Davide Cassenti

I always forget how far it is Chavchavadze ave. from my house in Saburtalo: I wouldn’t have said to Tako “let’s go by foot„ if it was so. We went there walking for some business at the Magti office and then she suggested me to try a good georgian restaurant for lunch. The place is called მაჭახელი (Machaxeli) and you can find different ones in Tbilisi: the one we chosed is located near Marjanishvili street. The menu was not full of different foods and it was written in georgian only: not a problem to read, quite more problematic to understand the meanings of what there’s written; but with Tako’s help I managed to order: 1 acheruli xachapuri, 2 ghvezeli kartopilit e 10 pilmeni.

Yes, it is terribly much, but I was sure everything would have been smaller: anyway was really so good, even if I couldn’t manage to eat all those stuffs, that I went out the restaurant really happy and satisfied. After that I was invited to Tako’s house: when she said me, after the big lunch, my reaction was like “nooo, your mom will give me food again!„, but I couldn’t refuse and we went there. Mom really tried to do so, but I could have just a tea without die.

On the table there was an ashtray: when I saw it I said it was nice, looking like a dice. The result: after 5 minutes her mom had already washed it and put in a little bag to give me as a present! I think next time I will say I like much something like a television. Tako’s gave me a really nice present as well: some photos she made, with a dedication behind each of them really nice and lovely; appreciated really very much.

We went then again out for a walk on the hills of Tbilisi: the view from there was wonderful, but unfortunately my camera’s battery was over and I could take just some photos with my mobile phone. Then we returned down to Tavisupleba square and we saw off; I then met my friend Mzika, talking about serious things like the was in Israel (she’s a journalist, and what a serious one!) drinking something together in a nice evening of Tbilisi.

And at last, time to go home: but since I was not happy enough, I decided to face the freezing cold and to go to the pizzeria “Fantastico”. I should say that it worthed, because the place is really nice, with live music, a beautiful waitress and a very good pizza!

Georgians say that their country is the land of the hospitality: actually you can think they just want to praise it, but you should try and probably you would realize that it is not so wrong. I had an appointment with my friend Natia to go to Nariyala, a really wonderful part of Tbilisi, but before our meeting I received an invitation from an italian teacher to partecipate to the students’ party for the end of the year; since Natia is studying italian, we decided to go there before going to Nariyala, together with another friend, Tako. Since we had to wait an hour and an half before the party, Natia decided to invite us to her grandparents’ house for a while.

Entering the apartment was an experience that remembers the horror house at the Luna Park, with the old stairs, no lights and strange noises while walking; the flat itself, however, although quite similar to Pisa’s leaning tower, was nice and Natia’s grandmom welcomed us very kindly. No way to enter an house in Georgia without being considered as a god: after 3 minutes the table in the center of the room was full of tea, sweets and god-knows-what.

I will never forget the mandarines in the plate: yes, because as soon as grandmom saw I liked them, she filled my jacket with tons of them, even if I was like “no please, it’s enough”; result was that for 3 days I walked in Tbilisi asking to everyone “მანდარინი გინდა?” (mandarini ginda, do you want a mandarin?); I have still one on my table right now. Of course, offering a tea and some fruits is not enough, and by entering the house we were already automatically invited for a dinner in the same evening.

The italian party was nice: students prepared some italian songs and poetries to read, there were food and drinks and at last they also did a quiz with questions about Italy which made me win a nice little puppet-keyring, because I was the first answering which book wrote Dante Alighieri. After the party we finally went to see Tbilisi from Nariyala: view from there is really beautiful, day was nice and we had really great time there.

And finally, after a walk on the hills, dinner time came: we didn’t regret Natia’s grandparent’s invite and we came back at their house. On the menu there were 2 dishes: lobiani and kartopiliani. Grandmom didn’t want any help to prepare them and after some time, once again, the table was full of food. I will never forget that old nice woman watching at us saying “ჭამე, ჭამე” (eat, eat) and especially asking Natia how to say it in italian; then she was looking at me again with the italian version of it “mangia, mangia”: really funny!

Dinner, however, was really tasty and those people were very nice with us; and it happens with many people here: maybe that’s why Georgia stayes in everyone’s heart once came here.