Author: Alexandra Koteva

Over the summer of 2023, I made a 3-month backpacking journey hiking across the Caucasus, spending time in all three Caucasus countries. This article is on Georgia and breaks down my time in the country region by region. If you are interested in the other parts of my trip, you can check out my intro […]

I spent 3-months backpacking as a solo female across the Caucasus, visiting each of the three republics there. In this article, I’ll cover how I spent my final three weeks in the Republic of Armenia. If you are interested in the other parts of my trip, you can check out my intro page or my […]

Over the summer of 2023, I spent three months solo backpacking across the Caucasus. I spent my first month in the Republic of Azerbaijan. Below I’ll break down my time in this country by its incredible regions. If you are interested in the other parts of my trip, you can check out my intro page […]

Summer of 2023 – a summer I spent as a solo female budget backpacker traversing across the three Caucasus republics of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. My trip focused on hiking and meeting locals in these three very different countries. It was arguably the most ambitious and most rewarding undertaking of my life so far, and […]

My Central Asian Studies Program with SRAS in Bishkek included a fantastic 9-day trip to the major Silk Road cities of Uzbekistan—Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand—which was book-ended by visits to Tashkent. At the end of my program, I made the trip to the capital of Uzbekistan again, this time independently. I stayed there for three […]

While studying abroad with SRAS in Georgia, we had the opportunity to leave the city and explore the wider country. We also had a lot of free time to explore the incredible city and all the attractions that surrounded us everyday. Here, I’ll share some of the memorable places I enjoyed most. I definitely recommend […]

Less than a three hour drive from Tbilisi is the northeastern Georgian province of Kakheti. Georgia is famous for its wines and Kvareli, a town in Kakheti, contains a winery belonging to one of the country’s most well-known wine producers, Khareba. Georgia was also well known in the USSR as the source of nearly 95% […]

In mid-July, our SRAS group went on a day trip to Kutaisi, the second largest city in Georgia and also a popular wedding destination. After going to Bagrati Cathedral, we ate dinner and spent the night at a nearby guest house. Unfortunately, I did not feel well that evening, so I went straight to bed […]

As part of the SRAS/NovaMova study abroad program in Georgia, we had a weekend excursion to Svaneti during our third week. We had previously spent time in a couple different regions and cities, including Tbilisi, Mtskheta, and Khareba, but this was the first time our group saw the mountains of Georgia, a true natural wonder. […]

While studying abroad in Georgia, we visited many fascinating churches. Georgia’s Orthodox Church is among the oldest in the world, so the cathedrals have extensive histories and hold an important place in the country’s Orthodox culture. In addition, the unique architecture gives each church a special ambience and beauty. The following cathedrals were some of […]

Mtirala National Park is a vast rainforest between the Black Sea and the Adjara Mountains. The surrounding mountain areas in the Greater and Lesser Caucasus create an environment prone to severe humidity. The name “Mtirala” means “to cry” in Georgian and is derived from the annual rainfall of 4-4.5 meters. Not only is this one […]