E-visa, 5 hours from Delhi: Why Georgia is a top Schengen alternative for Indians

It is not quite Europe. It has one foot on that continent and one firmly in Asia. The pre-Soviet country of Georgia is at once a revelation and a mystery for travellers seeking to peek beyond the usual choices of mainland Europe or Southeast Asia.

For one, getting a visa to Georgia is ostensibly easy, but we will get to that in a bit. Then there's the ease of flying. A direct flight from Delhi to Tbilisi takes only five hours, and before you know it, you have landed in Georgia. Georgia straddles two continents, Europe and Asia. Photo: Getty Images

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So, when we planned a family trip to this little country a few months ago, the pros outnumbered the cons. I had a valid Schengen and Japan visa; both of which allow Indian passport holders to enter Georgia visa-free. For people who don't, Georgia needs an e-visa that you can get on their immigration portal.

The visa conundrum

Now, while the process looks pretty simple on the face of it, here's the deal: you need to be really patient - and I mean really - while applying for an e-visa on their portal. The payment gateway is terrible. You get errors every time you click on the final step. The capital of Georgia is Tbilisi. Photo: Getty Images

The trick is simple: choose an ungodly hour to sit with the e-visa application. The portal isn't quite equipped to deal with a lot of traffic at once; so, logging on late at night is advised.

Once you manage to do this part, the rest is comparatively easy. The problem is in the result of the visa. All your documents can be in order, but you might still get a rejection (the battle was personal, yk). The rejection rate of Georgian visas is quite high: 72%. Liberty Square, Tbilisi. Photo: Author

If you are indeed planning a vacation to this Caucasian country, keep ample time in hand. You get a revert on your application within 5 working days. If your application is rejected, you can start a fresh one within 10 days from the result. If not, thank your luck and board that flight.

A low-cost flight

Indigo flies Delhi-Tbilisi-Delhi direct thrice a week. True to its low-cost-carrier promise, there's no complimentary food or entertainment on the plane (thank you, Airbus A321). However, you sure can get your instant poha by paying a bomb on the flight. You do get drinking water in paper cups though.

Anyway. Mount Kazbek. Photo: Getty Images

Landing in Tbilisi was uneventful, and we headed to immigration. I will confess: I was pretty rattled by the numerous disturbing tales of Georgia deporting Indian passengers left, right, and centre without no rime or reason. So, while we did have a holiday booked, there was that slight consternation about making it past passport control.

My exchange with the official at the counter was brief:

"Show me visa?"

"There's a Schengen and a Japan visa there."

"Ok."

Passport stamped.

For the rest of my family members too, it was quite a smooth exit out of passport control, even though two of them were on e-visas.

In and around Tbilisi

All doubts laid to rest, we finally headed to the conveyor belt and out of the Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport, into the crisp Tbilisi air. The temperature on my phone-from-the-forty-degree-hell-called-Delhi said 8 degrees Celsius. Single digit. Eight. There was a biting wind blowing. It was half past one in the night and our destination lay just twenty minutes from the airport. Sameba, or the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi lit up against the historic city centre. Photo: Getty Images

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The city centre of Tbilisi is a stone's throw from the airport, unlike other, bigger cities. The city is hilly. It has a perfectly preserved old town where tourists stroll along all night. You can cover the concentrated historic old town on foot in just a few hours.

The more upscale centre of Tbilisi is the Freedom or Liberation Square. Shota Rustaveli Avenue is the artery of the city. The Parliament, the National Museum, the souvenir-shopping district, the café quarter are all in this area. Freedom or Liberation Square, Tbilisi. Photo: Getty Images

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The one name you will bump into in most corners in Tbilisi is Shota Rustaveli's. Rustaveli is the national poet of Georgia. His seminal work is the national poem of the country, The Knight in the Panther's Skin.

The Queen who was the King of Kings

Rustaveli lived and wrote under the patronage of the 'King of Kings' of Georgia, Queen Tamar. It was the Golden Age of Georgia. For Georgians, who have been ravaged by wars for centuries, Queen Tamar's reign is held in the highest regard till date. 'King' Tamar of Georgia. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

You will come across starry-eyed Gen-Zers who speak of Tamar with that sense of nostalgia for a time they did not live in. Older Georgians, who have fought wars in the country's army, echo the same sentiment. It is Tamar who still has Georgia united across generations.

A Georgian dream

The other unifier today in this country of wonders is the strong hope of being part of the EU. Georgia has been accorded an EU member status, but they have yet to enter the hallowed portals of the European Union.

