Country under construction

Somehow I keep coming back in Georgia: this time I went with my friend for a two-week holiday. We stayed in a beautiful apartment in the old part of Tbilisi, a place I can really recommend anyone visiting the town. Next to that, a long-time wish came true: to see Svaneti, a mountainous region in the north-west and the highest inhabited area in the Caucasus.

Like every year, a lot had changed in the country. Every time I’m there more expensive hotels have been built and more roads are constructed or fixed. Strange architecture is arising and and questionable renovations are being carried out. The old town is falling apart and I’m afraid that the current renovations are not actually saving the buildings, but turning them into fake touristic artifacts.

In Svaneti we were wondering where they got all those construction workers and equipment, because really everywhere they were working on the road. Mestia – the main town where we stayed a few nights – was a complete mess as well. Even at night the trucks were still roaring. Anyway, this didn’t keep us from enjoying the surroundings, the villages with medieval towers and views on high mountain peaks. These defense towers at almost every house served by the way not to protect themselves from foreign attackers, but from each other: other Svan communities. Svans are an ethnic subgroup of the Georgians, but have their own language. So again within Georgia I wasn’t able to understand a word…

: How long this old street will still look like this?

: They try to keep the old style, but if it’s really authentic I can’t say…

: View from our balcony in Sololaki, