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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures
Georgia-Armenia 2024 Day 11: Kutaisi To Mestia
Georgia-Armenia 2024 Day 11: 27th September (Friday)
Group (Non-cycling) Tour of Georgia & Armenia:
Day 11 - Kutaisi to Mestia:
Kutaisi (Prestige Guest House)>Martvili Farmers Market>Martvili Canyon>Abasha Riverside>Jvari>Enguri Dam>Patara Enguri River>Mestia (Margiansha House).
Day 11 - Kutaisi to Mestia:
Kutaisi (Prestige Guest House)>Martvili Farmers Market>Martvili Canyon>Abasha Riverside>Jvari>Enguri Dam>Patara Enguri River>Mestia (Margiansha House).
This is page 11 of a 14-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.
< D10: Tskhradjvari | Go to Other Days | D12: Ushguli >
Route recommendations, here're some tips on travelling in and around Tbilisi (Georgia):
1. Traffic Directions!
Driving in Georgia is left-hand drive, with a speed limit of 60 km/h in cities and towns, and 80 km/h in other areas unless indicated otherwise. Armenia is also left-hand drive, so in both Georgia and Armenia drive/cycle on the right.
2. Immigration & Customs Requirements
For Georgia, citizens of Malaysia do not need a visa to enter for travel purposes and can stay in the country for 365 days without a visa. The travel passport must be valid throughout the whole period of stay in Georgia. A blank page is necessary for an entry stamp. Click here for a list of countries that need visa entry. Click here for the Georgia E-visa application portal and click here for guidelines on the E-visa application which costs USD20 (30 days validity).
For both countries, after clearing immigration, one will have to go through customs. We had to carry our luggage personally through. They are green lanes for those with nothing to declare; for duty-free good exemption, click here for Georgia's regulations, and here for Armenia's. Our vans had to go through the vehicles' lanes.
For those bringing in personal medication (up to 31 days usage) into Georgia, do get a prescription from your doctor; click here for guidelines.
3. Getting to and around Georgia & Armenia.
Major airlines serve both Georgia & Armenia. We flew from KLIA Terminal 1 into and out of Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport via Qatar Airways, with transit at Doha. It would have been time-saving into Armenia via Yerevan's Zvartnots International Airport; but we naively erred on the side of caution. Our airfares were bought during the MATA Travel Fair via promotions by the RHB Debit Card, the return fare cost us between MYR 2,800 to 3,200.
We got around both countries by using a local long-chassis Mercedes Sprinter Van with an extended rear luggage section for the 16 of us, and a Mercedes V-Class 7-seater van for another four of us who enlisted later. The rides were generally comfortable as most were on tarred roads with some stretches of gravel roads.
For harsher rides we used smaller local vans with drivers familiar to the rougher, steeper roads - this was to the Gergeti Trinity Church, Ushguli Village, Koruldi Lakes and Chalaadi Glacier.
We got around both countries by using a local long-chassis Mercedes Sprinter Van with an extended rear luggage section for the 16 of us, and a Mercedes V-Class 7-seater van for another four of us who enlisted later. The rides were generally comfortable as most were on tarred roads with some stretches of gravel roads.
For harsher rides we used smaller local vans with drivers familiar to the rougher, steeper roads - this was to the Gergeti Trinity Church, Ushguli Village, Koruldi Lakes and Chalaadi Glacier.
There were a couple of free days to explore Tbilisi by ourselves, but it is possible to use the Uber Georgia app to get further around. Other ride-hailing alternatives are Bolt, Yandex and Taxi Maxim.
4. Places & Things of Interest
Enroute were several places of interest, some of which we visited and others we did not for lack of time (Note: click on GPS coordinates for a directional map to respective places):
b. Martvili Farmers Market (GPS: 42.41729, 42.37605).
c. Martvili Canyon (მარტვილის კანიონი) (GPS: 42.45720, 42.37692).
d. Abasha Riverside (GPS: 42.46399, 42.37394).
e. Abhesi Waterfall (აბჰესის ჩანჩქერი) (GPS: 42.45292, 42.37531).
f. Enguri Dam (ენგურის კაშხალი) (GPS: 42.75854, 42.03108).
g. Mount Laila (GPS: 42.92578, 42.55318).
h. Patara Enguri River (ენგური) (GPS: 42.74408, 42.04558).
i. Mestia Stone Tower (GPS: 43.04550, 42.72769) one of the UNESCO Heritage Upper Svanti Site.
