We're coming to the end of our four weeks in Georgia, so I guess it's time for a few random observations on this country and its inhabitants:
Men and women wear a lot of black (it's June, remember), and seem surprised when you point it out to them, as if they've never thought about it.
People eat a lot of bread and cheese, often ordering bread and cheese along with khachapuri, which is made from bread and cheese. It's all delicious, BTW.
People smoke a lot and when they're not smoking, they're chewing sunflower seeds. Adult males also seem to eat a lot of ice cream products in public.
Unlike everywhere else I've been in Eastern Europe, women here do not dye their hair red/purple or blonde very often. Natural coloring seems to be in, and when they do go for a dye-job, they opt for black. Women also wear stockings with jeans an awful lot.
Men don't wear neckties.
"Supermodelitis", that prevalent affliction in Ukraine, doesn't seem to exist here.
It seems as if all Georgian children learn traditional Georgian dancing. Having observed young Georgian dancers, boys and girls, I can only say "Bravo!"
A very common sight is grandpas out in the streets shepherding babies and toddlers. I've never seen this phenomenon anywhere else. It's damn cute.
Georgian men and boys kiss each other on the cheek in greeting. You also see boys walking arm in arm quite frequently.
There seems to be a distinct lack of trendiness, or "hipness" factor among Georgians. Very few trendy clothes, wacky haircuts, tattoos, face piercings, hip-hop regalia, heavy metal teenagers, punks...all the fashions so common in just about every country I've ever been to, seem to be absent here.
I read on the internet that Georgian drivers are the world's worst. Although I don't have enough data to back up that claim, Georgian drivers are the worst I've ever seen - just uniformly awful, reckless driving. As a foreign visitor walking around Tbilisi, heed my warning: You will meet your maker in a crosswalk - with a green light!
Georgian pedestrians are thrillseekers too. From ages eight to eighty, they walk straight into speeding traffic, casually winding their way across 4 or 5 lanes of hurtling cars, counting on God, I assume, to protect them. Yikes! It's really scary.
Georgians are really great hosts. They are very human, very hospitable, and a pleasure to be with. They laugh a lot (especially the women) and treat foreigners really well. We have had uniformly great experiences with the Georgian people, who seem to enjoy life, regardless of tough times, and have a deep cultural commitment to treating guests really well.
The food here is really fresh and good. The aforementioned bread and cheeses, khachapuri, tomato and cucumber salad, eggplant and mushrooms in various styles, lobio (bean stew) w/ fresh greens, skewered grilled meat - these are the staples that we have eaten everywhere, and everywhere they have been delicious. Georgian wine is good and plentiful (I'm recovering from my first hangover in several years - courtesy of several pitchers of young Georgian wine consumed at a bacchanalian feast) and Georgian beer is cheap and tasty...
I wish we would have had more time to see some more of the regions of Georgia. There is a lot of beauty and diversity packed into this one small country. We have really enjoyed ourselves in Georgia!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The Gori Details
The most famous son of Georgia is undoubtedly Iosif Jugashvili, known to the world by his pseudonym: Stalin. He was born and raised in a town an hour outside of Tbilisi with the prophetic name of Gori. We decided to head back to the provinces for our final (unfortunately) look at Georgia outside the capital city.
We found a shared taxi to Gori for the discount price of three bucks apiece. Jen and I sat in the back, while the guy in the front was a very drunken and friendly man named Valera. He stank to high heaven and was quite the Chatty Cathy, rambling on incessantly, challenging Jen's slurred-Russian decoding skills. I made the mistake of trying out my only Georgian phrase, which translates as: "would it be possible to get two beers?" Valera took me literally and, at a highway rest stop, bought me a bottle of beer (with a mineral water and candy bar for Jen...sweet guy).
Gori, at first glance, looked very dead and crumbling away on a Saturday afternoon. Our hotel (again, the "best in town") was deserted except for an old man at the desk that reminded me of Bela Lugosi. At first he pretended not to speak English, but later he surprised us with several well-turned phrases that we suspected he practiced for hours prior to seeing us again. We strolled around town for a couple of hours, saw the giant Stalin statue, found a beautiful church, ran into some cute kids, peeked at the market, then had a nice Georgian meal at the place next to our hotel. We had a busy day planned for Sunday.
