გამარჯობა, თბილისი

Hello, Tblisi! (which is what the Georgian text above means.)

Picturesque Tblisi

Blimey, is it June already? Three days gone and I'm already in my third country, Georgia. The flight from Baku was just an hour and it was pleasant enough as I had two seats to myself and my favoured window view. The only frustration was that as I was sat on the left hand side I didn't get a view of the Caucasus mountains.

Bye Bye Viva Hotel, Merci Baku! (thanks Martin Carey!)

On the other side were the Caucasus Mountains

Over the hills, but not that far away

On arrival, the first thing to do was get some cash having spent my loose Manat change on the plane for a cup of tea. The local currency in Georgia is the Lari.

10 lari = approximately 5 Aussie dollars

The first thing you notice at Tblisi airport is the amazing Georgian script which is completely different from anything else. At least it's a phonetic alphabet, so once you've learnt a few letters it can start to be read.

The land of the squiggly writing

I think it's really beautiful.

Georgian Scipt

So, to take one word that I've already used a lot here... "thank you", in Georgian, it's...

მადლობა

How do you say that?

Well "მ" is "M", "ა" is "A", "დ" is "D", "ლ" is "L", ""ო" is "O", "ბ" is "B" and "ა" again is "A".

So...  "MADLOBA".

Easy, right?

My taxi pick up was a bit late but it was a nice smooth 25 minute ride.

I must admit, my heart sank a bit when we arrived.

This was my first impression of where I'm staying right now.

But once inside I could see that the owners had done a great job and the location couldn't be more central.

Location, Location, Location

Anyway, having arrived and changed I set off to explore. My poor first impressions soon evaporated and I had a great afternoon and evening here.

Of all the places I wanted to visit, Georgia was top of my list. Obviously part of it is because of the fascination I've had with Dad's country, Lithuania, and the peculiar similarities of the recent history of the three Baltic States and the three transcaucasian states. There's also the bizarre fact that Joseph Stalin comes from here. I plan to visit his birthplace in Gori. There's a link, too, to my interests in human evolution. Homo georgicus was found in Dmanisi to the south and I was hoping to go to visit the site but I think I'll skip that. It's a long drive to just look at some hills. I definitely plan to see the fossil in the museum here though, just ten minutes walk away. Then there's Dinamo Tblisi the famous side of the Soviet era who knocked Liverpool out of the European Cup 1979, helping clear the path for Forest to win it a second time.

And then, there's the wine!

That would follow after a good old stroll around the city.

Chicken in garlic sauce

Refreshing local lager

Bridge of Peace

I had hoped to see some Georgian traditional dancing but the place that promised it didn't have any going on when I went there. Never mind, maybe tomorrow.

Wine Tasting next.

After several on-line recommendations I went to g-Vino on the same street I'd had lunch. The staff were really helpful and Leeka(?) the waitress who served me soon focused in on the type of Georgian wine I was most likely to like. Not the reds, they seem too sweet to me from what I've seen so far.

I really love the amber wines, especially those made with Rkhatsiteli grape.

Favourite wine so far

Bread, oil and wine

Truly, amber nectar

Finish off with a nice home-made lemonade

 I also had a brief encounter of the religious kind. Drawn to the haunting chants of an Orthodox priest at the ancient (5th century, apparently) Zion Church, I was curious so stepped inside.

The church was packed with solemn worshipers, many holding candles. They'd often sing back to the priest as he led. It was a very beautiful scene but I soon had a tap on my shoulder.

"Orthodox?"

I shook my head.

He gestured that I should leave.

Oh well. I suppose I had no right to be there anyway.

Then it was time for a spectacular cable car ride over the city up to the Nikarala fortress that overlooks the valley.

Fortress on the hill

Cable car ride over the river and up to the hills

Magical lighting as the sun set

After coming back down, I strolled to another wine bar before having a very good night's sleep.

Vino underground - great wine tasting

Great Day for Rug Lovers

I think a bit of jet lag caught up with me today. I had plans. Oh yes, lots of plans. I was going to seek out Garry Kasparov's first chess school, visit a few museums and get a tour around the old town and ascent the Maiden's Tower.

This was the one full day I spent in Azerbaijan so I wanted to make it a good 'un.

