Radisson SAS Hotel Tbilisi

... br><br>Tbilisi is a run-or-the-mill Eastern Block capital; it has its fare share of old town, churches, monuments, squares and castle-on-the-hilltop, but none of them outstanding. Two of them, the new cathedral and the new presidential palace, draw my attention just because they are fleshy buildings located in one of the oldest part of town full of decaying houses housing (seemingly ...

... revolted against one President (Eduarde Shevadnardze in 2003) the country looks set to try and overthrow another. But this one is a less docile character and after fixed votes and an assemblage of troops, it looks like things will get violent before any resolution is acheived. For now the protests are peaceful and seem more like a party than a demonstration of public outrage. So it was with a big smile and friendly grin that I stood in one of the make shift ...

Yesterday I went to a village called Kazbegi. The Caucusus are even more beautiful than I have dreamed them to be. The bus ride itself was worth it (even after the driver stuffed bags of potatoes in every extra inch of space in the minibus, including where our feet should have been). The road is the Georgian Military Highway, and it basically heads straight up from Tbilisi to the border with Russia (and beyond, if the border was open). As ...

... we stopped in a Georgian restaurant [name 2do] for some khinkali (meat dumplings) and beer. I had to be learnt how to eat it: one holds it on the stem and eats it out so that the sauce inside doesn't spill which would happen by just cutting it. Then a stroll to one of the churches around Tavisuplebis square, through the smallish old town, to the botanical gardens above it and in the night to the ruins of Narikala Fortress built on a hill towering above Tbilisi and offering nice views of ...

... sogar wissen, ob ich einen Geldgurt trage (nope, der Geldgurt war in meinem Rucksack). Meinen Pass durfte ich allerdings behalten... Es war 5 Uhr am Nachmittag, noch heller Tag und an sich auch andere Leute unterwegs, dort wo sie mich ausgeraubt haben, war allerdings niemand... Sie sind dann runter in die Altstadt gelaufen, ich bin ihnen noch hinterher gelaufen, habe sie aber aus dem Auge verloren. To add insult to injury habe ich den Raub sogar der Polizei gemeldet. Habe kein ...

... so we proceed to the terrace, where we find Paul, Jerri and Kat. They have finished, Jerri leaves, while Paul and Kat stay a while. MP has a good Beef Stroganoff, with excellent chips, DP an "interesting" local dish. Good wine by the glass. The restaurant has a wonderful location, with great views over all the special buildings and monuments, which are floodlit every night, which looks great. Take photos, then back to the ...

... the bleat: a white goat stood inside a fenced-off zone, looked like it is very happy to see us. "Meeee...", Michal tried to mimic the goat's sounds, maybe to talk to it. I even took a photo of our new hairy friend. I still thought it was a bizzare place for a goat to be in - 20 meters away from one of the holliest places of the Christian world. Don't you think the same? Our Mtskheta animal story was not finished with the goat, which is now probably a shishlik, according to ...

... fire, surviving the winter by begging or dumpster diving next to the Marriot. EU flags, with their gold stars on blue, were next to many Georgian flags. Another sign said: "Georgia is part of Europe." Geographically, experts see Europe as ending at the divide of the Caucasus, where Prometheus was chained in punishment for giving man fire. At the same time, Caucasians get their name--for better or worse--from this region. But what defines Europe or the ...

... Shé unfortunately got a bacterial infection that silenced her for two days - an amazing feat - I think even her brother acknowledged that we were in dangerous territory when she refused to rise to several barbs, which usually result in physical violence. For all of two days the Ugandans thought they had the perfect seven-year old, docile and well behaved. Once the drugs kicked in the ...

And back to Tblisi. After the failure of Turkey to excite (journal will be updated retrospectively), the Caucasus have been a delight. Full of hidden churches set in fairy tale forested valleys and monasteries perched precariously atop deep gorges with breath taking views. These monks certainly knew something about locating a retreat or the perfect place to hone your chi. Dad arrived a week ago and after a day of exploring ...