Rachel Dixon, who works on travel and features at the Guardian, spent three months crossing the Caucasus from Europe to Asia. The trip over the Caucasus mountains took him 2,600 miles through six countries, including Georgia, with a warm welcome at every stop and barely a western tourist in sight.

This was not Dixon’s first visit to the region and Georgia. Thirteen years ago he stayed in one of the villages of Georgia and was surprised by the hospitality a local man showed him.

"On that 2004 journey, I was sleeping on a village bench when some men approached. One, Gocha, insisted I stay with him. When we got to his house, out came a bottle of vodka. When it was empty, out came another one. He wouldn’t let me leave for three days! Eventually I climbed out of the window and did a runner. When I went back 13 years later, he immediately said: "Ah, Englishman.” And then, of course, he opened another bottle … That hospitality was what drew me back,” wrote Dixon.

In his story Dixon describes Georgia’s landscaped, food, local people, climbing experience, hospitality sectors, different attractive places of the country.

Traditional Georgian khachapuri bread. Photo source: The Guardian

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