EPIC GEORGIAN ROAD TRIP | Vardzia, Borjomi, Rabati 🇬🇪 საქართველო

Today we are going on a road trip in Georgia. We've got a packed schedule ahead of us visiting three both unique and stunning places all in one day. So we left Tbilisi in the early hours of the morning driving southwest through a beautiful green countryside and after four hours we arrived here. This is our first stop on our little Georgian tour. This is Rabati castle which was built in the 9th century but then fully refurbished in 2012. And Georgia was fought over for centuries by its neighbors because of the perfect location on the Silk Road and I thought it was a really interesting fact. I really wanted to tell you that when the Ottoman Empire came over, so the majority of people in Georgia are Christian, so when the Ottoman Empire came over they wanted to change people's religion because it's easier to rule them because when the religion changes the mentality of people changes hence why it's easier to rule them. They didn't do it in a violent way they've done it in a really clever way hit people by their pockets basically. So what they did is they introduced taxes and people that had Christian religions they were paying the highest taxes and people that had Muslim religion they either paid really low taxes or didn't pay them at all. So with time you know majority of people changed their religion. Clever! So we're currently in the south of Georgia if you were to look on a map we're not far from Borjomi. We drove through it on the way here and that's going to be a stop later in this little tour. And also on our way we're going to stop at Vardzia. So despite this castle looking really beautiful we've been told a lot of the locals aren't actually too keen on it. Apparently it's lost a little bit of its authenticity since the renovation. A lot of the old historical parts of the castle have been covered up by new brickwork and things used to attract tourists. So yeah it's lost a bit of its historical soul. Right time is of the essence so we are back on the bus and we've got a 60 kilometer drive ahead of us into the wilderness to the dramatic cave city of Vardzia. This is our second stop and it's called Vardzia and just look at it it's so incredible. I really love the moody vibe about it all. It's rainy and all grey. Really? No not really. I really wish it was sunny and clear but not much we can do about the weather so let's just make it up as we go. 10 out of 10 for positivity. So legend has it that Vardzia was built by King Georgi in the 12th 13th century and his daughter Princess Tamara came here and was lost and they were asking where she was and they were calling out Tamara Tamara where are you and apparently she screamed back Vardzia in Georgian which means I'm here uncle. So yeah that's how it got its name that's how the cave city got its name. And actually she finished building this place for Tamara. It's an incredible place like there's so many little intricate walkways that go in and out of the cave and stuff it's unbelievable they literally built it in the side of a mountain face. It's so beautiful and the layout like the mountains surrounding it is just breathtaking. The view is just unreal isn't it? That would be my bedroom. Can you imagine waking up and seeing that view? So we're about to head through a tunnel from the monastery which takes us through the cliff and then out somewhere above us here and then apparently we can get all the way back down to the bottom. It's supposed to be quite tight but we're both short as hell anyway so we should be Please don't fall. Look at that there's another one another exit. It's quite claustrophobic but it's a chaos going here now. Can you imagine being the person caving it out? So now we're going down the stairs are a bit steep so we might go down on our ass not purposely. So we just found out this place is actually still an active male monastery and the monks live literally right there they live there all the time. Welcome to my crib and let me show you around. This is the lounge and there you can see the kitchen and let me show you the bedroom. This is my bedroom with a building bed and really just look at the view. I really bought this place for the views. How much did it set you back? 200 million pounds. Well I mean the view's worth it. So we thought we were nearly down but we still got a bit to go. We made it to our third and final stop on our Georgian tour and this is Borjomi. Borjomi is famous throughout the whole of the old Russian empire and Soviet Union and to be honest in a lot of places worldwide now for its natural springs and its mineral water. We're going to tell you a bit more about that in a minute but first let's take a look at the city. Now we have the opportunity to try some of the spring waters and take some with us so let's go. So I filled the bottle with this magic water and you can see the bubbles straight away. Looks so beautiful. Okay so it's not freezing cold, it's not warm. Let's give it a go. Okay so the only time I tried spring water before was in Bath and it was really warm and I would imagine it was the closest experience I got to eating farts so I really hope this tastes better. I like it. Apart from the sulphury smell it's lovely. It's like almost like salty water, like salt water. Just slightly, almost slightly fizzy as well isn't it? It's slightly carbonated. It's like you added soda in it. Yeah yeah yeah exactly. Let me tell you a little story about this water now. In 1840 when the Russian army rolled into this part of Georgia, a lot of them were feeling quite sick through the continuous traveling and the continuous strains of being soldiers so when they were in the town and looking after this part of what was then the Russian empire they tried this mountain spring water and it miraculously helped heal a lot of their illnesses inside. So the word got out about this water and then the general that was looking after the Caucasus region then sent his daughter here who was ill. No one's quite sure what she was ill with but he sent her here to be healed and the water apparently healed her completely so ever since this water's been thought of all over the ex-Soviet era or the ex-Russian empire as to have healing properties so I'm gonna be well good inside after this. In the late 1800s they opened a factory here to start producing barjony and they started producing literally like a few thousand bottles but now they produce millions of bottles worldwide. Now we're trying the water from the second spring and this one's well warm. It smells better. It's slightly better, still stinky but a bit better and apparently you shouldn't drink too much for the first time because you might have diarrhea so enjoy! So people often come here to Borjomi in like the spring summer time to like chill out and relax but they also come in the winter because just up the mountain there there's a ski resort and you can get like a train it's almost like a really slow train isn't it really small slow train it takes two hours like through the mountains it's supposed to be really beautiful and it takes you all day up to the ski resort so if you do come here and it is winter time definitely check that out. It's such a beautiful village and park in itself like I'm really surprised to be honest it's really gorgeous. I think in the Soviet times there was a load of sanatoriums here as well and yeah a lot of people from all over the Soviet Union from Russia and from Ukraine used to come here and and just relax and unwind and heal themselves yeah with the healing power of the water and you can see why yeah it's definitely the place to heal your soul. We had a walk around Borjomi park, tried water from two different springs and it's getting a bit late so we're gonna head back and we have about two hour drive to Tbilisi. It's good for me it's good for me it's good for me