Watercolor 563

In Georgia

On site sketch, with people looking over my shoulder, asking to take a picture, and light changing. 

End of Georgia, Last Day and After

Lost

On Saturday, our last day in Georgia, I did a blog post, but it wouldn’t upload, and when I tried later it had vanished. 

I am home now, but was too tired to re-do it yesterday, so here is my second try now. 

After breakfast at the hotel…

Breakfast room, looking toward lobby

…..we headed out for a walk. Hot day. No picture, but we saw a derelict stretch limo just parked to rot on a street. Most all running cars are shiny and in good shape, and car washes are a booming business, but when a car is not useful anymore, in just gets abandoned anywhere. 

First destination: Stalin’s propaganda printing presses to drum up support for Communism, while he was still in his home country, before he became Big Stuff. We found the building, which was supposed to have an on-site caretaker who would let visitors in, past all the locks and gates, when you rang the bell.

But no one came, so we did not give 5 Lari each to the Georgia Communist Party.

Beyond that stop, we went to a shooters’ supply shop at a gun range. The shop opened, eventually, much after the posted opening time, and the shooting range was closed. Maria got a 511 t-shirt with a Georgia flag. SOMEBODY had to get a t-shirt on the trip. From there we went to a Winchester gun store. I hear gun prices are 50% higher in Georgia than at home.

Walking on, we saw this odd sight….

…. hundreds of snails on a long metal fence. Fried. It was hot 🥵. 

No idea why they were there, but my theory was that they crawled up in the cool nights to savor the warmth, and didn’t get down in time when day came. Snail trap, anyone? 

A random strip of pretty roadside park, in an otherwise dilapidated area. 

More typically, in most parts of the city, sidewalks may have random deep holes in them, be missing parts, have loose tiles (likewise with loose manhole covers, which can be interesting), be blocked by vehicles, or just be missing altogether, so one navigates the streets in traffic. 

  A view to the fortress in the hills. Note the roadwork.

This road is in full traffic operation. No signs saying “Men Working,” or caution cones. It’s just drive at your own risk, like with the cows and dogs in the road, but in this case operating machines, raised utility covers, holes, and not much space to maneuver around the obstacle course. 

But, one does what one can. So too in finding places to live. Is this place habitable? Of course it is habitable… well… one section is.

This was near our hotel, to which we went back for a break. It was HOT 🥵. 

Later we went out to find dinner. Walking. The first place was just fast food. Walk on. The second was closed. More walking, across the river, to the city center. It was hotter than the morning. 

The third place was open, pretty, and cool, with misters on the awnings that sprayed the atmosphere and anyone nearby, but only had menus by QR code, which didn’t work on any gizmo we had. So we walked on. “Walk on, Walk on, with hope in your heart…..” Eventually we went to the restaurant where we had dined at the beginning of our trip, but this time inside. 

That little bird is a quail.

That drink was called lemonade. I never did get an actual lemonade, in all the times I ordered one. Evidently the term is used for any sweetened water drink, with some fruit in it, or Waldmeister, as the case may be. 

Note, behind the glass are the traditional Khinkali, filled dumplings. 

Our view out the restaurant window. 

The same church from a different angle on our walk back to the hotel. It was still hot. 

By the way, in answer to an earlier question about the statue - it is the founder of the city. 

Good bye, Tbilisi. Goodbye, Georgia. 

Then it was finish packing, and try to sleep a bit - I mostly didn’t because some people decided it was a good night to be noisy until 1:30 in the morning, and we had to get up at 2:00 a.m. We had a driver take us to the airport, to fly to Istanbul, then Zurich. Then Home, Sweet Home, to try to get the inner biome back on track. And to preserve fruit. The young people froze a good quantity, so the pears are about done, but the plum tree is still loaded, and grapes are about ready. 

The End of that trip. 

I may post a couple of bits of art sketches from the trip, later. 

Georgia, Day Twenty-One

In Tbilisi 

Today we did a morning-midday walk through the streets of the big city. 

Looking toward the fortress hill

An odd-shaped building with a pretty exterior and not much in the interior.

Your language lesson for today

The smaller of two “Church Shops” we went into with beautifully-made wares. They are in plain block buildings with little on the outside to indicate the sumptuousness inside. I came away with this - 

Handmade, embossed copper with a real silver overlay.

I did NOT get an engraved floor-stand baptismal font in silver and gold. But the prices would have made it worthwhile. 

A larger icon, in silver and gold for 520 GEL, which is about 175 $/Fr. It stayed in the store, too. 

Street art

Wall “art” on a shop exterior 

Gallery art in a shop window

Pomegranate tree “art”

Note the panda bear

Part of a large sidewalk flea market. We did not need jewelry, silverware, old cameras, cords, kebab skewer sets, daggers, rugs, old toys, coins and medals, or any of hundreds of other things. Fun to look though. 

It is HOT, so by this fountain, which some passers-by could not resist walking through…

…. at the Georgian version of Dunkin Doughnuts, some of us decided on  the one-and-only junk food stop…

Sweet.

I declined (we have all acquired off and on stomach upset again), but took a sip of the berry drink (it was real).

More walking

Then back to the hotel for rest. This is the high-contrast view out my room window. 

Georgia, Day Twenty

Monasteries 

We are winding down the trip now, going back full circle to our starting point. We left our Telavi hotel this morning. 

Dining room

I

Stone work everywhere. 

That is the breakfast buffet in the picture: always every meal with cucumbers and tomatoes, plus breads, sausage, cheese, jam, and French toast. And tap water, tea and coffee. 

Entrance to the dining room from courtyard- or to courtyard from dining room 

Icons in the hall

Courtyard 

A grapevine in a tiny pot, but it is producing grapes

Then driving on….

Nearby were a pair of monasteries, the Shuamta, the old one and nearby the new one.

The old one was very old, decrepit, and mostly empty, but with the lovely textures of old things.

The entrance gate. A street dog, with a piece of bread. 

This is actually a cluster of three churches. No idea why.

As always, scarves await the improperly dressed.

Inside the first 

Particle board and cloth, but with the light from behind, it glowed

Old and weathered and aged

And, always, George

These icons come in every range of quality, but this embossing is well-done

A nearby stone path that wanted exploring

It simply led to this small shrine in a patch of sunshine in the woods.

Then we went to the new monastery, which turned out to be nicest we have seen, and it forbade photos. 

Besides wonderful figures and Biblical scenes, it had borders of beautiful scroll work. It had also been heavily damaged, so the art was patchy with just whitewash over areas, but still quite marvelous. 

It had a little shop from which we left with more handmade soaps and such. We have to fly soon, so have to watch luggage weight.

From the outside, where we were instructed by a sign to ring and wait for a Sister to escort us to see the church. 

A view through the gate

Inside the gate

Outside along the wall

In the Icon niche

From there we drove around and down the mountains, with a look-out stop….

(I mentioned before something about arbitrary spelling ….) There was ramshackle hut on the other side of the road, presumably where you could get coffee, right under a big cell phone tower). And an old man was selling honey from a small stand. All along that road were large colonies of bee houses, and stands with honey.

Eventually we arrived back in Tbilisi and our first hotel, the Brim. 

Funky decor

And a new and very special wine is available here. Production started in 2020 after years of trial. Made in Georgia, with black grapes. The color is entirely real. The taste is sweet and smooth. 

And somebody’s (not my) dinner, black pasta from octopus ink, with shrimp.