Blogs from Georgia, Asia - page 42

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Asia » Georgia July 24th 2005

Hotel: Hotel Lile (Tbilisi, Georgia) $40 Woke up this morning to an absolutely clear sky; the view out the window of our hotel was stunning with the Tsminda church high above and the snowcapped peak of Mt. Kazbek behind it. We hoped to catch one of the early marshrutkas to Tbilisi around 8 AM; we were lucky to catch one that actually left 20 minutes early. The fare was 8 GEL ($4.50) for the 4 hr ride back to Tbilisi. Originally, we had been planning on going all the way through to Armenia today, but decided to spend an extra afternoon in Tbilisi and catch the early morning shuttle to Alaverdi. We took the metro back to Hotel Lile, which now had two rooms available (out of only three rooms in the hotel!). My wife and ... read more

Asia » Georgia August 16th 2004

Efter Svaneti’s øde bjerge var det fedt at komme tilbage til storbyens cafeer, restauranter, biografer og internetcafeer igen. Tbilisi er Georgiens hovedstad (stammer fra ”tbili”, det georgiske ord for ”varm”, for der er masser af varme kilder i undergrunden), og på trods af, at den er blevet smadret og bygget op igen mange gange over de sidste par tusinde år, er det stadig et smukt og spændende sted. Mtkvari floden løber lige midt gennem byen og deler synagoger fra armeniske og katolske kirker, sunnimuslimske moskeer og georgiske ortodokse kirker. Midt i det hele er den gamle bydel med lave bygninger, smalle stræder og ældre mænd der sidder på fortovet og spiller backgammon. Få gader herfra pumper engelske barer og internationale restauranter popmusik ud i takt med unge pigers stilethæle. En sjov blanding af nyt og gammelt. ... read more
Den gamle kvinde og bjerget
Hey, gi' et lift!
Dartlo

Asia » Georgia August 8th 2004

Vi var i Georgien i en måned, og det var en helt speciel oplevelse. Jeg kan ikke påstå det var kærlighed ved første blik - mere som et af den slags forhold der starter med en uforklarlig fascination og måske en smule afsky, som udvikler sig til forståelse og venskab, og som ender med at trænge dybt ind i sjælen, uden du helt er klar over hvordan det er sket. Vi fik lidt af et kulturchok da vi krydsede grænsen til Georgien fra Tyrkiet. Grænsen har været helt lukket i omkring 70 år, under det sovjetiske styre, som Georgien først blev selvstændigt fra i 1991. Derfor har der ikke været nogen form for blanding af kulturer i grænseområdet, og det var et vildt skifte mellem et muslimsk og et (ortodoks) kristent land, og på en måde ... read more
Eksotisk havnecafe i Batumi
Kustaisi
Torvemarked

Asia » Georgia July 22nd 2004

After the wonders of Svaneti there was only one place in Georgia that could really capture my imagination: Tusheti. With promises of more beautiful mountain scenery and unique traditions, completely isolated in north-eastern Georgia bordering Dagestan and Chechnya, Tusheti was an exciting if not easy place to visit.. Cut off from the rest of Georgia for 9 months a year when helicopters (in emergencies) are their only means of reaching this place - it is the most challenging and difficult to reach of Georgian destinations. Our experiences in Svaneti had convinced Robert a Dutch tour group leader to join us on our journey, later adding Marc a Spanish photographic journalist who had been trying unsuccessfully for the last two months to visit. With the expedition team assembled we set off. The rain hampered our attempts to ... read more
Bell ringing...
Dartlo
Drinking from the horn

Asia » Georgia July 10th 2004

Driving from the Turkish border into Batumi and all of a sudden you're in a downtrodden dilapidated Lada infested Mozambique! If you read stupid books as I do, you’ll know that in ‘The Worlds most Dangerous Places’ it states "Georgia is a wreck - seriously, the whole country looks as if somebody dropped it". This part of Georgia I later discovered is the worst of all. The buildings and everything else that was built by the old Communist govt. has literally been left to rot for the past 15 years. All maintenance totally abandoned, people apparently even sell manhole covers for scrap - the place is bleak. We bounce into Batumi feeling a little uneasy, the brain is sending messages that say ‘bad people live in houses like that’. Not a soul speaks a grain of ... read more
Soviet architecture, Batumi
Mt. Shkarra, from Ushgulli
Ushgulli

Asia » Georgia June 28th 2003

Links to travel journals and pictures from: * 2003 Moscow, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Sochi * 2004 Georgia, Svaneti, Armenia ... read more




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