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In this edition of Rollie’s Travel Tales, I talk about the time I spent in the country of Georgia.

I got a bunch of requests from people who said they wanted to hear more of my travel stories. So I started thinking about some one my best ones. I ran through them in my head and rehearsed them as I walked one day. And I thought about one time in Georgia where I was trying to find Joseph Stalin’s spa on a rainy day in the middle of nowhere. But as I ran through the story, I realized it was part of a much larger and much crazier story. In fact, the more times I told it to myself the longer and crazier it became. Until I realized that it was a whole episode itself.

So this is a story that traces my wild and spontaneous journey around the country of Georgia in late 2018. If you enjoy it, please let me know. I love any feedback that I get. 

During the episode I mention some things that I wanted to show with photos as well. SPOILER ALERT. I have posted some photos below.

The homemade wine/prison hooch we bought at the market in Tskaltubo, Georgia. 

 

The abandoned sanatorium in Tskaltubo, Georgia.

 

We found an abandoned shopping center that evidently once housed a gambling parlor of sorts.

 

This photo pretty much sums up the town of Mestia, Svaneti in the winter. There were pigs and cows wandering the streets everywhere.

 

It snowed for the first few days we were there and the visibility was low. But when it clearer up we climbed into the hills and Mestia was absolutely breathtaking.

 

Batumi, Georgia is one of the most enigmatic places I’ve ever been to. This giant skyscraper has a Ferris wheel near the top.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, the world’s most beautiful McDonald’s in Batumi, Georgia. Designed by Harvard trained Georgian architect Giorgi Khmaladze, it even has its own reflection pool.

 

Me posing awkwardly on the shore of Batumi. I don’t know what to do with my hands, but I also don’t know what to make of this city.

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