Blogs from Georgia, Asia - page 39

Dagen etter hviledagen i Kutaisi var det fremdeles meningsløst kraftig motvind, men vi kunne ikke bli der lenger, og tok fatt på veien videre østover. Det gikk meningsløst treigt treigt, og vi var i tvil om vi i det hele tatt ville klare den planlagte etappen på ca 10 mil før det ble mørkt. Det ville nok vært mulig å finne et krypinn i Zestaponi ca halvveis, men byen virket lite fristende, så vi hamstret vann og croissanter og fortsatte. Etter Zestaponi begynte stigningen mot en fjellovergang på knappe 1000 m. Fjellandet Georgia er ikke bare omgitt av noen av Europas høyeste fjell langs grensene i nord og sør,de har noen akseptable rygger som skiller kysten fra innlandet også. Faktisk gikk syklingen bedre da vi begynte på stigningen, siden vinden var roligere enn ute på ... read more

A place like Georgia makes one realize how much we take for granted. For instance, the assumption that a country has one (or maybe two) names. This is Georgia, Gurcistan, Gruzya, or Sakartvelos, depending on which language you're speaking. It's also a common assumption that progress is linear - forward. I was once talking with Janvier about how Europe could have plunged into the Dark Ages and completely forget the technological accumulation of the Greeks and Romans. I see the exact same process at work in Georgia (and Armenia, but this blog is about Georgia): enormous factories; solid public services like asphalt roads, tram and trolley infrastructure, apartment buildings, bridges, bus-stop shelters, cable cars, funicular systems, hotels and government buildings, museums - all signs of an industrial and developed nation, and nearly all abandoned, disused ... read more

Ruten saa langt Georgia viser seg aa vaere nok et land vi ikke oensker aa dra fra. Det forrige var Tyrkia, baade fordi Tyrkia var trygt og litt kjent, men ogsaa fordi Georgia fremstod som ganske roeft med rykter om fullstendig korrupt politi og grensevakter, mye kriminalitet og et helt uforstaaelig alfabet. For tyrkerne er ogsaa Georgia et Stan-land, nemlig Gurjistan. Marerittet var et foerste mote med Gurjistan preget av dollarsultne georgianske grensevakter. Da vi skulle krysse grensen mellom Tyrkia og Georgia viste det seg at det var nettopp det - bare et mareritt. Vi tilbrakte riktignok over fem timer paa grensen, men i "vaaken tilstand" var det ikke vi som var problemet. Georgianske damer paa "Tyrkia-handel" var fiskene grensevaktene var ute etter. Grensevaktene kunne knapt brydd seg mindre om oss, og viftet oss videre som ... read more

The old town of Sighnaghi is being torn apart at the moment apparently they are trying to beautify the city and all the fascade, streets and buildings are being remodelled all at the same time, it looks like a war torn village at the moment but it would be interesting to see how it looks like in a couple years from now. We met an American who lives here and shows us a bit of the town and the carpets and paintings in their collection, there was also some TV reporter on sight and Chris gets to be interviewed for his 15 minute of fame. The lunch we had at a Mexican restaurant Pancho Villa was very good, it's quite unusual experience to have a Mexican in the middle of Georgia. We had a couple ... read more

Arriving in Tbilisi early evening we were delighted to be given a suite room for the 3 of us and had a blast for at least one night before moving into a 2 bed room, the GTM hotel all in all is not too bad except for the exorbitant price of laundry. So we did a walking half day trip of the city saw churches and more churches, the old town etc before returning to the hotel to fill in and sign our Azerbaijan visa application for our crossing the next couple of days. We had a good night dinner at an Indian restaurant and also the Chinese restaurant the next day. The next day was rainy so then I decided to sit around and do some internet for 6 hours! the connection is so ... read more