Roadtrip: Tbilisi, Georgia

I'm still catching up on our road trip we did in August, the 4000km is just the road itself, as we also drove within the cities we ended up driving close to 5000km. We stayed 3 night in Tbilisi, Georgia. We loved the city, here are a few of my favorite photos.

The old town has beautiful detailed wooden building, most do need some repair.

Generally the city is very green, I love green cities, makes it all so much friendlier.

The city has lots of beautiful details, we absolutely loved it and are planning to go back there soon.

This was the most touristic part of the city, but as soon as you walked a street or two back there wasn't a soul around. There were not many tourists, hardly anyone spoke English.

And even though we found the people grumpy, we loved the atmosphere of the city. It was clean and kind of magical.

We saw several beautiful mosaic details in buildings, and I loved this hand.

There are also some modern buildings of course.

The river Kura goes right through the city, so you often see the water, the city is built around it and ha plenty of bridges. We took a little boat trip on it. As it was still August and very hot we went early evening which was perfect as we also got the lovely light of nearing sunset. 

Most bridges were old, this one was very contrasting new but I loved the mixture of the old and the new. 

Some streets were like a green oasis, a relief also to get away from the hot sun. Tbilisi was much warmer than we anticipated and also humid, we won't go there again in the middle of the Summer.

A lot of the beautiful old buildings were in desperate need of repair and were empty, I do love the abandoned look but in time those buildings do get sadder which is a shame.

We almost drove across the entire country of Georgia, we loved Tbilisi the most, we also loved its flea market and beautiful antiques :))) I still have a few places to share from our long trip!

Newly Listed: Midcentury Ceiling Light with Leaves

Midcentury Ceiling Light with Leaves, Barovier & Toso Art Glass, Chandelier, Retro 1940s, Vintage, Lighting, Vintage 1940's by StarHomeStudio

MONICA' Fabulously Well Dropped Embroidered Ivory colored Lace Curtain with Heavy Macrame Trim Sale By the Panel or Custom by SpiritofMyHome 

Forest Canopy Bed by ironaccents

Bohemian Outfit

Brown Bohemian Dress Hand Crocheted Lace Dress Chocolate colored Stripes size 6/8 EU size 36/38 by StarsWear

Leather Kilim Pouch Coin Purse Wallet Vintage Hand woven kilim Brown Leather by StarBags

Little Girl Ethnic Boot Cuffs, Trendy Cowgirl Boot Adornments, Tribal Boot Covers, Kid's Ankle Boot Cuffs, Boot Decor, Children's Fashion by Indiemaison

Newly Listed: Art Nouveau Light Pendant

Art Nouveau Light Pendant with Glass Fringe Chandelier, Pink Chandelier, Ceiling Pendant Light, Glass Stick Chandelier, Lamp 1930s by StarHomeStudio

Rococo Baroque Mirror Ornate Rainbow Mirror Marie Antoinette HandPainted Frame Vintage Kitsch Revamped Colorful Mirror Made in Italy 1950s by StarHomeStudio

Boho-style bedrooms capture the essence of a carefree, eclectic design philosophy that's as inviting as it is personal via Pinterest

Newly Listed: Tree of Life Embroidered Ottoman

Olive wallpaper, Removable wall mural, Crow, Peel and stick, Raven decor, Leaves, Botanical, Peel and stick by marWALLous

Tree of Life Embroidered Ottoman, Hand carved wooden Furniture, Queen Anne Legs, Black, Green, Pink Pouf Bohemian Wooden Furniture by StarHomeStudio

Vintage Ornate Green Mirror late 1930's Wooden Frame Floral Frame Vintage reversed Painted Mirror by StarHomeStudio

Newly Listed: Vintage Tin Earrings

Vintage Tin Earrings, Sterling Silver Statement Earrings Evil Eye Delft Blue by StaroftheEast

Blue Eye Oil Painting Original Gothic Home Decor and Victorian Wall Art Dark Academia Wall Painting by  FortiethPainting

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MM Linen Santharia Multi Quilt Cover Set by LuxeBedding

Dark Bedroom Plants by quietjoyathome

Roadtrip: Batumi, Georgia

 

The main destination of our 2-week trip was to visit Georgia. While it is a neighboring country it is on the East-North point of Turkey while we live in the South-West, so it is not close by for us. This was our first time and we went by car so we had a thrilling time crossing the border. It took more than an hour, an unpleasant surprise was that only I was allowed to cross the border in the car as the owner, but my mother had to walk! It was not a 2 minute walk, a not fun part.

Paperwork took a while and after crossing I also had to get car insurance for Georgia. We there soon discovered that the Georgian people are not friendly.

While Batumi is called the Georgian Dubai, we only visited the old part of the city which was beautiful, but again not a single smiling face which was depressing.

No one speaks any English either, the alphabet and language is entirely unique, making it very isolating.

We absolutely loved the old city, we only were there for less than 24 hours as we still had a 5 hour drive to Tbilisi but it was a lovely visit.

There was also a delicious street pastry sold everywhere for a very reasonable price, the dough was very different and light which made for our breakfast/lunch.

I'm always a big fan of green streets and Batumi had several luscious shady streets.

We were in Georgia for a total of 5 days, I still have plenty to share :) 

Newly Listed: Seashell Mosaic Bracelet Abalone Shell

 

Seashell Mosaic Bracelet Abalone Shell by StaroftheEast

Jellyfish Photography, white moon jellyfish, ocean, sea life, blue and purple, jellyfish wall art, home decor by LynnLangmade

Undertow . giclee art print by ClareElsaesser

Roadtrip: Trabzon, Sumela Monastery

 

I am quite behind with sharing our 5000km road trip that has ended a few days ago. However I will slowly catch up!

Hidden between the green high mountains (at about 1200 meters) near Trabzon is the Greek Orthodox Sumela Monastery (Sümela Manastırı). 

My mother went here about 25 years ago when there was no one, entry was free and you could reach by car very closely. Now you have to leave your car at an expensive parking spot and pay for a bus to take you up and then walk the last 800 meters upstairs. 

 It is not suitable to visit if you can't walk well. We went during high season and it was very crowded, I'm sure it is better to visit in Fall. Unfortunately the monastery has felt victim to a horrible renovation which pretty much ruined it. 

The walk to it is right in the green mountains which was beautiful and the monastery must have been breath taking back in the day. 

I found the amount of people and the state of the place off-putting but am glad l did visit as it is a very unique place and a UNESCO world heritage site.