Tbilisi the Beautiful & the Tasty

By now, back home, our first few days in Georgia are a blur. If it weren't for the neat, a-page-a-day itinerary  provided by the local agency, GDM, plus my old-fashioned pocket-sized diary, plus the photos on my iPhone, plus my handwritten travel journal, I'd be at a total loss as to which church was where and which courageous prince or warrior was when.

I've already written a bit about our first impressions, but my journal reminded me of a few amusing contretemps:
- Our room was on the 13th floor. Quite commendable, in my opinion. I disapprove of hotels that "don't have" a 13th floor, catering to superstitious clients. The dining room was on the 2nd floor. So down we went at 8 o'clock in the morning, looked right and left, and saw no sign implying FOOD SERVED HERE, or anything to that effect. But there was a large double door. Whose large built-in handle we tried to pull with all our might, to no avail. Confused, we went to the front desk and said the restaurant was still closed. Ucha (nice kid!) smiled at us and said he'd come down with us and show us. Guess what? He pushed the door and it opened wide, to reveal a fully functioning dining hall... I bet Ucha and his friends had a good laugh at our expense.
- Shortly after breakfast, we got a call from the front desk saying our guide was waiting for us. We went downstairs, and when we saw a purposeful, guide-like young woman looking around, we assumed she was there for us, and dutifully began following her towards the exit from the hotel. Luckily, the Front Desk noticed, and with alacrity prevented us from being whisked off by the wrong guide.

Though everything around us was new and fascinating, the day was a bit of a disappointment. Our friendly guide's English left something to be desired; the famous Orbeliani Bath House, which had been warmly recommended to me, was only perfunctorily pointed out to us en passant; same goes for the amazing Bridge of Peace, to which we returned on our own on our last day in town:

Bridge of Peace, Tbilisi

Bridge of Peace, Tbilisi

 I've always been fascinated by bridges and bridge-building. For years, pics of Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge took turns as "wallpaper" on my PC; and The Mystery of Bridge Building by Robert Benchley has been a longtime favorite of mine. So, despite the crowd of tourists and guides, I enjoyed walking the length of this bridge and taking pictures from various angles.

We were dropped off at our hotel around 2p.m., and after our nap, walked along Pekini Avenue, turned left or right or whatever, and eventually came across a small restaurant -- Kasumlo Caucasian Cuisine -- that looked like a small family business catering mainly to locals, but was still centrally-located enough to attract the occasional wandering foreigner, as I deduced from the fact that the menu was also in English.

Entrance to Kasumlo restaurant

The waitress didn't speak English, but we took our chances and got along fine. Except for the business with the soft drink for me. Apparently, in Georgia, "lemonade" covers a multitude of soda-pop flavors, the most common of which seem to be tarragon, pear, lemon, and [vanilla] cream-soda. But obviously, I didn't know that at the time. I asked hopefully: "Diet Coke? Diet Sprite?", but received only a puzzled shrug. "Zero?" I tried, drawing a round "zero" sign with my hand, and suddenly something clicked: "Ah, Pepsi!" said the girl brightly, and brought me a bottle of Pepsi. I scrutinized it suspiciously, not seeing anything that said "diet" or "lite".  Bravely, I walked over to the drinks refrigerator and inspected the bottles on display, comparing the bottle in my hand to the other Pepsi bottle, with a blue label and a picture of Messi.

Delicious food at Kasumlo, incl. Natakhtari lemonade

"I don't think Messi would be advertising a diet drink," I said.

Regular (non-diet) Pepsi

"Dieta!" said the waitress, finally finding the right word, and showing me the tiny print on the back of the bottle she had given me, where it actually indicated zero calories. Phew, sigh of relief!
Now I could enjoy not just my dinner, but a huge portion of chocolate-vanilla ice cream for dessert!

Mt. Kazbek Yes, Ushguli No.

I swear I didn't want to go on that so-called "exciting" jeep ride, via treacherous terrain, all rocks and mud, up the mountain, just to see a monastery. Oh, and a breathtaking view of the Caucasian mountains. But I did, and lived to tell the tale, so here I am.

Destination: Gergety Trinity Church (and monastery)

I think I was nervous because of several horror stories (i.e., news items) within the past few years that told of Israelis who were badly injured, or even killed, on that or other treacherous roads in Georgia. One woman fell off a horse. One family's ATV overturned and crashed; and I was sure I read about one young woman who went flying out of the rock-bouncing jeep; but I googled it and couldn't find any evidence of such a story.

