The heroine of the famous book "Eat Pray Love", has traveled half the world to get a gastronomic pleasure, to find spiritual enlightenment and a high sense of understanding. We affirm that she had wasted so much time and effort: all that a person needs to be happy there in Georgia!
I WANT TO GEORGIA!
eat
National Georgian cuisine has long won thousands of hearts around the world: names such as khachapuri, chakhokhbili, kharcho chicken and tobacco are known even to people who have never been in Georgia. But the real taste of these and many other dishes can be found only by visiting this sunny country, as well as take part in a real Georgian feast. In Georgia, there is a saying that during the feast time stands still and watches, spent in the company of the guests do not go to the expense of life. That is why the feasts are long and wordy, and the hosts - incredibly generous. The main thing at the table - this is love, and family, there is no place for disputes and contradictions. Toasts are pronounced long and ornate, but always with a deep sense and flavored stories from personal experience Toastmasters. Tamada, by the way, is not made to pay because it does not work, and true vocation, to lead feast invite friends or relatives, but the word can take anyone.
Georgian cuisine - spicy and sharp, and the taste of perfectly shaded bland, but surprisingly delicious Georgian bread shoti, which is baked in special round brick kilns. They say that the bread comes out particularly tasty, soft and crisp, if during its baking sing. In Georgia, it is necessary to try and khinkali kebabs, most importantly do not forget that both of these dishes are eaten hands, even in the restaurant. As a tasty souvenir stands sell fresh juicy churchhellu.
A special place in the gastronomic culture of Georgia takes wine. During archeological excavations on the territory of Georgia jugs for wine press and stone were found, which were used for several thousand years before our era! Today, Georgian wine is available in 40 countries around the world and at home, no meal is complete without a grape drink. It is believed that different types of wine is not just a different taste, but also a different character, which can be understood only after the third glass. Even the drinking appliances in Georgia are very different: jugs, special cups and buckets, decorated with silver horns of different sizes, there's even a half-liter ceramic vessel in the form of children's cradle from which to drink for the birth of a child. Each toast certainly ends amicable exclamation "Gaumardzhos!", Which translates to wish health to all those present.
The first toast to drink to the bottom, and he was always "for God!"
Pray
Most of the population of Georgia - Orthodox. Christianity came to the country at the beginning of the IV century, that is, long before the Baptism of Russia. Holy Mother of God is considered to be the patron of Georgia, and many churches and monasteries still preserved from medieval times. But most importantly, what your affiliation with any denomination was of no importance, just Georgia - this is a country where you can feel the divine favor, to get closer to nature, to the world and to people.
The Georgian myths and legends of Jesus and the Virgin Mary easily coexist with the giants, the demigods and the other characters, borrowed from Greek mythology. God in Georgia - cheerful, kind, and supportive, especially to the Georgians. According to legend, the Georgian people have missed the distribution of land by God, because the feast organized and toasted his glory. God is very touched by, and he gave the Georgians a piece of paradise, priberezhёnny for himself.
The main holy place and the heart of the spiritual life of Georgia considered it the first capital - the city of Mtskheta. Legend if express it briefly, is that one a native of this city Elioz happened to be in Jerusalem after Christ's death, where he was able to buy out Jesus' tunic. Elioz brought the tunic to his home town and showed her sister, and she squeezed it in his hands and died of happiness, hands to unclench and could not, so they buried it with the cloth. At the site of the grave grew cedar, which is cut down to build the church, but only the holy beam hovered in the air and did not want to get up to the place. St. Nino prayer down the beam, and erected a church named Svetitskhoveli, which means "Life-giving pillar".
This story demonstrates the essence of Georgian spirituality - as long as a traditional national toast, narrative, a bit confused, but from which it becomes warm and happy at heart. Such stories are at each temple and shrines, so the tours will make a lasting impression even on persons distant from religion!
But even more than stories about God and the saints, Georgians love stories about love.
Love
«Love is in the air» - it's about Georgia. Wonder foreigners local warmth and hospitality of surprises, in turn, Georgians themselves. After all, every guest is taken as a member of the family, which for a long time know and love hard. The love of a mother is considered a saint in Georgia, so it is a great insult to any man - it is disrespectful to the woman who gave him life. But romantic love is no less revered. So, April 15, in Georgia, the Day of Love. This holiday was adopted by Parliament at the end of the last century as an alternative to the European day of lovers, but ardent young Georgian became gladly celebrate both of them.
The most romantic city in Georgia - is Batumi. To love here has everything: an unhurried pace of life beach resort, beautiful sunsets, very gently touching sculptures decorated promenade. About some cities say that there can leave your heart in Batumi, on the contrary, there is a feeling that this city gives you a piece of his.
Photo: Sculpture "Ali and Nino"
About love many legends and one of the most romantic was the basis of the novel "Ali and Nino" Azerbaijani author, who wrote under the pseudonym Kurban Said. The novel is for the most part takes place in the Caucasus: Azerbaijan and Georgia, and the story itself tells of the love between a man and a woman, for which the barrier can not be any different cultures and religions, neither man nor distance. Inspired by this touching story, Georgian sculptor Tamara Kvesitadze designed in 2007, a dynamic sculpture "Ali and Nino", which was established in Batumi in 2010 after the presentation at the Vienna Biennale. Sculpture is a figure of a man and women who are moving towards each other and merge into a single entity.
For the love of Georgia can go together, and, as can be and alone. In the first case, the fresh air and hot wine undoubtedly stoke your feelings, but if you happen to visit Georgia without the second half, you will be pleasantly surprised with the first minutes of feeling among loving family.