I woke up early enough and did yesterday's blog and then went down for a very nice breakfast - the kind with lots of choices. I had boiled eggs, sausage, ham, cheese, some noodly stuff, another unknown dish which seemed to be little parcels of cheese in spinach, some yoghurt and some tea and coffee. After being told that "Teshekur ederim" although not bad as Turkish and Azerbaijani are pretty much the same language, it's not what the locals would say for thanks. So, from now on it's "Çox sağ ol" pronounced "choc sagol".

Azeri's script appears to be like Turkish too, and very similar to Latin.

Not Too Bad

There's a great guy called Paul in cyberspace who does a series of information packed programmes on languages. If you want to know more about Turkish (and Azerbaijani) watch this...

Then I had one of those panic moments as I realised I hadn't printed off the ticket for my next flight to Tblisi. But a but of digging and I found the email and then I was able to check in on line. So all good there. I've organised a taxi for the morning so hopefully no dramas.

Then, it was off to explore Baku with lots on my "to do list". I set off to the coast to walk along to a museum that caught my fancy.... the carpet museum.

My trip to carpet heaven

On the way, I saw some interesting things for sure...

Fountain Park has some interesting fountains...

Fountain Park

And there's an iconic statue of a girl standing outside MacDonaald's talking on a mobile phone.

Modern Baku Girl

Baku has lots of buildings with wooden balconies that seem to be precariously positioned.

Baku Balconies

I'm sure they're 100% safe

Near the sea front there's a lovely park with a grand old carousel for the kids.

Sweet carousel

Over the bay is Crystal Hall where Baku held its first major international event - the Eurovision song contest. It doesn't look much during the day but, apparently, it projects a magical laser show into the sky at night.

Crystal Hall - Where the Eurovision Song Contest was Held

There are some nice old gardens too...

Nice old tree in the midst of all this modernity

And, of course, a massive Azerbaijani flag...

Iconic Baku

Baku has many building projects going on. It's definitely a city on the move. I'm not sure what this building will be but it looks impressive.

... but nothing would prepare me for what came next.

It is a truly amazing structure: A museum about carpets in the shape... of a carpet.

Is that a massive carpet? No, it's a museum about carpets.

Inside there is a celebration of the art of carpet making, specifically the Persian rug type. Apparently Azerbaijan has a long history of the craft evidenced by many artifacts that have been found dated to before the bronze age.

The museum is on four levels, the bottom one has a few exhibits and the shop, the middle two show the history of the art and the top level showcases some modern designs.

Amazing weaving 

Impressive curves!

My favourite rug - very few greens I'm afraid

A famous old rug

There was also an example of stained glass - but using wood, not lead to place the glass together.

The end looking to the city

Carpet dedicated to the Soviet Oil Worker

Quite liked this modern one

And this, not very practical though

The sea end

After spending an hour looking at rugs, I was in need of a bit of fun so I went to go on the funicular. Unfortunately the man who ran it was on a break and so I had to go elsewhere.

Funicula entrance - the nearest I got

I thought I'd go on the Baku 'eye' but as I approached it became clear that it wasn't moving. So much for that idea.

This was how fast the eye was moving

Also on my list of things to do was to find Garry Kasparov's chess school but Google didn't help me find that either. Apparently the "young pioneers" soviet school he was at has now gone.

Garry Kasparov was born in Baku

It's a school, they're playing chess and it's in Baku - unfortunately not Garry Kasparov's

I queued for ten minutes to buy a ticket to go to the top of Maiden's tower but the guy at the kiosk couldn't break a 50.

No way up for me

I was getting a bit hot (and a little sun burnt) so I tried to find a bath house that had good reviews but when I turned up there is was a seedy looking massage parlour. "Ve hif no pools here" I was told.

Bugger.

So, after a long walk around the narrow streets of the old town I finally stopped for a cup of tea and a bite to eat. I tried to Skype Leb but there was too much noise and the Wifi wasn't great.

Old Ladas still around

Magnificent Academy of Sciences Building

Mosque in the Old Town

Cute Swiss embassy in the old town

Another mosque but silent

Baku has lots of cats

So, all in all, a bit of a frustrating day really.

Never mind, I had made an appointment to meet up with the English chaps again and that was good. We had a few beers and then went to a lovely Azerbaijani restaurant where I had some delicious dishes.

Recommended Restuarant

Lovely ambiance, especially loved the rugs!

I had the Sirin Dolma

Most delicious

Cheers, chaps!

After a few more bevies I hit the sack having got packed and set my alarm for an early wake up.

All good there. The hotel drove me to the airport and I chatted a little to the taxi driver in my very poor Russian.