Last day of skiing in Georgia - and a visit to Tbilisi

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Writer: Jonathan Gharbi de Maré

After a week of skiing in Gudauri, it was time to travel to Tbilisi to enjoy the last day in Georgia with good food and drinks. 

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The trip organised by Apollo Sports was soon over and it was time to end a wonderful week with even more sun but also with proper heat. Apollo Sports thus ended its first season in Gudauri, which was added in 2025. Gudauri is one in the line of several resorts for ski holidays that Apollo sports offers, in addition to all the swimming and sports trips to warmer destinations. 

It felt like we were not only Apollo's last batch of travellers as we sat on the bus on the way to Tbilisi, we probably also brought the best skiing gear with us. It had been sunny all days and the snow at the bottom at 2,000 metres had begun to melt away even if it froze during the cold nights.

I was later told that there was a heavy snowfall after we left but it still feels like the end of the season was perfectly timed. If you go all the way to the Caucasus, you want to have guaranteed snow. 

With the beautiful weather, it was hard not to take a break in the sun with a cold drink and just enjoy the fresh air and the amazing views. It felt like there was basically no wind during the whole week, which in retrospect was not reflected on.

End of the skiing holiday in Gudauri

The busload of Scandinavians who had spent the week in Gudauri was going home after a week of wonderful skiing. We had met each other at the joint guided tour organised by the local Apollo representative on the ski slopes.

On the last evening, a joint dinner was organised at the Magi Style restaurant in Gudauri for those who wanted to, and it was fun to hear what everyone had to say about the past week. There I got to experience another variant of khachapuri with spinach and quail eggs, also really good and filling.

Tasting of Georgian wine and beer 

I stayed at the Best Western Gudauri hotel where the Agrida Winery has a full set of wines from red to rose and wine. The wine tasting was organised by the restaurant staff. 

The Georgian flavour profile is different from Old World wines and has a completely different style, so although they are familiar grapes, they are different flavours. The simpler wines are categorised by their sweetness as sweet, semi-sweet or dry but even the dry ones have a sweetness you can taste.

This is a simple wine that you can find in most places and goes well with Georgian food or served cold if you want a good companion wine. The label says dry white and it is relatively dry and feels fresh with a good finish. 

Wines in bottle and carafe

When you read the menu, you often see "home made wine" or wine in a carafe. As for the wine sold by the carafe in the restaurants at a cheap price, it should be said that it can be a bit of a lottery with everything from slightly misfermented to good wines, always ask to try a sip before buying a carafe.

They are not made on site but by simple winemakers who make bulk wine with the grapes at hand. Staff often know where it comes from but not what grapes or specific flavour it has. 

Beer with garlic and kim chi - Georgian craft beer

I have previously visited Georgia and written an article about their craft beer for the beer magazine Maltesen and they have a developed beer culture centred on Tbilisi. It is similar to that in Sweden where they experiment with exciting ingredients.

Me and some people at the hotel tried three pretty extreme beers that really stood out. One was a sour style beer that tasted like their dumplings, khinkali and it really had broth and garlic in it. Another flavour bomb was a beer with tomato puree and Korean kim chi, also very surprising.

The first two were so extreme that it was hard to get them down, the garlic and broth flavour was unmistakable. Then we also tried a simpler hazy ipa that was just like the ipa we are used to. 

Local dishes you should try in Tbilisi

Once in Tbilisi, after two hours of beautiful bus journey through the mountains, it was time to discover Tbilisi. I got some guidance from a local and we visited some places in town to taste their food.

We went to a more trendy restaurant near the Marjanishvili metro station. There we shared a bottle of wine before walking around the area and sampling local specialities.

What looks like a pizza is a variation of khachapurri but has no tomato sauce, it's just cheese on a dough base. Their dumplings, khinkali, contain meat, garlic and some broth. The number of folds on the khinkali is important for it to be Georgian, exactly how many I forgot. The small balls of walnut paste are called pkhali and are served in various forms, often as a smaller dish. 

Later in the evening I was supposed to visit a salsa place but with an early flight I chose instead to invest in an early return home so the salsa did not happen. I can add that I can't dance salsa either so it was probably just as well. So I took the bus to the hotel, bought some dried apricots, walnuts and other goodies for the dining table at home in Sweden.

Georgian dinner the Swedish way

I invited some friends to a Georgian dinner at home a few weeks after travelling and tried to imitate the Georgian stir-fries (pkhali) with walnuts mixed with either boiled beetroot or spinach and then a little vinegar, salt, pepper and olive oil. Walnuts appear in a variety of dishes and are typically Georgian.

I also made a simple version of khacha curry. The guests said pizza when they saw the bread with melted cheese on it, but were surprised to realise that this was something completely different. Perhaps the people of Kaukaus brought this dish all the way to Italy. We do not know, but it could be so?

The food was served to the tune of Georgia's Eurovision entry, so it felt a bit grand when the guests sat down to eat. 

I managed to imitate a number of dishes, not very well perhaps but the guests who had never been to Georgia thought it felt very Georgian. 

The guests tasted two drier white wines from Georgia and in the meantime listened to my adventure in Georgia and maybe they will be the ones to go to Gudauri next year? 

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Jonathan Gharbi De Maré

Jonathan has lived abroad for about 10 years but now lives in Stockholm and runs jbwtravels.com with a focus on craft beer and wine and there you will find a collection of all his publications. Jonathan opened the first craft brewery in Burkina Faso and wrote the book Beer guide to Vietnam. He is a reporter for the beer promotion magazine Maltesen. Besides beer, he has a keen interest in nature and unusual travel destinations.

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