Edem Tbilisi

We felt the famous Georgian hospitality right at the border: we got a lift to Tbilisi without asking. From there it was only 10 km and an easy bus ride to Mtskheta, the ancient capital of the country and still its spiritual one, where we planned to spend the night.

Despites its importance, Mtskheta is a quiet and small city. We found a great homestay/hotel in the old town, across the street from Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, an enormous building inside a ...

... 10 of us all together. We had pork, chicken, potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes and hot peppers, all done over the fire. Today we visited a cute town about an hour from where we're staying.

The Armenian's are also very nice people and such a wonderful variety of faces here, even more so than Georgia, I think. I'd highly recommend both countries as great places to visit. The only downside is that it would be harder if we didn't know a little Russian.

Tomorrow I'm leaving Tbilisi for a town that starts with Z, and then making my way on to Mestia in the mountains in northern Georgia. The train to Z (Zugdide? Forgot it. Have the ticket for it. But it's all in Georgian) will be overnight and when I get there in the moring I hop straight onto a minibus to wait for it to leave for Mestia (when it fills up...that could be a long time). I've been in Tbilisi longer than I meant to- but ...

... corruption, he has simply canceled many services prone to it - traffic police, car technical inspections, etc. Nowadays, there are many young oh-I-look-like-from-a-US-movie policemen and cars in the streets&metro, new streetlights and one feels quite safe in the city. I should note that I speak about Tbilisi - most of the countryside doesn't appear to have changed at all during the last years. Seeing the changes, many people (of Tbilisi) have very good spirits about it and feel ...

... pedassos, oblits, ferides en carn viva i cicatrius vivents. Un estoic anar vivint ruinos que s acoloreix de fruita a les cantonades i de parres generoses que ofereixen el benefici del dubte -molt fragil- d una existencia relaxada(...) Dels temps sovietics son els grans edificis que, sense massa conviccio, es converteixen en hotels de luxe o centres comercials; els depredadors de la selva del ...

... girl student. She turns out to be Tamuna, the daughter of our hostess in Mestia, and is mentioned in the guide book. The walk takes us to the old town and up the hill, past old houses, a tiled mosque, and up towards the fort. A feature of the streets is the exposed steel gas piping, which runs typically 3 metres off the ground, zig zagging up the hill. Exceedingly ugly with a variety of sizes and shapes of pipe, joins etc. Pay ...

... stuff to buy in there. Indeed, I paid some Laris to the traders around, buying some souvenirs. I said that the best souvenir - wine - would be bought in the duty free shop, before departue. We ended our short shopping trip around Tbilisi in Rustavelli Square. It was amazing to see it. Rustaveli Square is an important sentimental square for the Geogians, which immortalizes Shota Rustaveli, Georgia's national poet. Rustaveli was born in the town of Rustavi in southern ...

... j* meeskoor v*heldumisi. Kv*rteti l*ulj*tel olid ikk* erilised "torud", hääl oli väg* võim*s! Gruusi* kööki iseloomust*b "käikude" rohkus. Õhtu jooksul oli vähem*lt 5 käiku. J* kogu *eg p*isk*s mid*gi uudset pe*le. Kui eestl*stel on kujutelm, et se*l on el*v*d "lih*sööj*d", siis eksit*kse. Üldiselt on toit t*imne, kun* lih* on k*llis. Restosse minnes *rvest*ge s*muti, et lih*roog tähend*b küll*ltki väikest portsu. Õhtu oli pikk j* hotelli purjet*sime umbes süd*öö p*iku. M*g*m*.

... equivalent of about 5 days of our combined budget, but the driver is in tbilisi. Friend: 'you'll have to say the night.' i don't claim to have some kind of travellers e.s.p. , nor does stephan, but plainly, we just don't believe him. we decide to try our luck. Friend says (a last ditch attempt) he's expecting to hear from us later when we're freezing cold from wandering around in the snow in the dark, wasting our time. we race, slipping and sliding ...

... airport and find this level of laxity was absurd to say the least. Is the threat real or not? If it is, why does it only apply to some countries? I am not upset because I can carry my computer on-board and thus bore the rest of you with my rhetoric - but honestly am I the one who has lost it? Do not answer that! We delayed for 2 hours because the flight was coming out of the U.K. - need I ...