Christmas in Mtskheta

The introduction

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all fine and happy because of all those holidays! In this article I want to tell you about this place, called Mtskheta Salobie and my visit there.

When in Tbilisi, going to Mtskheta Salobie is always a good idea, because it’s pretty close and it’s like you need something about half an hour or so to get there and you can hang out with your friends and just have a good time and have something to eat for good price and fast and in a good environment. There are many people who like Mtskheta Salobie and there are always many people there whenever you go there. It’s like a huge place, where you can eat Georgian food and the service is good, too, and the environment is just really cozy and good and you just enjoy everything there, especially if you go there in summer, there’s this breeze there and it’s not hot there at all and everything’s just great and you just want to sit there and sip your beer with some Khinkali or Mtsvadi or whatsoever. You know, there’s this thing here, they prepare some Lobio and they eat it with Mchadi and it’s a great dish, if you ask me, so that the place is known for this dish and that’s why it’s called Salobie, which means a place where Lobio is prepared or something like that and people usually went there to eat that Lobio with Mchadi, however, nowadays they have other things besides Lobio and you can have them, too, and their Khinkali is really good, if you ask me, and many people go there to eat Khinkali nowadays, I guess.

I had only been there once and this other day we went there and that was my second visit there and some things have been changed since my last visit, which was in summer and, of course, everything was different there and, besides, it was my first time in Mtskheta Salobie and many things were different then and then, when you have already been somewhere, the second time is not that interesting and strange, if you ask me, however, this time I discovered some things, which I didn’t know that they had and, there were some new things, too, which they have added some time ago, I guess.

Getting to Mtskheta Salobie

Well, getting there is quite easy, I guess, however, some people may not understand where it is. You know, the first thing yhou need to do is to get out of Tbilisi and it doesn’t matter whether you go from Saburtalo or Samgori or Tbilisi Sea or whatever, you just have to drive through Aghmashenebeli Alleyand then there’s only one way to Mtskheta and there is a sign for it, of course, and you just drive through it and get to Mtskheta and then there’s this turn on your right and you go there and the first thing you see is this Salobie, I guess. It was pretty easy to get there this other day when we went there. The road is great and you just have to follow it and you are there! It’s really simple , if you ask me, or, maybe I wasn’t paying that much attention to the road, but I don’t think so, because there was nothing special in getting to that place. And, well, if you can’t find it, there’s no other place around  where you can stop the car and ask someone, I guess, because the first thing you see on the road is this Salobie and if you are not there, then there’s nothing else around and you can’t really ask about it anywhere, until you get to Mtskheta itself, I guess, or somewhere nearby.

Our visit there

So, we have been planning to go there for some time , however, we still had not decided whether we would go there or not, because we didn’t really know if everyone would be available to go there on that day. So, it was not until that day that we decided that we would go there and it was a great idea going there, because I really looked forward to it, if you want to know the truth. Well, what can I say, it was one of my last days in Georgia until the end of spring 2017 or something like that, so that I wanted it to be kind of memorable, I guess, or to do something with my family and so that we went to Mtskheta, besides,  it was a Christmas Eve and it was a good idea to go to Mtskheta, because you know, there’s Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, which is the most visited place of orthodox people, I guess. We celebrate Christmas on January 7-th and many people look forward to this date and many of them go to Mtskheta to go to Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and celebrate Christmas there.  Well, our plan was to get to this Mtskheta Salobie first and eat something there and then go to town and see Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and go into it and then come home, of course. It was a good day, too, I mean, it was not that cold or something like that and it was a normal day to go out. You know, I didn’t really know what the environment would be in Salobie, because I hadn’t been there in winter, however, I hoped, that there would be some warm places and we would be warm during our visit to Mtskheta, besides, I was going to go back to Germany, of course, so that I didn’t really want to catch cold or something and go back to my studies in that condition.

Well, getting there we went to these halls and they had some closed rooms, where there were some people and they told us that they had some new rooms and one of them was for smokers and the other one was a non-smoking one, so that we could choose which one we would like. Of course, I liked the non-smokers’ one, because I don’t like when there are people smoking around me while I’m eating, however, the tables there were quite small for us, I mean, there were seven of us and the table was for five or something like that, so that we went to the smokers’ room and I was amazed by its decorations and everything that was done there was just fascinating. Then I remembered, that our very popular Georgian series about the situation in Tbilisi some centuries ago was filmed there and I was telling that to my sister while she was taking pictures of us there. It was a wonderfully decided place, where you would just want to sit and look at all those different old things and have a glass of wine and sip it and enjoy the view. We sat there for some time and then we went out to see where my father and brother were and, besides, we were also waiting for my uncle and aunt and cousin, who just came  there right after us. And it seemed like one of those private rooms had just become vacant, so that they chose to get there and have our dinner there, so that we took this large private room with fireplace and there was some guy who came in and lit the fire in there and it was all warm and stuff like that and it was a pretty good place, too, I can say. There was also more than enough space for us to sit thereand we were there talking and waiting for our order to be brought in. there was this air-conditioning, too, and if you didn’t want a fireplace to be lit, you could just turn the air-conditioning on and it would get the room warmed in some minutes, so that you won’t need any effort at all.

What to order in Mtskheta Salobie

You know, there are some dishes there, which they prepare and offer to their customers, however, there are some of them , which are really worth trying, of course. Well, I didn’t know the menu until now and, to be honest, I thought, that they would have this large menu, that the other restaurants have and they would have many different dishes on there, however, they didn’t have much variety and there were mostly dishes made from meat and, also, they had Khachapuri, Lobiani and Lobio Kotanshi. That’s kind of good, I guess, because they prepare several things and that should mean, that they prepare them pretty well and they should be tasty and stuff.

So, let me tell you about those things, that you should try in Mtskheta Salobie. First of all, everyone goes there to eat Lobio Kotanshi with Mchadi , you should know that, and that’s why it’s called Salobie in the first place, and people really like that meal, however, I guess it all depends on who prepares that dish, because my sister says that when she tasted that Lobio dish, she didn’t really like it, I mean, she had tasted that dish somewhere else in Tbilisi and that one was better than the one in Mtskheta Salobie, however, other people like that dish there.

Well , this time, when we went to Mtskheta Salobie and ordered some dishes, we noticed, that they had made the portions smaller. My sister says, that when she tasted that Lobio dish this summer or late spring, it was twice the size of the portion that they brought us this other day, however, she admitted that this Lobio tasted much better than that one that she ate the other time. One thing that was not changed in size or something else was Khinkali, I guess, and my aunt just loves their Khinkali and, I must say, it’s definitely worth tasting and going there for just Khinkali, because it’s really delicious and it’s just the usual price as in other places, where you can eat Khinkali, so that it’s totally acceptable, if you ask me. They also have Kebab and Mtsvadi and they are pretty delicious, too, however, you should prefer Kebab, I guess, because they don’t prepare some special Mtsvadi or something, and, besides, my brother didn’t really love it, because it was just usual Mtsvadi, I guess, and he just loves Mtsvadi, if you want to know the truth. They also have a good Imeruli Khachapuri, so that if you want to have some Khachapuri, you can order it and it just costs 5 Laris and it’s pretty large for that price and delicious, if you want to know the truth.

So, basically people go there to eat some Lobio, however, they order some other things, too, and, well, the environment is very nice and you would want to go there and hang out with friends or family anytime because of that. It’s great to visit Mtskheta Salobie especially in summer, because there’s this breeze there and the trees and everything and it’s just perfect there, if you ask me.

Our Christmas Eve in  Mtskheta

Well, it was Christmas Eve and we wanted to go somewhere all together and we thought of Mtskheta and everyone thought that it was a great idea and so that we went there. To be honest, it was kind of my last day in Georgia, because I had a flight on 7-th of January, I mean, it was in the early morning of January 8.

