Tbilisi welcomed me with inclined balconies, unexpected climbs and water noise in the thermal baths. I had arrived alone, but already in the kitchen of the accommodation I met Levan, who returned to his region, and two Polish travelers interested in the same route. We decided to share only the transfer of the next day, without building bigger promises.
In the morning the vehicle was smaller and fuller than I imagined. The backpacks ended where there was space and the stops followed a logic that I did not understand. I saved the destination in Georgian and checked the route offline. No need to know every detail: just stay careful and ask for confirmation in advance.
The table as a meeting place
In Kakheti we were invited to lunch by the family of Levan. I was afraid to invade, but he explained how to behave and what to expect. The table slowly filled, with hand-to-hand dishes and toasts that required listening. I avoided photographing every moment, asking first when I wanted to keep an image.
The conversation was between translations, gestures and words learned on the spot. Not everything was immediate, and for this reason we paid more attention. Hospitality was not a service designed for us: it was a temporary relationship that demanded respect, presence and concrete gratitude.
The program extends
I should have returned to the city in the afternoon, but lunch lasted much more than expected and the connection I had scored was no longer available. For a moment I felt the need to regain control. Then I checked the accommodation, alerted to the new hour and accepted a passage to a better connected location.
We arrived late, tired and still full of food. No one had seen everything in the program, but the day had a density that no itinerary could have planned. The unforeseen was manageable because I had margins and I had not to take a flight or comply with an unchangeable reservation.
Find Tbilisi
Back in Tbilisi, the city seemed less foreign. I have dedicated the last days to neighborhoods walking paths, markets and small museums, alternating hours alone to meetings with people known along the way. With the Polish travellers we have reviewed for a dinner, without turning the coincidence into an obligation.
The journey taught me to distinguish openness and naivety. I shared transfers after clarifying destination and costs, I informed the accommodation and kept autonomy in payments. These boundaries made it possible to accept invitations without abandoning common sense.
The human itinerary
Georgia I remember is not only a sequence of cities and landscapes. It is made of a place found in the compartment, a table equipped for extra people and a night arrived too soon. I started with a geographical map and returned with a human itinerary, much less ordered and much more difficult to forget.