Rick and Kris honeymoon in the Republic of Georgia

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At the end of the peace bridge we enter Tbilisi old town. A really cool mix of every ethnic group that has invaded Georgia for 1,000 years. German, Russian, Jewish, Arab’s, Serbs at least 6 different churches all in this small section of Tbilisi called old town. I was told all the different groups have lived peacefully in the small area for 100’s of years. Old town is full of restaurants and shopping stalls, really an interesting place. We pick a restaurant that has a menu featuring Georgian cuisine and order what we think should be a good sampling of Georgia fare. We have already walked 8 miles today so I think any food will be good. It was at best, just ok.

We ordered Kinkallaie’s that is a dumpling filled with meat or vegetables, Cucumber and tomato salad with walnut dressing and bread with melted cheese inside. The dumpling is made of thick pasta dough boiled and served very hot. The salad is ok. There were too many tomatoes and not enough onion or cucumber. Kris hates the potatoes in her dumpling, hates the cheese in the bread and chokes down a little salad. Not the best introduction to Georgian fare. Good news was the whole meal with beer was $12.00. We get a cab back to the hotel and head straight to bed.



Day 6

No early walking today for me, as we have our guide picking us up at 9:00 for our first tour. Our guide is a true Georgian 5^th generation resident. He is truly well informed on Georgian history. Our tour begins at one of the oldest churches in the city. We walk the same area as yesterday at Rike Park and the end of the peace bridge as he explains the history of the surrounding area and the multiple invasions over 1,000’s of years. About how Georgia defended itself against all manors of invaders since before Crist was born. As an American where our history starts relatively late by comparison to this part of the world it’s hard to put in prospective how old their stuff is. We continue to the oldest fortress in the city high on a perch of stone that made it very difficult for invaders to overrun. The gondola is still not running, so it’s a steep walk to the top. More history lessons along with great views of the city below. It’s cooler today with a nice breeze so walking is a bit less difficult. We choose to walk down from the fortress thru a botanical garden, nice down hill walk. We walk around the sulfur bath’s where the under ground springs feed the multiple different company’s that offer bath’s. There are bridges over the creek running thru the area. Like Venice you can buy locks write you name on them and lock them on the bridge railing. Of course we do this. After this tour we head to the oldest Brandy making Company in Georgia for a distilling lecture followed by a tasting opportunity. We are not big Brandy fans, but once again the history is interesting looking at Brandy made in 1846. We finish this tour and our takes up to lunch at a very unusual spot. We are in an industrial area with a freeway like road in front of a wall. Behind the wall is this oasis of grape arbors and shade trees in a lovely setting. Our guide is well informed of our failed attempts at finding good food and Kris’s vegetarian diet needs. He orders for us the most beautiful array of dishes. There are 4 kinds of humus like dips from beets, pumpkin, beans and eggplant, a real cucumber and tomato salad, bread and beef and pork kabobs. All the best I have ever tasted. Kris finally gets something good to eat.



We have walked 6 miles so far, and it is about 4pm so we opted to not visit a museum. Instead our guide drops us off at freedom square and Kris does a little shopping and walks back to our hotel. I go buy some interesting looking Vodka to toast our anniversary tomorrow and walk back to the hotel. We are both full from lunch so no dinner plans, just a little vodka a sleep.

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Comments

[Esa]

Food
Finally, some delicious food! Cheers to you and Kristi on your Anniversary celebration! Xoxo