The Highs and Lows of Backpacking through Georgia
What I learned about the people, culture, religion, and cuisine of the Caucasus
After graduating from my MBA program in 2001, I spent much of the summer solo backpacking through the Caucasus and Turkey. Using my handy Lonely Planet Guide, I mapped out a few days ahead where I might go next feeling like a carefree spirit.
After walking through the border between Azerbaijan and Georgia, I picked up a car to take me to Telavi, Georgia. Telavi is known as the food and wine region of Georgia. Before leaving Azerbaijan, I had called ahead of time and booked a bed & breakfast there. The car dropped me off at an older Georgian couple’s home. I would be staying in their bed & breakfast and happened to be their only guest.
They gave me a room with a view on the second floor overlooking their gardens and with views of the vineyards and white-capped mountains in the distance!
In Telavi, I paid the homeowners for room and board, and the board was amazing. When I had worked in L’viv, Ukraine a few years back, my colleagues and I frequented a Georgian restaurant, so I knew how…