Be that as it may, when the moment came, and I saw the laid-back, been-around-the-block (or around-the-mountain) driver, not to mention the line of muddy vehicles that were on their way back from the top of the mountain, I just got on board. And tightened my seat-belt. Despite Mr. Driver's assurance that "it wasn't necessary".

It was a very rocky ride, to put it mildly. As the so-called "road" climbed higher, the mud got deeper, and scattered ATVs around us were furiously changing gears and attempting to make way. My Fitbit can attest that my pulse was far higher than normal.
But eventually we reached the top of the mountain. It was darn cold. Low, grey clouds and mist enveloped everything. Freezing rain welcomed us. Our shoes were soon wet and muddy. It took me a good while before I remembered I had an Outdoor Research hat in my backpack...Though meant as a sun-hat, it did a good job of protecting my head from the rain:

Nina on top of Ol' Kazbek

As you can see above, I am more-or-less dressed for hiking. There were girls around me, though, who were shivering in their fashionably-torn-to-shreds jeans, stylish shoes with cutesie ankle socks, with neither a hat nor a scarf.

View from the top of the mountain

Scattered ATVs beneath

To be honest, I have only a foggy memory of the significance of this Trinity Church. But nothing can take away from me the memory of that mountain. Also, looking back, I don't think that ATV ride was any more dangerous than several other roads we've been on. The winding road from Zugdidi to Mestia, say, is much longer, requires super-concentration on the part of the driver, and strong nerves... And the road from Mestia to Ushguli, too, is known for its intimidating nature. But two such bumpy rides were enough for me; especially since I do not intend to stay more than 2 days in Mestia and cannot afford a private helicopter to get me out of here :-) 
So I'm leaving the wondrous Ushguli to you guys! One last tip:

Do not adopt a macho attitude, do not attempt to drive that route yourselves, do not even think of using anything but a reliable 4x4. 

Enjoy!

Good Morning, Tblisi!

Statue of Giorgi Saakadze at Saakadze Square, just down the road from Ameri Plaza Hotel

Looks like a perfect day to go exploring (Where the hell is the exclamation mark on this keyboard?) And why on earth didn't I make the effort to learn a few basic words in Georgian -- like "thank you", "please", "where's the toilet" and "what on earth is this thing on my plate?"
Not to mention the weird alphabet:

I, who taught myself the Greek alphabet before our first trip to Greece nearly 30 years ago, and the Cyrillic before our first trip to Russia about 3 years ago. I stare at the signs all around me, but scrutinize them as I might, I still can't figure anything out. Cute, to a degree; and reminds me of Thai. I tried to make deductions from shop signs that had English right under the Georgian, and deduced -- rightly or wrongly -- that a certain complex squiggle like an over-ornate m is pronounced like  the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Fat lot of good that did me. [Later insight: I was wrong; that Georgian letter is an "l" equivalent, as in London, Lima, Lisbon, etc.]

Anyway, that was yesterday. Today (May 10, 2018) I'm a tad smarter, thanks to our guide, Mamuka. He and the driver, whose name* I failed to write down, arrived this A.M. in a shiny white Mercedes van, and off we went. Mamuka pointed out outstanding buildings, gorgeous statues,

at Narikala fortress

At Mtatsminda Bombora park

at Metekhi Church

one winding muddy-looking river, ancient walls and modernistic hotels. By now -- evening time -- I have done some 15,681 steps (says Fitbit), equaling nearly 10 km, indicating that a fair bit of said sightseeing was done on foot. Including uphill climbing and downhill cautious walking. What struck me is the huge variety of architectural styles. Some streets reminded me of Rome at its best, while others were reminiscent of Catania (Sicily) at its worst.

A few tips for future travelers:
-Weather is predictably unpredictable; prepare for showers and sun alike. The locals seem quite unimpressed by the rain, not bothering to take shelter or carry an umbrella.
- Yes, things are considerably cheaper than back home. I bought a tube of a certain Avene creme for half the price I paid in Tel Aviv and in Moscow.
- If you speak Russian - no worries, you'll manage. If you're not Mox, not an avid, or even amateur, linguist, don't bother trying to learn Georgian
- If you have a Georgian restaurant in town, try it out a couple of times, so as to know what to expect and how to eat Khinkali. Otherwise, you can always resort to the local McDonald's, Wendy's, Dunkin' Donuts, or any pizza place.
- I'm sure I'll have further tips by tomorrow or the day after. Right now I'm still an impressionable, naive tourist, who had better get her act together and her backpack packed before our guide comes a-calling.

- to be continued -

* Khvicha

Nina & Michael somewhere in Tblisi :-)

Mike & Mamuka in cable-car on way up to Narikala Fortress