Anyways, we went there and had this private room taken and we had some Khinkali and Mtsvadi and Kebab and French fries and Megrelian Khachapuri and Lobio Kotanshi with Mchadi ordered. I really wanted to taste this Lobio with Mchadi and my cousin was really hungry, too, because he said he was looking forward to going to Mtskheta and eating Khinkali, because he really loves Khinkali and, to tell you the truth, it’s not that easy to eat Khinkali if you are a 6 year old boy, I mean, it’s not that simple eating Khinkali when you are a child, but he eats it better than many adults, if you ask me.

So, the first thing that they brought was Kebab and me and my cousin ate it all, I guess. Others thought that the portion would be larger, however, there were these two kebabs and they weren’t large or something, they were like 10 centimeters long each, I guess, and they had this Lavashi wrap around them. But they were pretty delicious and I really liked them. And , you know, it’s a custom to bring this sauce _ Satsebeli with kebab and it’s really tasty and we just love it with kebab or even with just bread, and my father and uncle know how to prepare it and they usually prepare it whenever they want and it’s just great on everything, if you ask me. It’s prepared with some tomato sauce and fresh coriander and onions and some other things, that I don’t really remember now, but the thing is that it’s very delicious and everyone should taste it.

The second thing that they brought was the Lobio with Mchadi and almost everyone was surprised by the size of the portion, because they said that they had eaten Lobio double this portion size some time earlier there. However, I really liked this Lobio and Mchadi, too, and the portion size was good, too, because if it is just for one person, even that portion size is more than enough, I guess, or maybe it’s enough, but then if you eat it all with this large Mchadi that they have, you can’t eat anything else and so that you should decide whether you have come there for Lobio or some other things. Well, there’s always some solution to everything and people can share the portions, so that one can share one portion of Lobio with others and then one can it some other things too. So that it’s not that big of a problem, if you want to know the truth. And that’s what I did, because I couldn’t eat all that Lobio myself, and, besides, I wanted to eat some Khinkali, too. Well, just so you know, Lobio cost 2 Laris and Mchadi cost 1 Lari, so that it’s perfectly a reasonable price, if you ask me and you can just have a great meal for just 3 Laris, hence.

Anyways, the staff there are very nice and everyone who entered our private room said “hello” and smiled and everything and they were pretty organized. And everyone knew what they were doing and that’s really an advantage of that place. And we had this fireplace lit and it was like heaven. All it needed was a little snow outside, however, it was not snowing and it was not going to snow either in a near future, I guess.

Well, Khinkali was really good, I mean, it was like you wanted to eat it all, however, you couldn’t eat much of them, because they were pretty large and juicy and everything, however, they were very delicious. And then my father told us a story about this guy, who was living in Germany or somewhere like that and he and his friends were in a restaurant and he wanted them to taste some Khinkali and as he was used to, he ordered many Khinkali there, because in Georgia Khinkali costs something about 60 or 70 Tetris each, however, when he saw the bill, it said that one Khinkali there cost 9 Euros or something like that and he was just shocked that he couldn’t even speak and say something. I can’t imagine paying 9 Euros for one Khinkali!

Anyways, we had a great time there and it was all nice and it was really a good idea to go there. After our meal, we went to see the town and the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral.Everything was really beautiful, especially at night when all the lights were lit and everything seemed like they were in the movies or something. Also they had all these fir-trees and Christmas lights in the streets and everything was just wonderful. Although it was really freezing outside late in the evening, however, everything was so fascinating around us, that you could just forget the coldness outside and enjoy the sightseeing.

So , if you are in Tbilisi and want to go out of the city and go somewhere, where you can sightsee some historically significant places and, at the same time, enjoy a dinner with your friends or family, you can go to Mtskheta and sightsee it and visit Mtskheta Salobie and enjoy the environment there.It’s a place worth visiting and when you visit it once, you will want to visit it again some time soon. It’s a great place not only for tourists and visitors, but Georgians love going there very much and there are always many of them and especially during those important days, such as Easter and Christmas and all the other holidays that orthodox church celebrates during the year.

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