Blogs from Georgia, Asia - page 30

Balconies en masse OK we admit that cheat a little bit this time. Most of the text, and it isn't much, we have simply copied from a blog entry we wrote last year. But we spend so much time writing all the other blog entries that once in a while we think we can allow ourselves to put together one without effort. When we were in Tbilisi we walked through the streets and we were surprised over how many different styles of balconies they had in town. We started taking photos of them and the more we looked for balconies the more interesting they became. After a few hours we had quite a collection of photos of balconies. When we started this blog in 2006 the main purpose was to make it possible for us to ... read more

Drinking and bathing in the Evian of the USSR An interesting question came up during this trip: are the three countries in Caucasus, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, in Europe or Asia? It is not a question that has any obvious answer. The boundary between Europe and Asia is said to run in the Ural Mountains and in the Caspian Sea. Since the Caspian Sea is east of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan that could place all three nations in Europe. We can also add a few examples that indicate that they indeed are European nations. * Eurovision Song Contest (For non-Europeans: It is a large annual TV-show the best can be described as European Championships in music. Check this link for more information). Every year the three Caucasian nations join and this year Azerbaijan even won. * ... read more

June 2011: To Georgia: six hours …on a marshrutka (shuttle) ! At B&B in Yerevan: Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head… found my way downstairs and drank a cup, looking up I noticed I was late… skipped breakfast, walked out, saw a taxi, arrived at marshrutka (minibus) station, guy runs up yelling “Tbilisi?” - grabs my backpack and we’re off to Georgia. ET: 17:00, ahhhh. Nevertheless, the driver’s urgency faded as we stopped in the first town at a grocery store then waited five extra minutes for the barely walking old guy to return from the can. Then, ditto the second town, old guy and all, then 20 minutes later a lunch stop… I complained, asking how many stops on this 6-hour trip? We also needed about 45 minutes at ... read more

ok so its been a while. honestly work hasn't been that stressful, in fact i wouldn't mind some more assignments. so i am not even gonna talk about work. so last saturday we finally were able to go to kazbegi, a village on the georgian military highway. this road was built in the 1800s and honestly i dont think it has been updated/fixed since. the roads are pretty crappy but not as bad as i expected. so this road was built to connect tbilisi to vladikavkaz in russia. nowadays, obviously u cant go to russia and borders are crossed and kazbegi is the last major town/village. kazbegi is famous for 2 things: 1. mount kazbek, the 3rd highest mountain in Georgia 2. the Holy Trinity Church and monastery on top of another mountain. for anyone who ... read more

ok, sorry i havent written in a while, been busy with internship work. this weekend was a lot of fun. on saturday we went to the hold narihala fortress and the sulphur baths. first i will talk about the fortress.i have no idea how old it, but it is old and has been built, destroyed and rebuilt a million times and has passed through the hands of georgians, persians, and russians at some point in the last 10 centuries. it was quite a trek up to the fortress. tbilisi reminds me a lot of sf because of the hills. it doesnt help that it felt like a billion degrees outside and it was humid and i was carrying a back pack up the huge hill. but it was worth it for the view. the fortress is ... read more