Uncouth Reflections

Atypical Neurotic writes:

The first time I visited the “other” Georgia, called Sakartvelo in the Georgian language (which in turn is written საქართველო in the Georgian alphabet), was at Christmastime 2004. My next visit was in November 2006, and I have been back once or twice ever since. The pics in this series are all from 2011 or later, as I did not have a decent digital camera until I got one for Christmas in 2010. They are not in chronological order. I hope that my blog readers with OCD issues will bear with me here. If it isn’t a problem for me, it shouldn’t be one for you.

This is a shot of the Greater Caucasus Range from the village of Sighnaghi, overlooking the Alazani Valley. Beyond the mountains is Daghestan, which is why Sighnaghi is surrounded by a wall. In Soviet times, Sighnaghi was a popular tourist destination, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Lithuanians, Estonians and Uzbeks could – at least in theory – now travel to Florence or Cape Town. In the meantime, Sighnaghi has been spruced up, and looks more lived-in these days, not so much like a movie set.

This is a shot of Metekhi Church and Narikala Fortress taken from Kopala Restaurant. Pretty good food and a great view.

A shot of the Gombori Pass region, which separates Kakheti (eastern Georgia) from the central region surrounding Tbilisi.

When I first visited Georgia in 2004, there were almost no advertising-supported periodicals for sale. Now they are everywhere. People need to have celebrity mags in their own language.

There was a gallery/beanery at the edge of the Old Town called Sans Souci, founded by a returning ex-pat in the late 1990s or early 2000s, I am guessing. It wasn’t originally a restaurant until two German tourists came in, sat down at a table, and asked for a menu. The artist/proprietor dished up some lobio, a brown bean stew seasoned with cilantro and fenugreek (which are in just about everything, by the way) and the rest was history. Unfortunately, the building had to be torn down because it was structurally unsound, and this is what replaced it. The food is still good.

I took this picture in spring 2012 on a stroll along Davit Aghmashenebulis gamziri (David the Rebuilder Boulevard) on the north bank of the Mtkvari, the muddy, swift-moving river that runs through Tbilisi and flows into the Caspian through Azerbaijan, where it is called the Kura. My FB comment at the time was “All the Lenin statues have been resmelted, but the remaining Soviet-era art gets to stay, as it is pétit-bougeois in taste”.

A park bench in Tbilisi, and we know this because that is what it is written in the ironwork.

From my most recent visit. A campaign poster for one of the presidential candidates (the election is today). Nino Burjanadze was a supporter of Mikheil Saakashvili during the Rose Revolution in 2003, and for a period afterward, but is now a critic. Her motto is “Fairness – everywhere and for everyone”. A Georgian friend said that people refer to her as Tootsie…

A greengrocer selling real food. Those pendulous thingies hanging from the lintel are called churchkhela, a confection made from grape pulp and walnuts.

For once, a decent place to eat…

Finally, another shot of Sighnaghi, from the approach from the south/west, with the Greater Caucasus shrouded in clouds…