Living in Georgia

Throughout its vibrant history Georgia has earned a reputation of a ‘Country of Contrasts and Contradictions” where ‘yes’ means ‘no’ and ‘red’ means ‘white’. Being situated in the Caucasian region hospitable Georgians are known for their determination, patriarchy, and deep affection for Christianity. They even claim that faith helped them to withstand their numerous enemies’ onslaughts. A tangled chain of political and geographical factors shaped Georgia as a country where the fittest and…

Despite being an independent Europe-oriented country Georgia nowadays represents a big merge of its Soviet past and intervened modern architecture. Some disapprove this mixture, others clam it to be the pinnacle of the architectural masterpiece but no matter how much you argue there is no definite answer whether Georgia should have remained its Soviet architecture without implementing construction plans with lanky skyscrapers or maybe it would have been better to create a downtown center…

We are used to seeing stunning nature beauty and emerald green forests on documentaries and National Geographic Channel as if keeping in mind that deep forests and unknown places must be thousands kilometers away from civilization. Somehow urbanization has created a big wall that separates humans from the peacefulness of big and rough mountains creating an unattainable representation of wild nature. Georgia, as always, has made its mark in terms of providing perfect conditions for those who are…

Mountains mesmerize. Mountains make you stronger. Mountains are irreplaceable. Georgia’s natural treasure in the face of Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park represents a big portion of protected territories in the country. The area is under government’s protection and the administrative center altogether with guides, tour operators, and rangers create all conditions for those whose choice falls upon extreme camping in the woods. If you plan going to Borjomi-Kharagauli Park you had better be…

Caucasian region is the motherland of various dishes that include meat. Georgians even say that real men must eat meat at least once a day as if only meat nourishes body with all the needed vitamins and organic elements. It may be just a gossip but you can find it yourself by just looking through the menus of most Georgian restaurants. Despite being deep meat lovers Georgians cook an abundance of different vegetable dishes, make so called ‘kompot’ (stewed fruit drink), cook special sauces and…

For those of you looking to ship goodies, like electronics, clothing, perfume e.t.c. from online stores located in the United States to Georgia, there is a simple, easy and affordable service - usa2georgia.com I've been using usa2georgia.com for years, ordering items like hinges for my laptop (see: New hinges added to my HP Compaq 6510b), a laptop, equipment for DSLR camera, kitchen tools, even some food, clothing, perfume and more. There is a small catch still, basically all of the items…

This article was originally written as a guest post by Ms. Irina Nikolaeva (written back in 2017) In the article 5 reasons why Batumi is better than Moscow (or other big cities), I specified the low cost of living as the first reason why I moved from Moscow to Batumi. So let’s have a closer look at this topic. Apartment. The middle price of apartments for 1-2 people (about 50 sq. m., studio with a separate bedroom) is about 300$. That would be a flat not far from the city center (honestly the…

This is a guest post by Mrs. Fatima Ali, reader of this blog, who contacted me about possible migration from UAE to Georgia. As lately I've been receiving several such questions and mostly from UAE, after giving some basic advice, I asked Fatima Ali, could she come up with a short article in a free flow on topic - Why Georgia? See: Can You Buy a Good Life in Tbilisi With $500 as a Foreign Expat? With the permission of Mrs. Fatima Ali and little re-editing I publish her honest answer bellow…

This article was originally written as a guest post by Ms. Irina Nikolaeva (written back in 2017) Last 10 years I was living in big cities. At that time I moved from a small town in Belarus thinking that I need to live in a city with more people and more opportunities. I started from St. Petersburg. After 5 years in the cultural capital of Russia, I decided that 5 million people is not enough for me and moved to Moscow. But last year everything changed. I came to Batumi for the holidays,…

A time ago I did an experiment - counted our (two persons and two cats) daily expenses for a month to find out that our monthly expenses have been at about USD 1,800 for that month. You can see my findings with detailed positions in this article: Cost of Living in Tbilisi (Republic of Georgia). I have counted for a few more times - and very often the amount we spend per month in Georgia is more or less the same. From my side I should add we travel a lot across the country and spend many…