Good country, exhausting tourist industry

Georgia is a genuinely beautiful and interesting place. Old Tbilisi is worth every superlative thrown at it. The pkhali is legitimately excellent. ancient Christian heritage gave the trip real depth.

What I struggled with: the tourist infrastructure around the headline sites in Mtskheta is relentlessly commercial and mountain roads can be treacherous is a genuine friction point. You can feel the gap between authentic Georgia and the packaged version sold to tourists. The authentic version wins, but you have to work to find it.