Sword and wine

Trip Start May 19, 2009

Trip End Dec 31, 2009

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Where I stayed

hostel

(Tbilisi hotels)

Flag of Georgia Tbilisi, Georgia
Friday, July 31, 2009

There is a huge 30m statue on a hill top by Tbilisi, named Kartlis Deda (Mother Georgia). On her right hand she holds a sword, and on her left, a bowl of wine – a perfect metaphor of the Georgians, who are very hospitable to their guests, but fight passionately against enemies (they said a father would kill his son if he refused to fight), even though a lot of their fights were not triumphal. Throughout her long history, Georgia has been occupied most of the time by numeral foreign forces – the Romans, the Persians, the Mongols, the Turkish, the Arabs, and lastly, the Russians. Yet quite amazingly, they retain their own language and writing. But it may not be a blessing for visitors because only try to read the name of a place (important when you are looking for mini-bus) is impossible.

Tbilisi is a run-or-the-mill Eastern Block capital; it has its fare share of old town, churches, monuments, squares and castle-on-the-hilltop, but none of them outstanding

Mather Georgia

. Two of them, the new cathedral and the new presidential palace, draw my attention just because they are fleshy buildings located in one of the oldest part of town full of decaying houses housing (seemingly) poor families. I just wondered what the thought of these families was when millions were poured to build these two buildings.

We spent a day and a half in the city, seeing the must-sees, visited a museum that had a temporary exhibition of Picasso's lithographs (seems to me this guy always had sex and women in his mind), and met a couchsurfing member to talk about the country’s politics and culture. Tbilisi in Georgian means "hot", and I hoped that it refers to the hot springs found in it but not the weather, despites the Lonely Planet says it is “brutally” hot in the summer. I was proven right (or lucky), because the temperature during those 2 days was bearable.

Next stop was the Caucasus Mountains, where 5000m high mountains and cool temperature were waiting.

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