GEORGIA ON MY MIND

(The Country, not the State!)

In July, 2019 (1BC – a year Before Covid) we started a wonderful, eventful long journey that began in Georgia and ended in Mexico. Fifteen countries in eighteen months!

The first country we came to (not counting a layover in Qatar) was Georgia. For a long time I wanted to visit this far-flung nation. I knew enough Russian for short spurts of conversation. I had read about the imaginative culinary twists they put on bread and other dishes. And I knew that this was the country with beautiful forested-carpeted mountains, cathedrals, ancient castles, and intriguing centuries-old stone skyscrapers.

Downtown Tbilisi with the old city across the bridge. Narikala Fortress is on the hill. Near the castle, barely visible on the horizon a bit right of center, is the Warrior Woman (Kartlis Deda Monument) and, beyond the monument, the sizeable Botanical Garden.

Tbilisi, a City Easy to Like, Hard to Spell

After our bleary thirty-six hour trip from Greenville, South Carolina, with layovers in Chicago and Qatar, Tbilisi seemed like a world apart. Much of it reminded me of how the Soviet Union must have looked. After a few days, however, we noticed that the city has a lot of variety, ranging from medieval to modern. Here are some photos of the city. I hope to have a more in-depth article later on this city, as well as on some of the other places in this first article on Georgia.

Left: Historic Metekhi neighborhood across the Mtkvari River from the Old City. Center: Kartlis Deda Monument, erected to commemorate the 1500th year of the city, has a sword in one hand, cup of wine in the other. Which hand is for you depends whether you are friend or foe. Right: Parliament on hill and the Rike Concert Hall, one of several whimsical buildings and structures in this city.

Residential neighborhood of the city and Holy Trinity Church.

View looking west from Holy Trinity, part of the financial district across the river.

Sunny Sunday afternoon in Dedaena Park. Next to this (and visible here) is a market where you can buy everything from rugs to Soviet-era miscellany.