Blogs from Georgia, Asia - page 2

Day 14 Armenia. Back in Yerevan: Goin’ Lada Loco.... Reflections Upon Armenian Machinas Big and Small. Saryan Armenian Master, and Carmen the Opera. As we travel south in the hire car we’re passing reinforced concrete carcasses of the industrial past. Irena, host at Iris BnB, related a story of lower wages and living conditions in post war Alaverdi after the closing of the copper mine and smelting plant. A classic conundrum: the closing of a terrible polluter of the rivers and air means as a result massive unemployment figures in that region which remain high, and many younger people moving away to the south and abroad. And It’s likely that each of these towns that we pass through, with their closed factories and foundries, has a similar level of poverty and a lack of prospects. Despite ... read more

Post finishing my work in Tbilisi, I headed to Stepansminda (Kazbegi) through the Georgian Military Highway. Stretching 212KM from Tbilisi to Vladikavkaz (Russia), this highway has been, first built in the late 18th/early 19th century to enable troop movement from Russia to Georgia, is used for trade these days. The road goes through many picturesque places and I decided to travel it with a taxi so that I could stop and see different spots. My taxi driver turned out to be an excellent repository of information on Georgia and I learnt a lot on the trip. A few of the stops I made on the road include 1. Jvari Monastery at Mtskheta: Established in 5th century BC, Mtskheta was an important economic and political center for the next 1000 years. At the spot of Jvari Monastery, ... read more

I took the train from Tbilisi to Kutaisi, the journey is on a older Soviet era train, but it works fine. While slightly slower than the road route, it's lot more scenic and comfortable. Kutaisi is the second largest city in Georgia, towards the west of the country. It's also much smaller than Tbilisi, accounting for 5% of population of Georgia versus Tbilisi which is nearly 35%. This was also my first experience of a homestay in Georgia and the hosts were super kind and caring. I explored the city the first day and tried Khinkali, a dumpling which is a traditional dish here. It can be stuffed with vegetables, meat, whatever you choose and full of a soup equivalent inside (so best eaten with hand). The next day I took a Marshrutka to the Gelati ... read more

There’s a big, golden roof atop a Cathedral that can been seen from all over Old Tbilisi, so we had to go sooner or later. Today was the day. Following Google maps, we came across an underground walkway that had very good street art. This led to the pedestrian part of a road bridge that showcased winning images from the International Kolga Awards Exhibition. It was quite fascinating with signs in English explaining the background for each. Naturally the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi was uphill, then a bunch of steps to boot. It’s rather new, having only been completed in 2004, so in pristine condition. At 87.1 metres high, 70.4 metres long and 64.7 metres wide, it’s one of the largest religious buildings in the world. Despite being free to get in, there weren’t many ... read more