Trying to order chicken without words can be very embarassing. In one local restaurant in Tbilisi I tried everything - waving my arms, making cluck-cluck noises, walking like a rooster... When I thought my only achievement was making everybody laugh out loud and gave up, the man from the next table came up to us and with generous gestures invited us to join him and his friends. That first night in Georgia was the only night we attempted to eat alone.
The Georgians are unbelievably kind and friendly. Wherever you go, in the city or in the countryside, everybody will insist on helping you, directing you and giving you food even if you are actually quite all right.
The countryside... every traveller's dream. According to a Georgian legend, when God divided the land between the people of Earth, the Georgians were busy having a big feast. When they finally came forward, God had already given all the land away. The Georgians apologised and told God they were busy drinking to his life. God was so touched he gave them the land he intended to keep for himself.
Georgia is one of the former Soviet republics that was least influenced by the rule of Moscow. As soon as they could, as early as 1991, they did their best to get rid of any Russian influence. Although most adults understand Russian, as they had to study it in school, they usually pretend they don't and the few Russian phrases we tried to use weren't welcomed here.
In Gori, Stalin's hometown (he is the most infamous Georgian ever born), we met a teenager in the main square. Zora invited us to stay with his family for as long as we wanted and wouldn't hear anything about money. When Zora wasn't in the room, his father told us secretly that they are very happy to be independent but life had got harder: "At least in the Soviet times we were guaranteed to have a job and got bread every day," he says. People find it hard to make a living today.
Although the times are hard for many of the inhabitants, the food is absolutely delicious in the local restaurants. During our famous first dinner in Tbilisi, we joined our new friends for a session of drinking rounds of simple, tasty home-made Georgian wine. Each one of the men stood up and gave a speech, followed by quaffing a whole glass to our life, their life, the whole universe's life.
In the meantime the delicious Georgian food was piled on to the table: endless plates of gorgeous salads, pastries, meat in heavenly nut sauces and in the middle, on a huge dish, the thing we dreamed of after months of poor nutrition in Central Asia - perfectly grilled chicken breasts.
The ITMB map of Georgia is very good. If visiting other countries in the region, the Gizimap of the Caucasus is ideal.
The Lonely Planet Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan groups the three larger countries of the region into one guide. Bradt publishes an excellent guide to Georgia on its own and the Trailblazer guide to Azerbaijan includes excursions into Georgia.
Author: Maya Negev
Date: 1 May 2002