Playing Tourist in Tbilisi

For some of you that want to come visit Georgia before I leave, here are more pictures of Tbilisi.

 

Modern bars in Tbilisi

just across from the modern bars!

The largest cathedral in Tbilisi,
with one of the oldest ones in the foreground.

Gondola goes to the top of
the old fortress on the hill

The Turkish baths, where one gets naked
 with some of your favorite friends.

Lack of architectural controls gives rise to creative building,
plus a loss of historical congruity.

view from a tourist restaurant 

 

Tourist prices: salad, deep fried kingali with soy sauce, and 2 glasses of wine
$4.80  :-)

In the middle of Old Town tourist area

Underground walkways beneath the busy roads

The same flower ladies have been here for 2 years. They wouldn't let me
take their picture until I said I wanted to buy a bouquet. Now
they smile each time I walk by.  

Finally, a efficient, well utilized Metro  

My summer vacation - Part 1: Georgia

King David the Builder, in Old Town Tbilisi

Mother Georgia

Dear readers, thanks for missing me.  Forgive my tardiness in posting my blog this past month.  I had a wonderful vacation when my daughter, son, and cousin visited, followed by some busy times at work.  It is all good.  So let's summarize 3 weeks with visitors.  Our first week was primarily in Georgia - from East to west, the capitol Tbilisi to the mountains of Racha.

Sameba, Tbilisi's Cathedral finished in 2004 with  Amanda, Matt and Mariann

Views of Tbilisi from Narikali fortress, dating from 4th century

Tbilisi Metro

Matt wanted to shop for shoes

Souvenir shopping  

Sighnaghi - The city of Love, and heart of Georgian wine country

 Bodbe - Where St. Nino, the founder of Christianity in Georgia, is buried. It's on the way to Sighnaghi.

Next we visited my great host family from training, the Bugadze's family, from Khashuri.  They escorted us around Borjomi, Surami, and Kutaisi.  Great time to be with them all.  I love these people and so glad they could all meet.

Gocha, Tomriko, Mari, Mariann, Matt and  Amanda

Bagreti Cathedral, built in the 11th center is on the UNESCO's World Heritage Site

Hiking to Bottomless lake, Racha

Next we headed for the mountains, to the Racha region. We hiked to Bottomless Lake, in Racha, one of the 4 beautiful mountain regions in northern Georgia, the upper Caucasus.  The lower Caucasus cover the south side of Georgia.  It was a 10 km and 5300 foot elevation gain.  And not much of a trail. 7 hours up, and 5 hours down.  My lovely "host sister", Mari,  joined us and we all did great!

 

Look at this rock formation!

The clouds rolled out, and then back in by the time we were done climbing. 

Of course, time in Koda was a special occassion, for my neighbors as well as my family.

Supra at Lali's - wonderful!

Koda Community Education Center and the Dixons

Leaving Tbilisi .  Next up... Istanbul!

American Days in Georgia

The US Embassy in Georgia kicked off a week long celebration of American friendship and PR in June.  Smart, since July is hotter than heck.  The Koda Community Education Center Youth Club wanted to attend, so I accompanied Anano, our Youth Club Director, in taking the high schoolers to Tbilisi to see the booths, any free food, and an American concert.  They highlighted the projects that USAID was supporting, the US Embassy, and many joint projects with the Georgian government.

My picture of the little girl - top middle, taking corn off the cobs for winter feed

The Embassy had a photo exhibit on the outside of their tent. My picture was chosen - too bad I assigned away all rights. :-)  Here's the story of my little girl cleaning the corn off the cobs. 

Anano with our US Ambassador

Our Youth group

Tika Trevishvili, my Peace Corps Organizational Development program manager, at the Peace Corps booth, a great woman!

Look who is hanging out with Nate Stanford, base guitarist for dangerflow, who held a concert in the evening. My first rock concert of the 21st century, I think...

A Croatian, Pole, Aussie, Greek and US PCV walk into this Spa...

I couldn't help myself with that title.  It really was funny.  I belong to a wonderful organization called Servas.  Servas is an international, non-profit, non-governmental federation of national Servas groups, encompassing an international network of hosts and travelers. The purpose of the network is to help build world peace, goodwill and understanding by providing opportunities for personal contacts among people of different cultures, backgrounds and nationalities. Some would call it a vetted couch surfing club for adults, but it is much more. 

Georgia Regional Servas Meeting
Servas Georgia had a regional meeting with visitors from 12 countries, most of which I still need to visit.  I was able to join them on my weekend off from the Center. It was a great weekend of getting to know one another and hearing more about cultures, travelling and issues in this part of the world. A lovely Ukraine family put on a presentation and musical recital. An Israeli member described how lovely and safe it is there. Russians explained how best to get around in their big country. I was fascinated, but had more to experience by our Saturday night adventure.

One of our Georgian hosts, in her lovely home

And a view from her home

Ukranian presentation

Georgian Sulphur Baths
You European/Asians can stop reading now.  You experience this all the time.  But I sure haven't. I have been wanting to go to the Georgian sulfur baths for the past year, but haven't had the opportunity. These ladies all seemed really cool, so I solicited members to come to the Baths in Old Town Tbilisi with me after our dinner Saturday night. And as I mentioned we had a broad delegation of Eastern Europeans, and Aussie and me thrown in for good measure. Fortunately several women knew the ropes and guided us through the steps of stripping, showering, soaking, and getting scrubbed down.  It was really relaxing and we had a great time.  The only BIG surprise was when our 'scrub down' lady came in and stripped too!  I guess she wanted to make us all feel comfortable, and it actually did.  It was just surprising to see your masseuse walk in naked. 

The baths were first documented in the 1st Century while discussing Roman plumbing

The baths were a tradition that quickly caught on, helped by the city’s historic position at the epicenter of the Old Silk Road. By the 13th century, there were 63 of these domes. 

Here's a before picture, no after pictures allowed.  I feel it safe to say all our visitors had a great time in Georgia, and our Georgian hosts were most delightful - spending countless hours planning, hosting, and coordinating.  

Peace Corp goal #3 is to share Georgian culture with Americans.  Well I am doing that this weekend, with Americans and with lots of other cultures as well. 

Check out more about Servas through this Ted Talk.