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So, Georgians have been rising against the sitting government, Georgian Dream, to see their dream of joining the EU realised by hoping to see a Soviet-level diktat not turning into law. A silent protest in Tbilisi. Photo: Author

Throughout the length and breadth of Tbilisi and the adjoining areas, we met warm, helpful people. A twenty-minute drive from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi is the Jvari monastery, on top of the 653-metre Jvari mount, from where you can see the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers.

The monastery on a mount

The mount overlooks Mtskheta, the erstwhile capital of the Kingdom of Iberia. Mtskheta has been home to humans since the 2nd millennium BC, as per archaeological evidence found in the area. Jvari Monastery and the confluence of Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers. Photo: Getty Images

Georgia embraced Christianity in the 4th century AD when St Nino, a female evangelist, converted King Mirian III into this new religion. Since then, Georgia has been mostly Christian save in the Soviet years, when churches were converted into public baths, desecrated by the 'Godless Communists' and what not.

Georgia has reclaimed religion with a vengeance today, almost as if to compensate for the years of atheistic debauchery under the Soviets. Svetitskhoveli Cathedral Complex, Mtskheta. Photo: Getty Images

Stalin is dead in erstwhile Soviet

You will find the home of Joseph Stalin just outside of Tbilisi, in a small municipality called Gori. Stalin never quite acknowledged that he was born in Georgia, but never denied it outright either. It is in Gori that Stalin spent the first five years of his life, born to a poor shoemaker who beat up his wife and wasted his life on the bottle.

Stalin moved out. He spent the next decade in rented rooms across the area, before enrolling in the Russian Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tiflis to train as a priest. At Stalin's home in Gori, outside Tbilisi. Photo: Author

One might credit those years of training for Stalin's 180-degree turn from religion. In fact, the Theological Seminary was one of the first religious institutes that Stalin shuttered shut when he came into power.

Today, Stalin's humble beginnings sit next to a sprawling museum on the steps of which lazy Caucasian Shepherds greet you with a yawn. In the complex is the railway coach Stalin rode to the Yalta Conference in 1945 and changed the modern world forever. The railway coach that took Stalin to the Yalta Conference in 1945. Photo: Author

It is only in Gori that you might find a few Soviet sympathisers today. The other Georgians are busy making a life out of the hand the Soviets have dealt them, trying to move out of their orbit into Europe's promise of achhe din. For now, that doesn't seem too easy.

Every turn of Georgia is a veritable lesson in history. In terms of geography too, Georgia hits you with stunning landscapes, from the mountains to the sea. The Russia-Georgia Friendship Monument. Photo: Author

A wonder called Kazbek

Mount Kazbek, one of the highest peaks in the Caucasus range, sits right under the nose of Russia, south of its border with Georgia.

A day trip from Tbilisi across the Georgian Military Highway to Kazbegi National Park and the Gergeti Trinity Church is an absolute must-do when in the country. The scenery is a mix of Switzerland, New Zealand, and Kashmir.

The Aragvi river is a companion on this journey. In the town of Pasanauri, the Black Aragvi meets White Aragvi... but do not mix. Ananuri Castle Complex, overlooking the Aragvi river. Photo: Getty Images

Pasanauri, a little town with a population of barely 1,200 people, is famous for being the birthplace of the famous Georgian dumplings, khinkali. Khinkali is a giant-sized Georgian momo with fillings ranging from veggies to minced meat.

Unlike the dumplings we are used to eating, khinkali is packed in with the stew too. In essence, you need to hold a khinkali with both your hands and bite into it to make sure you get the entire burst of flavour. Khinkali, Georgian dumplings. Photo: Getty Images

The Collector of Vintage Cars and the Sculptor of Giant Heads

Pasanauri's who's who includes the man who 'owns' Stalin's, Eva Braun's and Kennedy's cars, among others.

In a junkyard, you will find Zura, a retired major of the Georgian Army, whose entire life revolves around finding auctions where he can buy the chassis of famous vintage-era beauties from, and then bringing it back to his 'garage'. In Zura's junkyard. Photo: Author

When not looking for an auction to pick up a new conquest from, Zura and Nazi, his wife, spend their time making medicinal honey and wine. Zura at his vintage car 'museum'. Photo: Author

On the way to Kazbegi, in a tiny snowy village called Sno, you will also find another local celebrity: Merab Piranishvili.

Piranishvili is a man whose right hand isn't functional. But that hasn't stopped this artist-sculptor from carving the history of Georgia into the Causcasian countryside. In this 'open-air museum', you will find Rushmore-esque stone heads of people and gods from Georgian history and mythology. Merab Piranishvili, with his art. Photo: Author

There's also a massive face of Jesus carved into stone. There's no entry-fee governing this part of the Georgian countryside. Drop a few GELs into a donation box if you want to.

