Tbilisi

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Clunegapyears

30/09/2025
Dinner nearby last night … lost in translation, but a litre and a half of wine arrived! We did take some home. And the most garlicky chicken 🤤

*A relaxed* *J … anything to do with the wine?*

We did a 3 hour walking tour. Excellent guide, but why do they talk so fast? Sam, the Australian, we’d given a lift to from Svaneti, was on the tour.

*David the guide explaining the Georgian toasting tradition*

*Lunch was good until unusually J wanted pudding. A step (several mouthfuls) too far.*

We both really like the architecture and feel of Tiblisi so will stay another day.

Our Own Tbilisi Tour

01/10/2025

We loaded two bags with laundry and staggered 1.3km with it. Under £10. Georgia so much better value than Turkey.

Free of our burdens, we did a Katherine led walking tour. I’d plotted the main places of interest that we’d not done yesterday with the official walking tour. We had planned to use the cable car up to the view point, cafes and gardens and then take the funicular down. But the weather was grey so there would have been limited visibility.

*Lots of fun statues, I especially love the last one showing the joy of dance.*

Lots of decrepit buildings – shabby chic. Many with cracks from the 2002 earthquake. But economic uncertainty and decline since the Soviet collapse and insufficient building regulations to force demolition or repair.

The State buildings looked the part. Including a permanent demonstration outside the Government building. I wonder if the stormy skies above are symbolic? We checked on which day’s demonstrations were planned.

*Public Services Offices, known as the Umbrellas*

*Freedom Square. The St George was donated recently by a Georgian sculpturer*

*Fun clock tower built by the owner of the adjacent puppet theatre*

*Underpasses, some with shops and a convenient convenience*

*Part of the Berlin Wall – we saw a similar gift from Germany in Tirana*

We both think Tbilisi is possibly our favourite capital. Plenty to do for a city break.

Our lovely lunch of 2 soft drinks, bacon and cheese omelette (J), chunky fries (both) and delicious trout stuffed with cheese and walnut paste as only £16.10 in a side street restaurant. We didn’t eat again.

Gori: Stalin’s Birthplace

Posted on September 30, 2025 by Clunegapyears

29/09/3025

We had overnighted near the Katskhi Pillar, so walked up to it. Locals believed it to be the pillar of life.

*Katskhi Pillar*: *evidence of a church atop since C9/10. 130m* *high*

*Couldn’t climb it as the ladder was locked … I’d have given it a go!*

It was then a 40 min drive to the nearest vet. A funny little shop selling feed for cattle, pigs etc. With G translate, I explained that I wanted antibiotics for Corrie in case her wounds became nasty. Injection applied and bright blue antiseptic sprayed. And NO CHARGE. How kind.

The next stop was Gori. The guide book described it as unattractive. So it was a stop only to visit the Stalin museum.

Not that was his actual name. He didn’t have any emotional attachment for being Georgian. We were lucky to have an excellent English speaking guide. The museum was created 4 years after Stalin died by the Soviets, so nothing was in English, old fashioned and it was pretty much glorifying the man. The guide explained that some people locally revere his name, but she described how his overriding ambition was completely ruthless. Facilitated by his manipulation and persuasive skills. Definitely worth a stop, if you get a good guide.

*The cottage where his parents rented a room has been moved in front of the museum, but closed off for work*

*Stalin aged 12. His father was a cobbler. His mother was very religious and wanted Stalin to enter the Church. Despite attending Theological University (expelled), he did not believe*

*To fund his propaganda and proclamations (newspapers) he robbed banks. He served several terms in Tbilisi prisons and went to Siberia 3 times, escaping twice*

*Apparently he was short and had one arm shorter*

*He was self conscious of his bad skin so images were doctored. This photo journalist ‘disappeared’*

*All the public images of him show him surrounded by adoring happy people*

*His office furniture donated to the museum by the Kremlin*

We drove on to Tbilisi … just as well I’ve nerves of steel with the traffic and crap driving! Tonight is not a dry night.

Chiatura: Mining Misery

Posted on September 30, 2025 by Clunegapyears

28/09/2025

We’d left Kutaisi via the alcohol shop and Carrefour, so it was mid afternoon when we arrived.

I was expecting to see interesting Soviet architecture. Chiatura was a mining town of Manganese and one of the world’s main suppliers. The workers were expected to toil for 18 hrs per day until strikes reduced the day to 12 hrs hard labour. Lack of protection, no H&S etc. But even post the Soviet era conditions were harsh. They went on strike in 2019 to object to 15 days on, sleeping in a dorm, and 15 off. In March this year the mine closed … uneconomic. Miners have been left owed wages and no prospect of employment.
It was definitely the most depressing town we’ve seen on this trip. I know we’re were there on a Sunday, but men were hanging around in groups, many with large beer bottles.

The hope is that the recently restored network of Soviet cable cars (to transport workers efficiently to increase productivity) will fuel tourism. They need to do something about the general depressed feel of the town.

*Soviet WW2 monument. Its huge size is unusual*

The new cable cars are super easy to use. 1Gel (£0.25) and most depart from Central Station.

*The first cable car ride*. *New and French built*

Our first cable car was to near the Pioneer Palace. The Pioneer Youth was similar to the Hitler Youth: activities and political indoctrination. The building was not that old but a ruin.

