Exploring Borjomi, Georgia

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! As most of you probably know from my last post, I went to Borjomi earlier this week. Borjomi is a small Georgian town about two hours away (by car) from the capital, Tbilisi.

I was pretty excited to go, because it would be my first time out of Tbilisi in five months. It was as great a trip as I had hoped!

Day One, Monday March 29th

I woke up around 6:30, and read until seven, when I packed my bag and had breakfast. Since we were only going for a few days, I brought a long-sleeve shirt, a short-sleeve shirt, a pair of leggings, a sweater, a coat, and the short-sleeve and Jeans I was wearing.

Due to some technical issues unrelated to our trip, we didn’t leave until nine, when we had planned on leaving an hour earlier. We walked to the metro station to take a the metro to a place where we could catch a marshrutka (a Georgian van that is like a bus) to Borjomi.

We got there in about 20 minutes, and then we just had to find the right marshrutka to take. Luckily, that was pretty easy. We walked into the parking lot, and the first thing we saw was a guy yelling “Borjomi!”. Once we started driving, I listened to music and looked out the window.

(this is where I would put a picture of the view, but for some reason, I can’t find the pics I took then)

A long, long, long time later (aka two and a half hours) we got there. Immediately we had to go find food, because we were all starving. My dad found a restuarant on good ol’ reliable Google Maps and we walked over there. I got a mushroom soup that was really good and tasted like mushroom pure!

After lunch, we walked over to a park. Borjomi is well-known (within Georgia) for its mineral water springs, and this particular park had a spring in it. We filled up our water bottles and then took a drink. Borjomi water is known for its health benefits, but not its taste. It was like warm, sulfer-y bath water. Disgusting.

After the that, we walked around the park a bit more, then sat down on a bench and hung out. It felt so good to just breathe clean, fresh air after being in the city for so long.

Later, we started heading towards our rented house, making our way through the ‘downtown’. The place we had booked was a really nice house with a nice cat to greet us.

We unpacked our bags and I read for a bit, then we decided to go have dinner.

We went to a Georgian restaurant not too far away and got some food. It was delicious! I love Georgian food, especially kinkhali, Georgian dumplings.

• 

• 

We ate dinner, then went back to our house. I read for a bit before bed, then I went to sleep.

Day Two, Tuesday March 30th

I woke up extremely early. 5:30am is way too early, even for me – and I wake up early to go to 7am classes (by choice)! I read and read until my parents and sister were awake, then had breakfast. I took some pictures of the house cat, then my dad read The Martian to me and my sister.

At around ten, we decided to head out. We stopped at the grocery store to get a few snacks, then headed up the ridge above Borjomi called ‘Cross Mountain’. It was really steep at the beginning, but Claire and I went up ahead of our parents to get to where our dad had told us we could have a snack (yes, I love food that much).

My sister and I were panting by the time we got there, but we had snack; cheese, biscuits, pepperoni, and some other things. Then we joined a class.

Yep. You read that right. I went to a class on top of a mountain. Why? Because I really wanted to. If you want to read more about what I do for school, you can read this post.

An hour or so later, we continued on our trek. We reached the top of the ridge, and took a few pictures.

After a bit more hiking, we started heading down the ridge, and into a spruce forest. There was still a bit of snow on the ground, but none that we had to walk through. Except, of course, I walked through it anyways. And I *cough cough* may or may not have thrown a few snowballs at my sister *cough cough*.

It was soooo soooo sooo pretty in the forest and I loved hiking through it.

After heading down a ways, our trail ran into a creek. I drank from it, even though I still had water. It was just fun to drink from a creek! A little while later, our trail merged with the creek, and I’m shocked I didn’t get my shoes that wet! I did a lot of jumping from bank to bank and on stones.

A short while after that, we headed back into town. I hung out on our porch with the cat while reading. It was really nice and peaceful.

Later that day, at around 5:30, we went out to go have dinner. We went to another Georgian restaurant close by. We had mostly the same kind of food, but it was still delish!

We went home, and my sister and I went to another class. Later, I read in bed, then went to sleep.

Day 3, Wednesday March 31st

I woke up at 6:30 on Wednesday, because I go to math class at seven then. I went to math, then had breakfast around eight. We left earlier than the previous day, because we knew that we didn’t have the whole day.

We went to the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park to hike around. It was pretty nice in the woods and I had a lot of fun.

We stopped at a picnic table along the way and ate some food and drank some water. We hung out there for a while, and I practised gymnastics. I got to take some cool close-ups of a butterfly that flew by too!

At around two, we walked back to the bus station and took a marshrutka back. I listened to music some more and forgot to take pictures.

Overall, it was a super awesome trip and I’m glad we went! I love hiking and I can’t wait to go again soon!