After Kutaisi we drove with Sven (his wife was on holiday back home) towards Gori, and stopped in Kareli for a few days next to a river. There we tried once again to cut glasses (we succeeded with only two bottles) and helped collecting wood for Svens oven.
Then it came the day, we wanted to drive to Biisi and this day fresh 5 – 10 cm of snow was laying on the ground. Everybody was driving very slowly and after a few hours we made it to Biisi without a damage. There, our friend Jemal welcomed us and the next two days we spent preparing for the iceclimbing festival. A day after the festival we climbed on the ice with Matthew and Mikel, with whom we spent as well the evening together, as they were sleeping in Svens car.
The following day we drove all together to Gori, where the others took a bus to Tbilisi and we looked for a parking place to change our wheels. Sven helped us and after one day of work we were ready to drive to Turkey.
We are allowed to stay one year visa free in Georgia but a vehicle with foreign numberplates is only allowed to stay in Georgia for 3 months, that's why we now and then have to leave the country.
In Borjomi, the Police stopped us and gave us a fine, as we passed an imaginary line on the road. In the end we only were able to laugh about the rules the policeman told us, but at that moment we were angry and tried to discuss, but it did not help. Shortly before the boarder, we decided to pass it on the same day and we did so, late in the afternoon (this time the Turkish boarder officers were much friendlier). We drove through a snowed in landscape on around 1400 m of altitude and stopped in the next bigger village, Posof. On the opposite of the mosque was a huge parking space and with our 30 Turkish Lira, we went to the first mini market. And there we found all sorts of good things, which we have not found yet in Georgia. On the way to the ATM, a taxi driver invited us for a coffee, he immediately saw that we are Germans. Dinner we had in a small restaurant, fresh Kisir (meal out of Bulgur, red lentils and tomato paste), and as well hot Gözleme. It was very tasty and we already liked the place. A nice change to Georgia. During the night it was snowing quite strong, so we decided to stay another night in Posof, which we spent with walking around and shopping (we even found a real mountain cheese, of which we bought a piece of 1.5 kg).
Early the next morning we started to drive back to Georgia. On the boarder, the Georgians checked our truck very well, they even brought a dog to search for drugs. But the poor dog was afraid of our stairs, so he could not get inside. Back to Borjomi, where we turned right to Bakuriani. The ski resort looked more like spring season, shortly before we arrived, a heavy storm passed by and the sun did the rest. Nevertheless, we went on a small skitour and found a nice spot for a small kicker.
The following day we drove to Tbilisi, where we parked next to Sven in the forest of the Tbilisi Sea. The next three days we spent looking for a car, as we needed one for our next visit, because hiring here in Georgia is too expensive. One day we were in Rustavi on a huge car market, but we could not find a suitable car. The following weekend was another ice climbing competition in Gveleti, close to the Russian boarder. We decided to drive there with Emma, passing the famous ski resort of Gudauri. After the pass on 2360 m altitude, the road started to become scary, as the tunnels were very narrow and we always hoped, that no truck was coming from the other direction. In Gveleti we helped the team a bit with the preparations and spent some nice evenings together. We decided to turn back to Tbilisi on Saturday, as we still were not having a car yet. Driving back, we stopped in the queue for the trucks, as we didn't want to pass another truck in the tunnel. We didn't understand the way of waiting and as we were talking to the police, they let us pass. Fortunately, we did not meet other trucks.
Back in Tbilisi, we got in contact with a few private car sellers and went to see two cars, and one of them we even liked. Close to the flat of our friend Mikel we parked and spent Sunday evening together with him. On Monday we bought our Black Flash and were relieved, as we thought at the beginning it would be easier to find a car. Tuesday we spent with Guga in the garage to fix some things on the new car and got our motor oil changed. We drove as well to the garage of Mercedes Benz trucks, where they allowed us to park our truck for the next 3 weeks. We enjoyed the rest of the time with climbing, going out with friends and packing all the stuff for the next three weeks. On the day when our friends from Switzerland arrived, we let clean Emma (she got one hour wellness), brought her to Mercedes Benz and drove with our car to Tbilisi to the hostel.