*Pioneer Palace: the area around a newly restored park*, *they’re still deciding what to do with this*

The second cable car was my error, to the wrong place. Right platform. Wrong cable car. We can walk from here and then catch the correct one back down, says I. The walk was through miserable blocks of flats. Half of which were derelict, others had curtains and washing.

And then two dogs shot out and one bit Corrie. We left as quickly as we could. Corrie has 3 puncture marks in her shoulder, and it keeps bleeding. I’ve cleaned the wounds and applied iodine.

Stunning Svaneti

Posted on September 28, 2025 by Clunegapyears

Shdugra Waterfall Walk

26/09/2025

A non driving day. Yay!
But J may have preferred that as we walked 13.5km with a very steep up and then down. Not bad for 78. 😙

*We didn’t make it as far as the waterfall as the way markers turned from red (intermediate) to black (difficult). Discretion the better part of valour.*

A popular walk, so we met quite a few people. The standard question here ‘where are you from?’ is more interesting than in Europe. As well as Belgium and Spain. Two from Belarus. A Russian couple living in Armenia since the start of the war with the Ukraine. And a Ukrainian couple living in Moldova … since the war with Russia. I would just love to have chatted and asked inappropriate questions.

*And a nosey cow had his nose through our door … Corrie grumbled.*

Mestia Towers

27/99/2025

Brr 6C outside when we woke. Lots of layers. Jez only warmed up on the 40 minute drive to Mestia, the capital of the Svaneti region.

We saw a number of defensive towers on the way. Then I climbed one with 7 floors. J doesn’t like heights so he stayed on the second level with Corrie, who can’t do ladders. The ladders were mostly made from Silver Birch branches. Very rustic and a couple were vertical. One definitely wobbled as I climbed. The last one popped out through the roof. So fab views of other towers and the town.

*The tower I climbed with a house and holiday accommodation on the plot*

The Svaneti Museum was disappointing. Sanitised and didn’t cover the turbulent regions history or many traditions.

*The most interesting artifact was a male leather belt with a purse, tinderbox etc*

We decided against driving the track to the start of the waterfall walk … rain was forecast and I’m still scarred from the road from Hell in Turkey. We went for an ordinary lunch and decided to start the long slow road back south. We picked up French and Australian hitch hikers, with the warning that we would be slow and bumpy. In the event, the descent was much quicker than anticipated and the rain held off. We dropped our passengers in Zugdidi and looked for a parking for us. We didn’t fancy Zugdidi centre, and there weren’t many options on P4N, so we pressed onto our lovely riverside spot in Kutaisi. 5.5 hours driving. So another non dry day!!!

A Dam Drive

Posted on September 26, 2025 by Clunegapyears

25/09/2025

I knew it would be a long drive, which is why we drove a chunk yesterday. But first we stopped at the Enguri Dam, that we could see from our parking. Soviet construction started in 1961 and it was completed in 1987. Only 7 years later, it was inspected by Hydro Quebec (why them???) and found to be in a ‘rare state of dilapidation’. The EU granted €9.4 billion and a further £136 million in EU and bank loans to make it, the power station and exit to the Black Sea safe. The Russians also left nuclear waste. The built relays which were supposed to join up with another uncompleted dam. Unmarked pairs of cylinders in the mountains, two pairs safety recovered but one pair was found leading to injury and eventual death December 2001 … Lia Incident. Another pair still out there.

The dam is the 9th highest dam in the world. 5 of the highest dams in the top 10 are in China. The tallest is Russian built in in Tajikistan… hope they did a better job! The tallest in Europe is in Switzerland.

The water goes through a tunnel under a mountain to the underground electricity power plant. This is in Abkhazia … ceded from Georgia in the 1992/3 war so relations aren’t good. Yet the power station supplies 45% of Georgia’s electricity. Apparently it is jointly managed.

*In the tourist film the mountain sides were covered with hoists and pulleys … this is all that remains*

*We could see our parking from it – the grassy area in front of utilitarian blocks of flats*

Only 90 km, but the road into Svaneti was being largely rebuilt, narrow and bendy. I rarely got into 4th gear and never 5th or 6th. It took 4+ hours. And we have to return this way. It followed a river and when I could glance up, it was stunning. I didn’t even have a drink as I darent take a hand off the steering wheel. The road was built in 1934. In one place, a digger resided permanently to remove landslip. It was rebuilt in 2011 and work underway now.

The Svaneti region was isolated and pretty autonomous before the road and Georgian independence. It has its own unwritten language with 4 dialects. Own laws and rules … feuds continued until recently. There are about 275 defensive towers, which protected hamlets. Similar to the Mani in the Peloponnesus. Being so isolated, it has preserved its heritage and traditions.

Snow covered 8 months of the year. We’ve seen glaciers. In 1987 avalanches destroyed many homes and killed 80 people. Russia relocated 2,500 people. Being so isolated, criminals used it as a safe haven. Georgian Special Forces carried out anti criminal operations in 2004 … improving safety. The info I read did not say eliminating them! We will try not to offend anyone!

It is truly stunning. We drove up from Becho as it is less touristy than Mestia. And closer!