Of all the travels I have undertaken while living in Europe, Georgia felt most different, unusual and very far away–literally and metaphorically.
It took about 8 hours to get there, starting from Geneva and transferring in Warsaw. From Warsaw to Tbilisi the flight is about 4 hours. And all flights to and from begin or end in the middle of the night.
We arrived on Maundy Thursday (although it was not Holy Week in Orthodox Georgia!) around 5:30 am and checked into our very nice hotel.
The hotel is sumptuous, full of textiles, art, Georgian designs, pottery, old mismatched silver, and quite a few oddities, like a lifesize giraffe sculpture.
-
- Hotel lounge
-
- Pomegranate motifs were everywhere!
-
- Hotel lounge
On the one hand, Tbilisi feels old and brooding, with the weight of the Soviet past still heavy. On the other, it’s full of the energy of renovation and refurbishment; gentrification–and Easyjet flights–cannot be far behind. See it NOW, before all that happens.
Lots of interesting architecture, from old and crumbling to new and WOW.
The wisteria and the lilacs were in bloom, with bunches of flowers being sold by babushkas who have clearly had a rough life and were begging for customers.
More to come!