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Published: August 9th 2009
Please take time to see both pages of photos. There are quite a few because there is so much to photograph! The train from Baku to Tbilisi was fairly comfortable. It took a little longer than anticipated as the two border crossings took just over 3 hours in total. On the Azerbaijan side our passports were taken away and returned with our exit stamps whilst a man in a white coat came along and inspected the train. We thought he was a doctor looking for swine flu victims and tried really hard not to sneeze as the sun shone into our cabin! He was actually the psychic customs inspector. I say psychic because all he did was lay his hands on the top of Trish's rucksack and he knew that we were clean! On the Georgian side we were simply asked if we were carrying alcohol or cigarettes but they didn't seem particularly bothered about a couple of British tourists. I guess there must be problems though as some of the cabins were inspected quite thoroughly.
In Tbilisi we had a 20 minute walk through the old streets near the train station to get to our hostel.
The Green Stairs Hostel must
Green Stairs Hostel
Basic but comfortable enough and very cheap!be the most basic place we have ever stayed in but there is simply nothing in the city which charges anything like their US$10 per person per night. Vazha, the owner, was very friendly and we highly recommend staying with him if price is your number one issue. It's absolutely no-frills with camp beds in the rooms and bare wooden floorboards but it's very clean and perfectly acceptable for a few nights.
On our first day we explored the area around the hostel finding many places to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. We had to change the last of our Azerbaijan Manats which, though technically illegal as it is a closed currency, was quite easy to do. Then we looked for some lunch. Georgia is famous for its
Khachapuri and there's a chain of fast food restaurants around Tbilisi dedicated to this dish. We had the variant with the raw egg on top. Sounds disgusting, but the egg soon cooks in the hot melted cheese. Looking around us it seems we were supposed to have stirred the egg into the cheese. Maybe next time!
In the evening we walked into the centre and arrived at Rustaveli Square. Here
a big statue of Georgian poet
Shota Rustaveli almost dominates the view. He is overshadowed somewhat by McDonalds! From there we followed (more or less!) the city walked described in the Lonely Planet guide.
The main part of the walk is down Rustaveli Avenue where the parliament building is located, along with various closed museums and theatres plus several churches. It was a nice walk but at Freedom Square with its golden statue of St George we took a wrong turn! It wasn't a problem though as any of the streets leading up into the old city will bring you back on track. Some have been modernised, others appear rather run-down. In the old city you can find more churches (!), the synagogue and a few pedestrianised streets of posh restaurants and bars.
After our walk we ate in restaurant called "Cafe Near Opera". It was very close to the opera house! We dined on Georgian aubergines with walnut and garlic paste. It was quite potent and we must have reeked of the stuff but we didn't care and washed it down with some delicious Georgian red wine.
Then we made it back to the hostel just before
the weather turned bad. Seldom have we seen such thunderstorms and the torrential rain persisted for 6 hours before finally fizzling out at 4am. The tin roof above our room made the situation far worse than it really was I suppose!
The next day we took the Metro to Rustaveli and then walked through the back streets looking for the funicular railway to take us up to the TV tower. We never found it but saw some interesting sights of undeveloped Tbilisi instead. Some helpful locals ensured we made it to the beautiful church halfway up the hill where we saw the
Pantheon graves of famous writers and public figures. Our walk continued to the funicular's half-way point and it seems it is out of action at the moment. Although a train waited at the top and at the bottom, the track didn't look as though it had been used for quite some time. Maybe we're wrong but we've been unable to find out!
The path we were following takes you all the way to the TV tower and the Mtatsminda amusement park. When the big wheel and roller-coaster are built it will probably be a great attraction
as long as the funicular functions to get people up there! We didn't much fancy the walk back down and were relieved to see a yellow number 90 bus waiting with passengers on. After 10 minutes another arrived and we were all told to get on that one! Ten more minutes passed and another bus came and left without stopping to let us transfer again. Sensing a revolt, the driver hopped back on board and we were off on a scenic but cheap ride back into the centre of Tbilisi.
That evening we met up with Rob who had joined us in Tbilisi after leaving Baku himself. We walked down to the old city where we found a riverside brew pub which made its own refreshing beer. Then we went to see his hotel which shows the difference between a $10 backpacker room and a $75 boutique hotel. How the other half live! Naturally Russ began the process of negotiating a price for us but you'll have to wait and see if he was successful!
We ate in a garden restaurant where we feasted on pork kebabs. They were delicious but, it has to be said, not quite
as good as the Pork Chop Shop in Baku! The wine and beer flowed and we went our separate ways feeling a little merry.
In the morning we sorted out our stuff and met Rob at his hotel. They had arranged a driver to take us down to Yerevan at a reasonable price and we were soon on our way to Armenia.
Photos continue below. Don't miss them!
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Vazha
non-member comment
:D
wery Nice blog :D Im happy that you liked here , thanks for good coments Vazha