the bonfire were lit in front of each of the small garden swings where couples snuggled up and friends chit chatted and we, after a great nap in our comfortable room decided to , have an early dinner sipping on the famous Georgian wine of course! Our dinner was accompanied by a musician playing a melodious piece on the piano. Oh yeah! forgot to mention that we had the traditional Georgian dish Khinkhali which is like the Chinese dish steamed momo. I was so jet lagged and sleepy in the afternoon that I couldn’t enjoy it much but I was sure I would have it in peace later.  

The next day we left Lapota with a heavy heart. We were taken to Singhnaghi also called the ‘City of Love’.  It’s a very small town which we can navigate on foot. There are very steep streets though. I was again so sleepy and in such a cranky mood that every step I took came with ‘Ok done with this…lets go back’ !! Sandhya was kind enough to not to react to my obnoxious remarks!

Now when I look back at the pictures, I feel I should have explored more. Blame it on my untimely mood swings!

Oh! Before we got to Singhnaghi, we stopped by the Khareba Winery at Gvirbai.  It was an experience walking through the long wine cellar/tunnel which is about 7 kms. The guide took us through this tunnel carved out of the Caucasus mountain and maintains a natural temperature of about 14 degrees which is just perfect for wine preservation.  We saw many many bottles of wine aging of which we got to taste a couple.  It was my first time in a wine cellar, so I was quite overwhelmed at the comfortable cold ambience and the sneak peak into history. 

So, after Singhnaghi we drove off to Tbilisi. Quite a nice drive as I went back to my dozing. In between I woke up and watched the humble rural abodes along the road. We snacked on another one of Georgia's favorite , Churchkela, a candle shaped candy made out of grapes , nuts and flour.  We also picked strawberries from street side old women vendors. The driver tells us that the strawberries are from their own farms and old women make a living out of selling their produce. The strawberries tasted so good that melted in our mouth and we craved for more ! You have to believe this, as it is coming from a non-lover of strawberries 😊  

Tbilisi stay was also comfortable. Initially we checked into a room which we were not happy with but we got shifted into another room soon. We relaxed into our cozy bed with best Georgian wine giving us company…sigh!

The next day was an eventful one ! We had a long drive to the snow capped Caucasus mountains. On the way we stopped at a scenic spot and also a monastery and did the customary photoshoots. Caucasus mountains looked massive, time and again reminding how small humans are compared to nature.  On our way back to Tblisi, we did one of the most adventurous activities. We saw the board River Rafting and decided to find out the cost.  The sound of the price brought a smile to our lips especially when they included Zip lining in the cost.  Like brave warriors we posed with the raft and the paddle for photos. Our guide, a goodlooking Georgian was one of the reasons we decided to wear the look of confident superwomen.  I was the first one to step into the raft, just when I thought I was going to be sitting inside the raft , he advised to sit at the edge with feet locked into the straps at the bottom of the raft. The look of confidence drained from my face and I looked at Sandhya and kept telling her, 'i didn’t know we had to sit at the edge!'I think I was telling her in the hope that she would back off from the plan and say 'Ok ! lets not do it !' With shock and fear written all over her face, she asked, 'Really?' and got into the raft and locked her position, I mean her feet only !   We both looked far from brave and before we could exchange terrified looks, the raft took off and so did our screams!!  We screamed like we are falling off a tall cliff.  When the guide shouts GO, we had to paddle and when he said Stop, we had to stop. That was the one and only rule he managed to convey to us in his broken English. Every time he shouted GO, we paddled like that was the only thing that was going to get us out alive! We both fell off the edges couple of times , thankfully into the raft. The river current was of level 2, so it was quite safe for non- swimmers. Yeah, you heard it right, we do not know to swim and we dared to get into a raft! Each time we fell into the raft, we felt handicapped and  however we moved, we remained on the raft floor.  The handsome guide had to lift us up and put us back on the edge…..sigh! We screamed and laughed so hard with each dip and each fall that we couldn’t believe we were in the middle of some stream at the outskirts of Tblisi with a stranger we had entrusted our lives with. When the stream was calm, we looked around with the paddles resting on our laps and it sunk in how meaningful this whole activity was. The roaring laughter syncing with the reverberating sound of water was one to stay in our hearts .

We were drenched and hungry. We got into a nearby Dhaba and had hot rotis and chicken curry shivering in the cold breeze and wet clothes.  Reaching the room felt like heaven especially after a warm shower and snuggling into our duvet.  We drifted off into a sound sleep with rafting shots doing its slow motion on our mental screen.

The next two days we spent at Tblisi exploring the city and the local shops.  We walked around, ate and drank at the street side cafes and restaurants enjoying the splendid Georgian weather.  We even got heavy showers the night before we left. We sat inside a restaurant watching the rains. Every time the restaurant door opened, cold wind blew in bringing along rain droplets and drenched customers. 

After five days of Georgia, our trusted driver Sunny, who played silly old Punjabi songs on his car stereo  through out the trip,  dropped us at the airport, playing the same songs in loop . We exchanged looks of disbelief and concluded that those must be the last set of Hindi songs he heard while he left India years ago. He was a very good driver who gave just the right amount of information rather than killing us with an overdose, quite unlike the songs he played !

So with that our girls trip came to an end and we couldn’t thank our travels AL Saqr Travels and our friend Bassim for arranging this trip for us.  For more on the travels, please check the link below. 
https://www.facebook.com/alsaqrtravel.ae/

Beautiful frames of two women laughing hard under the cluster of fairy lights,  amidst the colorful flowers and green tall trees sipping on delicious Georgian wine , with the perfectly mismatched background score 'Jimmy Jimmy, aaja aaja....' (from Sunny's car) are ones that will timelessly adorn the walls of my memory lane <3 

Lapota Lake Resort at Dusk