There is a huge old medieval fortress on top of a steep hill in the center of Gori that dominates the town. We got up early on Sunday and walked to the top of the hill. The views from the top were nothing short of amazing. The snow-capped Caucasus range seemed close enough to touch. We were alone up there save for two armed guards, a little boy and his grandpa, and a blind dog. At one point, the guard gave his rifle to the five-year old for some picture-taking. Jen, photojournalist, was right on it. Yikes! Sorry, I forgot to mention that Gori was at the center of Russian military action against Georgia in last summer's brief war. Russian troops occupied the town for days, and several people were killed. I couldn't help but think that the little kid was going to grow up ready to fight the Russians, who live just over the mountains.
We got to the Stalin Museum just as it opened. Stalin's birthplace is a brick and wood cabin on the grounds, preserved just as it was in 1879. Apparently the Soviets tore down the entire slummy neighborhood around the cabin in the 1930's and built the elaborate shrine that now houses the museum. Olga, our English-speaking guide, gave us the rapid, canned presentation, leading us from room to room showing us pictures and artifacts from the great man's life. She didn't appreciate questions very much. We saw his desk from the Kremlin, his favorite pipes, his death-mask (not that thrilling), and outside in the yard, his private train-car that he tooled around the Soviet Union in (see photo of me in Stalin's reading chair).
Olga recommended that her policemen buddies drive us to our next destination, the ancient cave-city of Uplistsikhe just outside of town. We could have taken a taxi for the same price, but why not ride with the cops? Uplistsikhe was fabulous, but we only had an hour to explore - not nearly enough. A series of cave temples dedicated to the sun goddess, the complex dates to the 6th century, B.C., although it has been occupied by many different groups through the years, and its most obvious feature today is a beautiful 10th century church high atop the rock. We scrambled around for a while taking photographs, but too soon it was time to leave Uplistsikhe and make our way back to Gori, and from there back to Tbilisi.
We found a shared taxi to Gori for the discount price of three bucks apiece. Jen and I sat in the back, while the guy in the front was a very drunken and friendly man named Valera. He stank to high heaven and was quite the Chatty Cathy, rambling on incessantly, challenging Jen's slurred-Russian decoding skills. I made the mistake of trying out my only Georgian phrase, which translates as: "would it be possible to get two beers?" Valera took me literally and, at a highway rest stop, bought me a bottle of beer (with a mineral water and candy bar for Jen...sweet guy).
Gori, at first glance, looked very dead and crumbling away on a Saturday afternoon. Our hotel (again, the "best in town") was deserted except for an old man at the desk that reminded me of Bela Lugosi. At first he pretended not to speak English, but later he surprised us with several well-turned phrases that we suspected he practiced for hours prior to seeing us again. We strolled around town for a couple of hours, saw the giant Stalin statue, found a beautiful church, ran into some cute kids, peeked at the market, then had a nice Georgian meal at the place next to our hotel. We had a busy day planned for Sunday.
There is a huge old medieval fortress on top of a steep hill in the center of Gori that dominates the town. We got up early on Sunday and walked to the top of the hill. The views from the top were nothing short of amazing. The snow-capped Caucasus range seemed close enough to touch. We were alone up there save for two armed guards, a little boy and his grandpa, and a blind dog. At one point, the guard gave his rifle to the five-year old for some picture-taking. Jen, photojournalist, was right on it. Yikes! Sorry, I forgot to mention that Gori was at the center of Russian military action against Georgia in last summer's brief war. Russian troops occupied the town for days, and several people were killed. I couldn't help but think that the little kid was going to grow up ready to fight the Russians, who live just over the mountains.
We got to the Stalin Museum just as it opened. Stalin's birthplace is a brick and wood cabin on the grounds, preserved just as it was in 1879. Apparently the Soviets tore down the entire slummy neighborhood around the cabin in the 1930's and built the elaborate shrine that now houses the museum. Olga, our English-speaking guide, gave us the rapid, canned presentation, leading us from room to room showing us pictures and artifacts from the great man's life. She didn't appreciate questions very much. We saw his desk from the Kremlin, his favorite pipes, his death-mask (not that thrilling), and outside in the yard, his private train-car that he tooled around the Soviet Union in (see photo of me in Stalin's reading chair).
