Tbilisi felt extremely European after Eastern Turkey. It's has more in common with Belgrade than Batumi so felt a little bit like we'd back-tracked. Having said that it was refreshing to only be stared at because I'm blonde (and therefore unusual) and not because I'm a woman wearing jeans.  It's a really green city, and the old town is very pretty with lots of cobbled streets and thousand year old churches. Much of the city is dilapidated, and the few trendy bars that we went to on my birthday look extremely new and slightly awkward, like brand new shoes that still need breaking in.

 

The city is attractive enough but it was difficult to feel comfortable in Tbilisi.  The setting of the city along the steep banks of a river has meant that it has developed in two directions, and the river has served as a barrier rather than a focal point for the city.  In the old town you felt far away from the bustle of the main shopping street, yet in the new areas the paint was barely dry on the walls and newly created squares quickly acquired rows of Ladas, Zhigulis and Volgas as the city’s traffic haemorrhaged into the new space.

 

We rented a stuffy, dark apartment with a wonky chandelier and brown furnishings.  The place has an ancient fridge and couple of dodgy gas rings. The shower was fine until I broke it, now when you turn it on a thin trail of smoke appears along with the scary smell of burning electrics. The flat is just like the places I stayed during Russian degree - Carpets on the wall as decoration and everything covered in mismatched 70s polyester fabrics decorated with dusty plastic flowers in chipped vases. There was a huge cockroach on the wall trying to blend into the decorations. There was also an old lady with yellow hair and a grim expression who sat on the veranda all day and night and guarded the door.

 

Georgians are extremely beautiful people. Dark hair and pale skin with really strong features, deep set blue or brown eyes and calm expressions. They also dress really well - not as enamoured by shiny stretch fabrics as in many ex-soviet places, but with there own sense of style. Another distinct feature of Georgia was the food... it’s a complete change from what now seemed like very unadventurous Turkish food, the Georgian creativity with ingredients has more in common with South East asian cuisine: We had some soup so crammed full of coriander that tasted like Vietnamese Pho and I had some stew that was basically a delicious lamb curry.

 

We went back and forth to and from Tbilisi a number of times, the Azeri consulate's demands and Tbilisi’s status as the hub of Caucasus travel mean that we ultimately spent about 10 days in the city spread over about 4 weeks - hence the inconsistencies in the dates and the dodgy map!

 

HA