It was not a rainy night in Georgia

In true recent fashion it was time to experience the wonderful value of Wizz Air, this time for the bargain price of £53 to visit a new place - Georgia - not the home of the famous ex- US President, peanut cruncher Jimmy Carter but the far more intriguing namesake in the other direction. I heard about this country from a colleague at work who I think in a complimentary way said I would love it, decent food and red wine and stacks full of abandoned and other places of ruins

- perfect.

A little bit of prep work and I worked out I could squeeze a reasonable trip into a long weekend, a four and a half hour flight and a four hour time difference - a new one on me but meant a later afternoon departure and an early hours of the morning arrival outbound and a 30 min net flight coming back!. Flight bang on time , not full and Easyjet type on-board service but considerably cheaper although the rows behind and in front of me bought on and consumed a generous measure of bought on booze which for them made it even cheaper. I was flying into a small regional airport called Kutaisi rather than the capital Tbilisi mainly down to price but I'm finding it' s far quicker exiting the airport through customs at the regional airports.

I've had varying experiences of late upon presentation of the battered old Passport which is now reaching capacity - this mainly due to some countries insisting on a whole page Visa , I expect this will change next year when the 10 yrs is up and it's time to renew and reflect how much older I now look! Getting into Georgia was an experience, yes some small queues although I was in the handful of non-nationals and had learnt my lessons from a visit into Kiev when I entered as a local (great idea and quick) and then had a nightmare leaving as my local non-status was rumbled and the man with those blue gloves was looming for a chat or worse.

So passport presented - a few glances at my youthful (ish) picture and a flick through the pages and passport turned upside down as if something was hidden, then passed to a colleague to do the same , then all smiles and passport returned but with a small bottle of Georgian Red wine as a welcome present. I thought wow they must have read my Blog but a glance over the table showed a whole case which was dished out to all non-locals but a nice gesture although can't see it catching on at Gatwick with tins of London Pride being given to visitors.

Next up I needed some local cash - Georgia is another of those with closed currency i.e. you can't get it outside of the country , no exchange desk, in fact not much at all really aside from a smoking room twice the size of the tiny buffet bar but they did have a cash machine and it was working so armed with my travel cashcard i.e. if it get lost/stolen/swallowed it's not too drastic off I went. Very good to have a English option on the ATM to avoid me getting too little or too much and PIN worked fine, cash withdrawal key selected and then cash appeared but I didn't actual select how much. Very bizarre and could it me the next generation of ATM's that decides, this is what you are getting rather than you choose the amount. Short drive to the Hotel (pre-arranged Taxi always worthwhile to avoid the scrum/sharks on exit) and the added bonus of seeing what name I had this time, not bad it was Nigal Fulham - this is becoming a bit like the Fawlty Towers sign.

But enough rambling here and time for some pictures. Lovely Hotel and was previously a Court house , family run and the owner was also a throat and nose doctor - could be handy- At just over £20 a night including a very different breakfast it was superb value.

I mean who couldn't resist

Coffee

Chunky Bread

Steamed Frankfurters

An Omelette

Local Dim Sum

Spring Rolls

'Meat' Salami

Jug of Ketchup

Saucer of Yogurt

and to finish with chocolate biscuits

Georgia is not an early morning place so when I woke up rather late morning I was initially concerned I would have wasted as chance to maximise wandering but not a problem and any major movements before mid-day seemed to be greeted with some concern. I'd chummed up with some Lithuanian's at Brunch which turned out to be a cracking move as they spoke Russian, had hired a man and a van for the day and as an added bonus were really great company. I had no idea what day they had planned but was happy to tag along and jumped into the Van, with the same driver as last night in what I thought was the same van but the steering wheel was now on the other side!- Too much Red or perhaps similar vehicles - it was the latter!.

I found out we were heading for the Black Sea resort Batumi which was on my possible destination list , I did look at the train options but like a lot of places a rail track doesn't always mean train and this was the case here, - trains soon was the answer - soon being some months away which having seen the state of the line was still somewhat hopeful.

So back in the fun bus and on-wards to the sea-side stopping briefly in the forest to pick oranges in the middle of January as you do

The scenery was stunning and roads empty and after an hr our so we reached the Black Sea which wasn't actually Black but could be white as it does sometimes freeze in this part of the world.

And where else do you find a mini Ferres wheel inside a skyscraper. Batumi is in the summer the main place for the rich to go and be scene , in winter though it's pretty quiet although not really baring much resemblance to Margate in the middle of winter. I had found the puffer jacket of the world and even saw a dog wearing one. Georgia loves a cable car and Batumi wasn't missing out on this. I paid my 50p and had the car to myself for the 15 min ascent with some stunning views.

The four hr stop was over far too quickly but the driver made it clear he wouldn't wait so I meet up on time (for a change) with my fellow passengers and made a strategic stop for on-boar provisions , my Lithuanian friends just went for the six bottle of wine between them which made my couple of tins look measly! We fitted in a bonus stop just outside town of the famous dancing (holograms) fountains, my pictures really don't do this justice so would google/you tube for better.

Back just before midnight and a nightcap with the hotel owner - a long but great day.

Day 2- Time for some abandoned stuff . I had hoped to get to a small mining town called Chiatura which was famous for some ancient rusty creaking cables cars affectionately known as Stalin's Coffins but was told these have now all been removed are being replaced by something far safer , it was a 6hr round trip which wipe out most of the day so a quick bit of re-planning and Caves were next up.

A bit of haggling later and a driver for the rest of the day for £20. There are so many abandoned places you could fill a whole book and several months but this was one of many which in it's day would have been stunning.

These are semi-inhabited so best not to hang around having learnt my lesson in South India when a local resident took offence to my presence and greeted me with a machete. It was a bitterly cold but clear day so what better way to warm up then heading below the surface (as usual) . Some wonderful views down here and a 2 km walk through the middle of a mountain ending in a boat exit back to the surface.

Another long day but did so much. Well worth the hectic schedule and plan a return visit in the Spring