dia uno

We start with an overnight train: Tbilisi - Zugdidi. The journey will start from here heading north, but the journey wont start today, rain pushes us into looking for shelter and once again, lady luck wil have me find the most interesting possibility  a girl taking singing lessons from Satrpialo, a legend around here in Magrelia with his folk singing... all this as i was yearning for new (to me) music!!!

2 voices, a young one and an old one, joining forces with the magrelian guitar.
The sounds fill the room. His presence is great, even with his 89 years of age. In between songs he leans back, chuckles and then tells a story, she reflects on the story, i scribble something down...
couldn't ask for a better way to start this new trip :)

and along the way, a quick stop to eat near an old time tradition here in Magrelia, food for the departed....

a single road heading North with the impressive sight of Svaneti to keep the motivation....

vacaciones

a holiday within the holiday....

because sleeping in a tent, waking up early and riding through out the day is not always easy, we take a rest in Tbilisi: a week of sleeping late in a bed and without pedaling brings new strength to the body, specially when good company comes along for a week :)

Food, music and more food. Tbilisi is the capital for a reason, all the different characters that make Georgia Georgia are present here......

Weather is not the best but we push through...

Marta and I will do one more loop around: The town of Mestia awaits, with its beautiful views and hopefully not so much snow ;)

ill see you then...

chauuuuuuu

btw, thanks for all the birthday wishes :)

Georgia!

after 4 yearsof trying and trying, I finally arrive in Georgia!! beautifull Georgia with its valleys and its mountains.. and more valleys and some more mountains.

Riding through this land, the story of how god himself gave Georgians the piece of land he had saved for himself seems more and more real. Green every which way and smiling faces lining the fields.
It really is Georgia the Beautiful! and the houses seem out of a humphrey Bogart story: 2 stories, long entrances, a flank or two for horses, plus the khurma tree welcoming from afar







We are just 4 days into the journey, right at the beginning some might say, but have already been invited to a few weddings, a couple of them being my own, and, of course, to home-made chacha  oposna :)

season of Khurma. Orange alongside the road. Fresh or dried, Khurma is the food of choice now whenever we stop along the way.

We, as I encountered a fellow rider in Batumi. Four wheels riding up and down and toward Tbilisi.

love between a Christian girl and a muslim boy. Even that is to be found in Georgia :)