Olga recommended that her policemen buddies drive us to our next destination, the ancient cave-city of Uplistsikhe just outside of town. We could have taken a taxi for the same price, but why not ride with the cops? Uplistsikhe was fabulous, but we only had an hour to explore - not nearly enough. A series of cave temples dedicated to the sun goddess, the complex dates to the 6th century, B.C., although it has been occupied by many different groups through the years, and its most obvious feature today is a beautiful 10th century church high atop the rock. We scrambled around for a while taking photographs, but too soon it was time to leave Uplistsikhe and make our way back to Gori, and from there back to Tbilisi.
Monday, June 1, 2009
That's How the Tbilisi Crumbles
Tbilisi is an unusual city. I like it. Like every city of the former Soviet Union and its satellites that I have visited, there are dreary concrete public buildings, ugly housing blocks, and absurd, defunct fountains/cement trashcans/rusting fences, etc. However, Tbilisi is not defined by these mid-20th century relics of questionable taste. Tbilisi is an old city, a city with as many ties to the East as to the West, and it shows.
Our neighborhood, Saburtalo, is a 20th century creation, and not particularly scenic, despite its reputation as a “good” neighborhood. We take hour-long walks in the ‘hood every morning, so we have seen just about every street in these parts. Although there are some leafy streets and a park or two, it’s mostly a commercial area with generally uninspiring architecture. There are, however, some fabulous areas in the older parts of the city where the true style of Tbilisi is on display.
Tbilisi runs mainly north and south along the both sides of the Mtkvari River. The main part of the city centers on Rustaveli Ave, which has a lot of 19th century architecture – grand buildings like the opera house – as well as the Parliament building currently “under siege” by opposition protesters. Further downriver, the Old Town is the most atmospheric part of the city, and wandering around here is quite enjoyable. Tbilisi has very little new construction and what it does have seems to have been abandoned in the middle of the job. There are dozens of building projects scattered around town with no visible work being done. I have speculated that maybe financing dried up due to last year’s war. Who knows.
Tbilisi is an old city, and most of it can best be described as “crumbly”. A good part of the city has seen better days and seems on the verge of collapse. It actually adds to the charm in certain neighborhoods. We visited some friends in an old neighborhood where many of the streets had been closed to vehicular traffic for fear that the buildings would just topple into the street. Despite looking like it’s falling apart in many sections, the city is attractive, with wonderful views of the river, the surrounding hills, the fortress high above Old Town, and many beautiful churches.
Our neighborhood, Saburtalo, is a 20th century creation, and not particularly scenic, despite its reputation as a “good” neighborhood. We take hour-long walks in the ‘hood every morning, so we have seen just about every street in these parts. Although there are some leafy streets and a park or two, it’s mostly a commercial area with generally uninspiring architecture. There are, however, some fabulous areas in the older parts of the city where the true style of Tbilisi is on display.
Tbilisi runs mainly north and south along the both sides of the Mtkvari River. The main part of the city centers on Rustaveli Ave, which has a lot of 19th century architecture – grand buildings like the opera house – as well as the Parliament building currently “under siege” by opposition protesters. Further downriver, the Old Town is the most atmospheric part of the city, and wandering around here is quite enjoyable. Tbilisi has very little new construction and what it does have seems to have been abandoned in the middle of the job. There are dozens of building projects scattered around town with no visible work being done. I have speculated that maybe financing dried up due to last year’s war. Who knows.
Tbilisi is an old city, and most of it can best be described as “crumbly”. A good part of the city has seen better days and seems on the verge of collapse. It actually adds to the charm in certain neighborhoods. We visited some friends in an old neighborhood where many of the streets had been closed to vehicular traffic for fear that the buildings would just topple into the street. Despite looking like it’s falling apart in many sections, the city is attractive, with wonderful views of the river, the surrounding hills, the fortress high above Old Town, and many beautiful churches.
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