Sealedsuitcase

Warned you this place is pure nature. Once you embarked on the trek restrooms and food/drink stalls are available only at the parking area.

Here's what you need to do:

Arrive early to beat the heat and the crowds.
Bring drinking water to avoid dehydration since the trekking will take about 40mins (depends how fast you are) and Food incase you get hungry after your swimming.
Leave your valuable things inside the car just bring some clothes, towel and sun-screen.
water proof camera (otherwise you won't get to take any picture inside the cave)
Life jacket is needed for those who don't know how to swim

Free Parking Area

Parked your car and take a one minute boat ride to cross the creek (One Riyal round trip boat ride per pax and last boat to return is 6PM), then start to hike. The track starts with flat, sandy and pebbly it can get a bit slippery so wear good hiking shoes.

Me.. yelling at Jimson to be quick while his taking pictures

Wooohooo!! and he's so excited.

I guess we are near since we saw flowing waterssss..

But were wrong! walked furthermore and lots of visitor are now showing up

Finally we arrived at the first stop! Did a 30mins rest and eat some snack we bought, look for a place where we can leave our backpack, though we've been informed by a local guy that nobody will touch our stuff. But you'd rather to keep always on the safe side, so don't bring your passport and lots of money here.

kids can enjoy at low tide wadi

The views going to hidden waterfall at the cave are spectacular. A natural stream of beautiful, clean and clear turquoise water. The watery part of the trek starts shallow then becomes deep enough that you will need to swim (good swimming ability is needed). Keep swimming and you get to a cave that barely allows enough room to stick your head out of the water. ~wooo honestly I almost die here really its too deep.

Breathtaking 😱 cave well lit most of the part by natural day light and has a limestone ledge on either side so you can hold on to the sides as you cross. I won't spoil more photos 😜 to leave you wonder how gorgeous it is. Really worth the effort!

One of the best part of travel is that I learn something about myself. From experiences, travel changed me in so many ways that I never have expected. They says that "the best life lessons can be learnt a few hundred miles away from your comfort zone." which is actually true!

Here's my some of those self discovery;

Travelling pushes me out of my comfort zone

Fear of unknown and being alone is most the challenging part to a place to explore, discovering cultures, trying to speak new languages, eat a new kind of food that you don't get to taste everyday. I learn to adapt new ways of dealing with different situations, I discover more about who am I and what I like.

Makes me Social Skills

Meet local people and other travelers. Learn new "approach" ways to start talking to strangers.

Travelling makes me confident

Navigating unknown territories, conquered fears especially when you're in restricted places. Shared table with strangers.

Makes me more Patient

I am not by nature a patient person, but there's a lot of waiting involved when traveling sometimes flight get delayed and long queue from the airport. We must practice patience when we are trying to communicate in a foreign country otherwise you won't get what you are after.

Teaches me to Manage Finance better

I always consider budget airlines to save money on flights and search for basic and decent enough accommodation. Take the best route to see all major attractions by means of walking to spend less of transportation.

Living with less

Prioritize the basic needs and leave the rest behind. This teaches me that life can be lived a lot more simply.

Teaches me new perspective in life

seeing of how other cultures interacts made me think where I came from. Things that I took for granted put me into new perspective, which makes me more appreciate my roots.

Travel teaches me to value more memories

Life is such a wonderful gift as I travel I become overwhelmed with gratitude and appreciate beautiful moments or even the worst one. Remember there's no more throwbacks in life and, it is better to say "I'm glad I did" than "I wish I had".

This is my second trip to visit another part of Caucasus Region, the first one was in Armenia.

I had no expectations how this trip will going to happen as I didn’t do a lot of research about the country. However, I knew Tbilisi was such a charming city people were always had a warm welcome in every guest.

To start our city tour, first we went to Rike Park which is eight minutes walk from our hotel.

Rike Park (fronting the Bridge of Peace) which is popular among visitor, the park is one of the newest modern public recreational area in Tbilisi.

Concert Hall/ Exhibition Center and the Presidential Office on top.

Bridge of Peace

After exploring the park we headed to cable car station (probably rike park was our starting point to go up to Narikala Fortress)

Narikala Fortress

We rode the cable car which is the fastest and easy access right out of Rike Park to Narikala Fortress. Throughout Narikala Fortress, you'll found the spectacular views towards Tbilisi Old Town.

We went then to St. Nicolas church which is the left side on the lower court.

St. Nicholas Church (inside fortress complex)

A view point from St. Nicholas church you'll see the sulfur bath district. The fortress consist two walled section on a steep hill between the Sulphur baths and the botanical garden.

