Day 29 : Kutaisi

The last day in Georgia. Earlier than intended I will leave Georgia. My knee doesn't like climbing high mountains at the moment. However, I came for the mountains...

As I'm not able to do that, I decided to stop. Instead, I'll fly back to Germany and cycle from there to Antwerp. Finishing a bike trip at your front door just feels the best - even if the trip turned out differently.

I stayed at Ray's home for the last night in Georgia, via Warmshowers. He's cycled quite a bit of the world and is now staying in Georgia for a while.

It was great staying with him and made the whole organisation of the flight much easier.

Flying with a bike is always the same hassle: searching for a cardboard bike box, getting tape and air bubble foil and organize a taxi to the airport. Well, bike boxes are very rare here. 'By accident', Ray had a spare box of an earlier Warmshower guest. Lucky me :-) Getting the rest was no problem at the bazaar...

Next step: reserving a taxi for 4am which can transport the bike box. And me. With the third Uber-like app and my Georgian mobile number it worked. Suddenly my mobile phone rang, a potential driver called... 🙃. We managed to tell him in Georgian: one (erti) person, bicycle (velosipedi). Hopefully it'll work out...

We ate Georgian dumplings, khinkali, and tried to eat them the Georgian way. You hold them with one hand at their crown and use the other hand to lift the bottom so they are almost upside-down. Bite a little whole in it and drink the juice of the filling. Then enjoy the rest. The crown, the little top, is usually not eaten - but shows who ate the most khinkali!