Except for a couple of rainy hours in Cyprus, I couldn’t ask for better weather. Cool nights and warm sunny days. Its a good thing because Tbilisi is a good walking around town. It has been great setting out in the morning and returning in the evening with 15 to 20 more miles on my poor shoes in between and another layer of sun damage on my face. I am going to have to get another pair of boots and a tube of sun screen if it keeps up.
I wrote that paragraph under sunny skies. From the view out my back door and the accuweather app forecast,I can put off the shoe shopping for a while. The wet weather has settled in and I am staying closer to home if not directly centered on the Living Room sofa until its not so soggy out. There is even a chance of snow in a few days. Plenty of rime to get caught up on some website work. Don’t worry this small keyboard and my fat thumbs will keep the entries short.
I started with a cheap hotel room on the far side of town while I figured out the neighborhoods and found one that was more interesting. I finally settled on an AirBnB just outside of the old town part of the city. I took advantage of AirBnB’s 30 day stay discount and am all settled in. Now I am Cooking and cleaning just like the domestic God that maybe I’ll be someday. Ok, maybe egg sandwiches, instant coffee and putting dishes away don’t put me on the actual road to God status but it’s at least the end of the street looking in the right direction.
Tbilisi is a pretty big city of 1 million or so people. It’s built on and around 25 miles of hills and cliffs on either side of the Kura River.
It’s a good walking city with something new around each corner, or not. Sometimes it’s a bit dumpy and crumbling for blocks and blocks at a time. The trick is to see the trees through the forest. There are little cafes and bars and shops hidden amongst the rubble (taking literary license, its not that bad) but it takes sundown for their simple neon signs and lights coming from basements at night to show the way to the aforementioned bars, cafes and shops.
I read where Tbilisi has way lower crime rates than western Europe or the United States. It’s really safe to walk around even at night. There is nothing to worry about except for the walking around part. Everything is a concrete gray hue. The sidewalks are uneven and broken apart by tree roots. There are random asphalt humps to control rain runoff. Being built on hills, there are random steps when a sidewalk slope would be too steep. There are sharp rusty edged awnings and air conditioner sticking out over the sidewalks at eye level. And the dogs. Lots of stray dogs. Mostly friendly and docile but not sidewalk broken. Lots of pet dogs too that get lots of walks but I have yet to see anyone carrying a doggy bag. No pressure to even look like you are cleaning up after your dog like people in the US do. It is a minefield. I’ll leave the drivers for another post. You can NOT not pay attention if you are out and about.
These 2 pictures were taken at the same spot. One in natural lighting and the other with flash.
After the sun goes down, you’re lucky to have ambient lighting from an apartment window or passing car to light this obstacle course. A whole nother level of opportunity for ankle twisting, wrist breaking and blood letting.
I can’t imagine adding an evening beer and wine or three at the local pub to the walk home. After 2
years of not drinking, I realized I was just being obstinate and spe nding my evenings on the sofaying to pull the English out from the slightly louder Russian overdub on any one of the 300 channels was no way to experience Tbilisi.
I found a local place run by an English guy that attracted loads of other English speakers so I popped in. It was a good time pretending like I cared about grown men in little shorts kicking a ball around a big field. The best part about it is the pints were less than $3. I only had 2 but a nice dip back into beer waters.
And to be honest, I dipped my toes into the wine barrel earlier in the day. It is said that wine was invented here and they are quite proud of it. As they should be I had a couple of tasters of their red and it was really good. It is hard to find, at least in the states but if you see it give it a try. As usual, it is crazy cheap here but when I have seen it back home, its is crazy expensive.
That’s the word from the other Georgia. I have to figure out what to do with these rainy days. I did find their version of the Home Depot here. A bit Lacking in my opinion. Its more like a Walmart rented space in a big Harbor Freight store. A topic for another day.
PS. There is a link to the Georgia photos on my I.G.-ish page
PSS. For some reason this WordPress theme is really acting up, cropping photos, adding hundreds of spaces between paragraphs and other annoyances. Added to my fat fingers and my general inability to do get a good preview from my small tablet and phone screens of what gets publish. I apologize in advance for more crappiness than usual.