Tbilisi Old Town

Going down from St Nicholas we continued walking, we stopped at Citadel restaurant to have our lunch, we then ended up to Tbilisi Old Town. The old town was line with cafes, shisha bar, wine shops, small restaurants and the architecture is mix of ancient and modern style.

Note: Rike park and Tbilisi old town were about 8mins far by walk.

(still not tired of walking) From Old town to Freedom - Liberty square / Rustaveli avenue

Liberty Square

Big Bicycle from Rustaveli Avenue

From Rustaveli avenue to Funicular

Outside of Tiflis Funicular Building Station

Funicular complex known one of the most important places in Tbilisi with its significant history.

Upon boarding on the train you will be taken to Mtatsminda (800metres above the city). From train you can enjoy the spectacular panoramic view of whole Tbilisi.

This three story building was considered a favorite place for locals and guests which combines highest quality of food and drinks.

We did a little walk around funicular complex and we went to Mtatsminda amusement park, also from Mtatsminda you can ride on the biggest Ferris Wheel perched on the edge of the hill. ( I’ll be posting Mtatsminda on my next entry)

Back to Old Town to have our dinner at I 💗 Tbilisi, a famous restaurant for travelers.

We also tried Wine Tasting to end the day.

Here's some video clips of my trip!!!

The fact that I am originally from the Philippines (which has only wet and dry season) thus, I have always dreamt of a white Christmas vacation. I guess all my fellow citizen are longing too for this kind of experience, and yes! visiting Georgia for Christmas is a dream come true!

T'was half past midnight when we landed in Tbilisi airport. Surprisingly, as I passed through to passport control the immigration officer is giving a complimentary one bottle of Wine right after stamping my passport for entering Georgia! (this means that the wine tells how cold outside) WOW! Georgian people are so warm to welcome us!

Georgia is not the American state! Georgia(country) is located at a crossroad between Europe and Asia, part of the Caucasus region (south of Russia, north of Turkey and Armenia).

From Dubai we arrived so early in Tbilisi and we opted to take four hours of sleep and to get ready for the first tour. We did only one week to finalize this pre-booked hotel before our departure.

Metekhis Galavani Hostel

Where we stayed:

If you're looking for a reasonably priced, basic and decent, near to train station and main city attractions, then check out Metekhis Galavani Hotel. We booked a family room for a total of 320USD (3nights good for 6pax) including breakfast! 30USD for additional extra bed.

The main advantage of staying in a small hotel/guesthouse is that one often gets a very homely and personalized level of service. Their staff were very courteous, they even allowed us to use their kitchen to cook some food for Christmas.

To start the first full day tour, our driver picked-up us from our hostel 9:30AM (usually in Georgia tours will start from 10am). We preferred our own itineraries for the entire tour, which cost 120USD in total (for 7pax), excluding lunch.

Aragvi River

Ananuri Castle

Ananuri castle was noted to witness a feudal dynasty, which ruled the area from the 13^th century, also the castle was the scene of numerous battles, yet the tranquil setting makes all very peaceful and colorful.

Ananuri Bridge

Ananuri Bridge links the Georgian Military Road a major route through the Caucasus from Georgia to Russia.

We then continued the road trip, upon the sight of mountain range filled with snow, we can’t hide our excitement as we get closer to the Gudauri Ski Resort. We stopped from a viewing platform what an exhilarating experience as I lay down in the snow. 😁❄❄

Before our final stop we then drove snowmobile (50Gel total per snowmobile for 4Kilometer).

Finally, we have reached Gudauri Ski Resort at 2PM. Check their activity rates here.

Everything was amazing the snow was unbelievably good despite not snowing when we get there. They have had impressive facilities, beautiful scenic landscape and great people. Skiing rates were much cheaper than in any part in Europe.

If you’re planning not to try skiing or any snow activities, no worries there’s a convenient café/bar seating area- a great place to sunbathe while sipping a drink on sunny days.

We only spent two hours in Gudauri and before sunset we have to get back to Tbilisi.

Thanks God our driver stopped at Chabarukhi Restaurant to have our dinner and they served wonderful Georgian traditional food. Dishes must try Kachapuri(cheese bread), Khinkali (dumplings) and Georgian Kebab. Actually we ordered more food which cost us (189 GEL for total of 7pax) sorry, but I have totally forgotten the name of the main dish we ordered. I swear they have the best food but I wish they serve plain rice 😅

Definitely I enjoyed a lot from our first day! More on our trip in Georgia soon, but if you’d like to see more of what went down, check out my vlog below.

SealedSuitcase

20 Places to Travel Before 30s

Travel Tips

How travel makes you a better person

INSTAGRAM @sealedsuitcase

Sponsored Link

Advertisement

Lets be Friends!