Eat like there's no tomorrow

Indeed, the best part of Georgia lies in just how affordable life is. The staple food, khachapuri, is bread with a filling of cheese, sometimes egg. Think of it as a large pizza but the cheese within the bread instead of on top of it. Cheese is ubiquitous in Georgian cuisine. Adjarian khachapuri, the bread boat that comes with cheese and egg. Photo: Getty Images

Among beverages, wine holds the topmost spot and comes cheaper than a bottle of water. Given that Georgia is the birthplace of wine, that's a given.

In the Kakheti region of Georgia, where the beautiful rolling vineyards touch the feet of the Caucasus mountains, the first evidence of winemaking in the history of humankind was found a few years ago. A wine cellar in Georgia, with wine stored in qvevri. Photo: Getty Images

Drink with the first winemakers of the world

It was the Georgians who, eight thousand years ago, devised the qvevri, or the earthen pots that could stand upright and were placed under the ground for fermentation of the grapes, without the flavour being compromised.

Till the qvevri, wine was stored in animal-leather cases, which obviously wasn't a very feasible option. It altered the flavour of the wine. So, your best European grapes would taste like putrid flesh after a while. Not in Georgia though.

Georgia takes its winemaking legacy very seriously. The Georgian winemaking process is more complex than the European process. Of course, the wine tastes better. Qvevri, the wine vessels of Georgia. Photo: Getty Images

In homes all across the country, you will find families making their own wine. You get to taste wine at every turn of the corner here. The Georgian amber wine deserves a special mention for just how light it is on the palate. Bonus: Wine here does not give you a hangover.

One last look

On my last evening in Tbilisi, I sat down with a glass of amber from a small batch of grapes somewhere in Kakheti, in a bar on Rustaveli Avenue, as a musician belted out local classics. Churchkhela, or 'Georgian Snickers': A variety of nuts coated in fruit juice. Photo: Author

A few feet away, a sea of protesters draped in the Georgian and EU flags, made their way to the Liberation Square. Old, young, schoolgoers, college students, an octogenarian with his Caucasian Shepherd, men with toddlers on their shoulders, balloons, water bottles, phones, flags. More flags. No one spoke a word. It was a silent protest against that bill that the government just turned into law.

I boarded the flight back home to forty degrees a few hours later, wondering about the Georgian dream of being in the EU, now pushed a little farther by the Georgian Dream at the centre.

FACT SHEET

Where: Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, is a five-hour flight from Delhi. Indigo flies the route thrice a week. Nadugi, the famous Georgian appetiser, comprises a cheese filling within thin elastic cheese flat cakes. Photo: Getty Images

When to visit: May to June, or September to October will help you avoid the crowds in Georgia. The lowlands around Tbilisi have superb weather this time of the year, letting you dodge the summer heat and the frozen winter months.

If you are visiting the Black Sea coast (Batumi), try the warm summer months of July-August. This is also a good time to go hiking since you will find the mountains snow-free.

What to see: Tbilisi, the capital, gets the most tourists because of its accessibility and ease of travel. Gergeti Trinity Church. Photo: Getty Images

Batumi is on the Black Sea coast and attracts many people. Here, you will find the statues of star-cross'd lovers Ali and Nino, two giant moving metal sculptures that glide towards each other at 7 pm every day, only to pass through their stacked segments. They never meet.

The story goes: Ali, an Azerbaijani Muslim, fell in love with a Georgian princess called Nino. Soon, the First World War hit home and Ali was killed. This tragic tale of the lovers inspired a 1937 Austrian novel called Ali and Nino, and then the famous Statue of Love by Georgian artist Tamara Kvesitadze in 2010. Ali and Nino's Statue of Love in Batumi. Photo: Unsplash/Alexandr Voronsky

The other places to see in this country are Kutaisi, the ski resort of Mestia, 'City of Love' Sighnaghi, Georgia's famous wine region Kakheti, and Mtskheta. Drive down the Georgian Military Highway through the Kazbegi National Park for some stunning views of the Caucasus Mountains.

How to get around: Getting around Georgia is very cheap compared to major European cities. You could book taxis at throwaway rates (try GoTrip). Bolt is also operational in the country and quite affordable. Batumi and Tbilisi are connected by direct trains.

For Indian passport holders: Georgia is visa-free for Indian passport holders if you have a US, UK, Schengen or Japan visa. If you don't have any of these visas, you need an e-visa to enter Georgia.

A decision on your e-visa application will take 5 days to arrive, and the rejection rates are pretty high, but you can reapply. So, a point to keep in mind: keep ample time in hand to account for the e-visa process.

Each e-visa application costs 20 USD + 15 USD + 2% service fee, which amounts to about Rs 3,000. The visa fee is non-refundable if your application is rejected.