TravelBlogger

Being Russian and going to Georgia in 2009, just after the war was finished where Russians messed up a lot.
One day our countries were part of the USSR, then got separated so we need a visa to travel. But now even that possibility was gone - borders were closed. All direct flights were cancelled too.

We took a flight via bordering country and got to Tbilisi. It was actually not difficult just noone from Russia would actually try to get to Georgia that time.

We were asking ourselves how people will treat us there. Everything went well and people were friendly until one day we were in a local restaurant and heard some local guys next table talking about us in an intentionally loud voice - so we could hear everything they said. They were wandering how us russians dare to come to Georgia after all.
That were first people we met who were not hiding their emotions and their rage against russian government and the war. Russian and georgians always felt like brother nations and now we russians ruined it. They first of all could never understand why Russia interfered in the conflict inside Georgia and took just one side when she actually had to take both sides and not betray georgians that way. Guys next table happened to be all coming from the area of the war. They asked us millions times how and why russians started to hate Georgia so they could fight against it.

And we had no answer for that. All I knew that back in Russia me and my peers we had warm feelings about Georgia. But none of us made any effort to tell our government to stop that war.

Guys we met were real georgians after all - hospitable and friendly. Although they had all those questions unanswered, they invited us to join their table - to make peace at least on this small territory. We were sitting in that restaurant until it got closed and then we moved to another one together where they treated us like guests and we talked and talked until the very morning like the war never actually happened.