Part 5: Midnight Plane to Georgia

First a few days in the Georgian capital -- Tbilisi

 

 

 

In an effort to be both informative and entertaining, below is a Motown Classic video worthy of a listen. Gladys effortlessly takes us through a truly marvelous performance of this rhythmic masterpiece. It helps that I'm a HUGE Motown fan - so much so that when my kids (Jake and Stevie) were too little to protest, I made them learn Motown background singer routines for after dinner dance party. I doubt they enjoyed - but I appreciated the backup! Also this piece works well with the tittle of my blog. WAIT a minute. .. did Gladys say train?

 

 

I'll share with you --  not one -- but two -- rookie travel mistakes. One of which had me on the midnight plane to Georgia rather than the noon flight as planned. Always a good idea to make sure 12:00 is not 24:00. This I did not do.  And in turn I arrived into Tbilisi airport at 3am-- which was a very quiet Tbilisi rather than traveling with my good friend Barry at a more reasonable time. Second and even more concerning, was that my return flight was to the wrong airport for my connecting flight to Nairobi. To make the connection I had a 2 hour window where I would go through security 2x, hope that I could carry on my bag as cabin luggage and travel 65 kms to the connecting airport. = Dumb Ass! Tight - but made it!

 

 

 

 

 

Tbilisi was a complete surprise for me. I didn't expect such a beautiful modern and friendly city. I managed to get a bus from the airport to town (after a 4 hour less than pleasant snooze on the floor of the airport) arriving at freedom square. Naturally there was nothing open, but it was an excellent opportunity to walk around and see the downtown without a bunch of people jockeying for space. The city is a beautiful marriage of old and new with the Kura river running through the center on it's way to the Caspian sea. On one side of the city, a hillside or maybe cliff, was pockmarked with old brick buildings and paths. The stairways reminded me of the game snakes and ladders. One of these pathways lead me near the top with a park bench in the sun. Time for another snooze!!  I awoke to 2 people who had also discovered the park bench, and with a bit of drool running down my face wished them a pleasant good morning. They were cool folks and once I got the drool off my face, had a nice chat with them. He turned out to be a famous Rugby player - and by his own admission  - quite famous.  I was glad to make such a fine first impression.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view from my comfy park bench in the sun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mother of Georgians, on the hilltop watching while I napped & drooled

 

 

 

 

 

The main downtown area was bustling clean and interesting.

 

 

Trouble at Freedom Square

 

 

 

Georgia Parliament buildings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 With my early arrival I had noticed a lot of police on the street corners looking a bit uptight. And no wonder, Barry and I had arrived at a fairly intense and conflicted political point in time for this lovely country. My sense, having chatted with local people I met, was that Russian interference in Georgian politics had reached a breaking point and a GenZ type protest was underway. The parliament buildings pictured above saw an encampment on the steps and graffiti like that on the right, left little doubt regarding Georgian sentiment. Freedom square was ground zero for the protest, which is where Barry and I decided we would have dinner. While dinner pictured below was fabulous, only a block away, megaphones and associated protest stuff raged on. I heard later there was teargas but it didn't drift in our direction. A veteran (if I may say) of numerous violent protests in Kenya, I felt sure that I would see the signs that our safety was in a precarious state. Besides, that hummus was way too good to leave behind. I sincerely hope the people of Georgia find their way to a peaceful democracy free from the nefarious manipulation of other countries. 

 

Barry loving the Hummus though strangely - in my view - without garlic. 

A smoked eggplant/ Tahini dish similar to Baba Ganoush

Wine was very good and affordable - perfect with anything!

Breakfast when I first arrived in Tbilisi. Delish and caused more drooling.

On to the Caucasus

Th rental car was a Chery - a Chinese built luxury SUV rather than the sub-compact Renault we had reserved. I have to admit that I was very impressed with the unit. Comfy, powerful and more bell and whistles than an amusement arcade at a fair ground. 

 

And we picked the right time of year to drive to the Caucuses and see if the mountains "measured up" to the magnificent Rockies back home in Canada. The leaves were turning gracing the valleys with a beautiful yellow in the fall sunlight. As we rose higher into the mountains, the scenery just got better and better. Our destination was a church perched on the rocks well North and East of Tbilisi  - close to the Russian border. In fact, it's the Caucasus mountains that divide the two countries. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves  - but lamented the limited time we had there and wished we could have done some hiking through this magnificent range

The air was cool - very cool and there was a quietness that I really enjoyed. That feeling of both remoteness and privilege combine for an unforgettable and peaceful moment.

 

The church on the rocks.

Just Food Africa

Again - I have to say thank you for the recent donations. I'll be bringing food and some sweets in early January, so if you'd like to make a small contribution to that event - the kids, Teacher Grace and I would all be most appreciative. I promise not to spend the money on fancy trips 😊

 

MPESA -- +254745237248 (Kenya)

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Or PayPal -- Laynemahon@live.com (Global)

  Thanks for reading ....Layno somewhere in Georgia!