Today we moved on. Goodbye Shekvetili and fishes.
We drove back toward Tbilisi, partly. The going was slow as we left, because we were along a train track, which interwove with the road along the mountain terrain. At each train crossing the traffic slowed. And if a train was coming, or had just passed, traffic had to wait for the barrier to go up. That sounds normal, but here there is a little train crossing hut for the barrier man to sit and put the barrier up or down when the the train passes. All manual. The trains are come in very old styles and modern Swiss-made sleekness. Then we left that area to head east again.
This day we saw, besides the ubiquitous cattle along the roads, also a couple of small herds of fine horned goats, a few pigs in towns, and some horses. The market stands changed, too. Watermelons were still offered, but now we saw huge arrays of red-clay pottery, from small bowls to huge crocks and wine amphorae; plus woven baskets of all sorts, rug hammocks, macramé hammocks and hanging chairs, and wooden slat chairs. Then came the sweet corn on the cob. In front of the stands were small black metal pots on four-legged metal stands, over a small fire in the dirt, to offer warm cooked corn to passers by.
So we were on the main east-west road through the country. Georgia does not have many main roads, so this one carries a lot of traffic. Our drive was quite slow, but not so much from the traffic load as from the construction going on. China has got its foot in here with its Belt and Road initiative. They are building a big split four-lane highway across Georgia, around, over, and through the two-lane road we drove. Most of the Highway seems to consist of bridges and tunnels to get through the mountains here.
It is a huge job. So much material to move out and bring in, earth, concrete, steel - and people and machinery.
But eventually we turned more south, off that road, and came to our next destination: Borjomi.
As usual, it is situated on a river, and one crosses the Beautiful Bridge to get anywhere. They like their suspension bridges here, too.
Our hotel, an imitation castle, the Borjomi Palace. It is nicely done, even if it isn’t real.
Our room is the last one on the top.
After settling in, we went for a walk down to the city to tend to a couple things and see the area. We saw this multilevel bakery, literally a hole in the wall, with little rooms up and down.
As we were walking down the sidewalk, we saw a man reach down into a ground level hole in the wall, and get a bag of bread from a woman below street level. She was in this tiny hole selling bread for the bakery you see…..
….down and in the dark here.
The steep steps go out to the street level sidewalk. One uses what space one has.
We went through a market.
These were all over for hire.
A pedestrian bridge. Our hotel in the background.
Other end of the market
We walked through a riverside park.
Above the white tower-side of the big building on the first ridge is a fortress ruin with a watch tower. Better Half took a solo trek up there before dinner.
Back up the hill to hotel you see in the background.
The city coat of arms.
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