5. Food
a. Breakfast:
An excellent inclusive Western/Georgian Fare at the Prestige Guest House (GPS: 42.25811, 42.6871) in Kutaisi.
b. Lunch:
Lavasi Bread with beef stew at Cafe Fanti (GPS: 42.72558, 42.03936) in Jvari (ჯვარი (ქალაქი)) (GPS: 42.70908, 42.04909).
Alternative lunch place: Chito Restaurant Djvari (GPS: 42.72501, 42.03949) in Jvari, with a wider menu & serves good coffee too.
b. Lunch:
Lavasi Bread with beef stew at Cafe Fanti (GPS: 42.72558, 42.03936) in Jvari (ჯვარი (ქალაქი)) (GPS: 42.70908, 42.04909).
Alternative lunch place: Chito Restaurant Djvari (GPS: 42.72501, 42.03949) in Jvari, with a wider menu & serves good coffee too.
c. Dinner:
Western/Georgian Fare (including Kubdari Bread filled with chicken) at Margiansha House (GPS: 43.04041, 42.71321) in Mestia.
6. Accommodations
First of three nights at Margiansha House (GPS: 43.04041, 42.71321) in Mestia. The alternate hotel for the second group was Ushba Hotel (GPS: 43.04463, 42.73212).
7. Tour Costs & Arrangements
Return air tickets bought during the MATA Travel Fair/RHB Debit Card promotions were between MYR 2,800 to 3,200.
The ground arrangements tour package included a 10-passenger van to take us around, starting from & returning to Tbilisi. It also included 3-star hotels/homestays. The charge per pax for this ground arrangement was at MYR7,400. This excluded meals (other than hotel breakfasts & 3 dinners at Mestia), airport transfers, most entry tickets and tips. This allows for individuals to have meals according to their own liking & budget. Allow per meal should be adequate.
On average, the overall tour cost worked out to be around RM950 to RM1,000 per day. For those interested in this tour, contact Eddie at +6012-6122600 for more details and updated costs.
For out-of-pocket spending, we exchange some Georgian Lari (GEL) and Armenian Dram (AMD) in the respective countries. Some brought along their Wise debit cards to use; one can pre-load the card with the local currency. Or let it auto-deduct the currencies existing in the card. We found that it deducted other currencies first before deducting Malaysian Ringgit.
8. Communicating with Each Other
When travelling in a group it's important to be able to communicate with each other, especially if one gets lost from the rest. Georgia pre-paid sim cards are easily available and cost 5 GEL to 20 GEL, depending on the provider and the included benefits. While Armenian pre-paid SIM cards range from AMD 1000 to AMD 3000. Those in our tour group pre-ordered their SIM cards through our Georgian guide.
Those who use Maxis as their telco can purchase the Maxis Roaming Pass. The RM89 15-day Multi-country Roaming Pass covers many countries including Georgia, Armenia and Qatar.
The Pass can be bought before the trip with a designated starting time/date, BUT DO TURN OFF your data roaming just before the Roaming Pass expires OTHERWISE any subsequent usage will automatically trigger off the 1-Day Roaming Pass costing between RM29 to RM38 per day!
The Pass can be bought before the trip with a designated starting time/date, BUT DO TURN OFF your data roaming just before the Roaming Pass expires OTHERWISE any subsequent usage will automatically trigger off the 1-Day Roaming Pass costing between RM29 to RM38 per day!
9. Communicating with Locals
At favourite tourist destinations, locals may speak fairly good English. In the smaller towns, locals speak some rudimentary English, and our local guide was most helpful in translating for us.
