Tbilisi, Georgia

Flying into Tbilisi, tall abandoned cement apartment buildings lined up like Tetris were in great contrast to the open landscape full of valleys and mountains. I was able to get a new stamp into my passport, which is a huge relief as I was starting to feel a little antsy of working the same routes every other day. As soon as we got to the hotel, Cass and I hit the ground running.

We walked from our hotel to “Old Town”, which was full of aesthetically ambiguous cafes and restaurants. It was the old mixed in with everything else. Worn down buildings were left forgotten in between newer buildings with balconies and shops with homemade honey and vodka and “Churchkhela” (thanks Cass for looking up the word), candy that looks like it’s made of wax and hangs in bunches from the ceiling. We could not figure out for the life of us what it was. We guessed candle sticks and sausage but would have never guessed it was candy! Next, we made our way to the cable cart that would take us up to the “Mother of Georgia”

“The 20-meter-tall aluminium statue, wearing Georgian national dress and holding a cup of wine in one hand and a sword in the other has been called the monumental “Mother of Georgia”. She symbolises the Georgian national character: wine stands for hospitality and the sword represents every Georgians love of freedom (and their character should anybody try to infringe their liberty).” (As I took from David J Constable from the Huffington Post while I did my research. http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/1776626)

Here we got to see a remarkable panorama of the bustling city and the Narikala fortress that sits ontop of the hill, which was established in the 4th century (woah). The most fascinating part to me was that as I walked behind the statue, depending on which way I faced it was as if I was in two entirely different locations. One way was solely city noise and the other was a natural liveliness as it was only insects chirping in the wilderness.

The area I got to explore was the perfect balance, to me of a rustic historicness to the continuing growth that the city capital is going through. The rest of the late afternoon was spent wandering around with the crew and seeing as much as I could, the bridge of peace and the obviously more modern glass museum buildings from across the river. The city was that of hopeful opportunity, from the hidden waterfall in the botanical garden to the peaceful relations between all religious establishments that we passed by. I would definitely go back to explore some more and maybe even try one of those sulfuric baths. For now, though, I’m happy I got this experience and now have plenty of Tbilisi’s landscape photos to look back on.

Thats all for now, folks.

გმადლობთ (gmadlobt) (Thank you. The only thing I learned how to say and I’m pretty sure I’m not pronouncing it right)

-Mary