Georgia. Rising.


The country should really be known as Sakartvelo, as this is how the people call it themselves. The name of Georgia has been established not to have derived from the country’s patron, St George, yet science has not agreed on the correct etymology.


T’bilisi at 3:30 o’clock in the morning looked peaceful. A few other airlines (there aren’t many) also kept arriving around that time.  For Georgia is terribly connected with Europe. The only reliable airlines fly to  and from T’bilisi at impossible hours!


Well, at night the town is nicely lit. I could appreciate this from a terrace, which I shared with the president of the republic, Mikhail Saakashvili (and I had the privilege to share the next door toilet with his Foreign Secretary) as he had dinner with the US Ambassador. And I had a better view of the city! I was having my dinner there, slowly killing time - waiting for my flight. After making the security team extremely uncomfortable, I headed down to the Old Town by the river. I joined hundreds of young people sipping drinks and listening to some decadent and lounge music. Right in the streets (well, bars and clubs had tables outside). It tried to rain from the thunder clouds but it failed to produce anything of concern. It was great to see so many people around (and so many open places) so late on a Sunday night. By midnight, I was filled up with garlic chicken and beer, and I was not sure how long I should wait before thinking of getting a taxi to the airport. My flight was at 3:55 a.m.


T’bilisi is considered the prettiest of the Caucasian capital cities. Its historic centre survived the frequent turbulence of Georgian history. Many monuments have remained standing for well over a thousand years!  Parts of T’bilisi are incredibly picturesque. There are medieval churches, city walls, squares and a fortress - all in a distinctive Georgian architecture. Interestingly, there aren’t too many socialist realism structures in the centre.


Clearly, there is more to Georgia than just T’bilisi and Mtskheta. It must be. There is the sea. There are respectably high mountains. Interestingly, tourism is yet in its infancy. People are almost suspiciously helpful and quite friendly, and the underground (metro) station names and signposts are given in Georgian only, which for 3 billion people is totally incomprehensible. I guess it will change in time, and tourism will become of Georgia’s important element of the economy.


Meanwhile, there are still many poor people around and too many beggars, majority of whom are refugees from Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Karabah, etc. Countless security guards everywhere, mostly around hotels, shops, bars, restaurants, clubs, museums, historical monuments, and official buildings. I struggled to figure out why they were there. Really. It felt reasonably safe to wander around, even at night. It reminded me too much of a police state. This and that too many Soviet cars cruised the streets...


On this trip, which was cut short to mere 24 hours by increasingly lousy Lufthansa service and congested London Heathrow airport (and exacerbated by ferocious storms in Germany), I managed to visit T’bilisi, the current capital and Mtskheta, the former capital of the country. For both of them it was enough. T’bilisi is not large and Mtskheta is minute. Plus, I did not get up until 11 a.m. and only started exploring at about noon.


PRACTICALITIES

Hotel: Kala Palace USD 55

Restaurant: Kopala USD 10

Bar:  N Bar - beer USD 3.85, Piaf - beer USD 3.5

Airport transfer:  private USD 15

Mtskheta return taxi fare from T’bilisi: USD 25

Georgia

★★★★★