10. Weather
The average day temperature at Kutaisi were 28°C. The average day and night temperatures at Mestia were 17°C and 12°C.
Useful weather forecast sites for Georgia & Armenia is AccuWeather. For more detailed weather, including cloud cover and wind speed, use Weatherspark and Ventusky.
11. Navigation
I used MapMyRide to track our routes and stops. Geo-tagging of places of interest was via FaceBook or Google Maps.
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PRELUDE
The previous day we went day tour around Kutaisi, hiked along the Tskhradjvari Hiking Trail up to the Tskhradjvari (Nine-Crosses) Shrine for some amazing views! In the evening, we took a walk around Kutaisi town centre.
Today, we leave Kutaisi to head for Mestia. Along the way will stop for a river boat ride and visit a dam.
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DAY 11: KUTAISI TO MESTIA
Most posts below are linked to my Facebook postings during the trip and are embedded here with some comments. (NOTE: Click on respective posts to link to the FB post for more details. If you can't see the posts, please log out from your Facebook first)
Good morning from Prestige Guest House, Kutaisi. Wishing well at our homestay wishing us a well and a good trip today.
Hotel breakfast at Prestige Guest House: a good selection of different Georgian bread and super fresh tomato & cucumber salad.
On the way out of Kutaisi, passed by the this former Georgian Parliament Building (Kutaisi). The
new Parliament Building is now in Tbilisi.
Enroute, passing by residential roads. Often locals will plant grapes and other
fruits (eg. apples, oranges, pomegranates, etc) in their gardens.
Martvili Farmers Market in Martvili. It is an ad hoc market without a proper building, a farmers sell their produce straight from their vans/trucks. Here one will find a wide selection of vegetables, fruits, meats, cheeses, honey and other local delicacies most grown organically and often not available in standard stores.
10:30am - Arrived at the entrance office of Martvili Canyon. Entrance fee for foreigners is 20 GEL, boat ride along the river is an additional 20 GEL.
The tour here starts with a short hike to view Martvili Canyon, starting with the 1st Viewpoint.
Followed by the Canyon Bridge Viewpoint.
And then the Lagoon Viewpoint.
Went boating at the canyon going along the Abasha River, and passing by several waterfalls big and small, including the Abhesi Waterfall.
2:30pm - Time was running short and at Jvari we had to quickly grab lunch. The smaller group who arrived earlier grabbed a proper lunch of Lavasi Bread and beef stew at Cafe Fanti.
Some of the girls had an even better lunch at Chito Restaurant Djvari with a wider menu .
Some of the girls had an even better lunch at Chito Restaurant Djvari with a wider menu .
Most of us just grabbed Lavasi Bread from the bakery nearby 😞.
Half an hour later, we're at the Enguri Dam. There is a short walk in to view the dam.
At the dam's office where a video presentation shows a documentary of the dam.
We continue our journey to Mestia, now on the Zugdidi-Jvari-Mestia-Lasdili Highway running along the Patara Enguri River; with nice river scenes..... beautiful hills too.
Passing by Mount Laila, view of its snow-capped peak, and scenic villages at its
foothills. It is the highest peak of the Svaneti Range in this locality.
As we approached Mestia, we started seeing these strange towers. These are the famed stone Svaneti Towers. found only in this Svaneti region of Georgia, and are locally known as koshki. The ancient Svans built these mini-fortresses and lived in them, to minimise the risk of marauding invaders.
We did not visit and just passed by them, but no worries, we will be seeing more of them tomorrow.
7:00 pm - Checked into our stay at Mestia, the Margiansha House. It's a cosy three-storey home-stay nestled into the lower slopes of Mt. Ushba where some of the foliage has started turning Autumn brown. At the gardens were flowers of assorted beautiful colours.
Ended the day with a good Georgian Dinner at the homestay that included Kubdari bread filled with chicken and a cheesy chicken stew.
"მშვენიერი დღე იყო!"
(For more photos of Day 11, Click Here)
This is page 11 of a 14-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.
< D10: Tskhradjvari | Go to Other Days | D12: Ushguli >
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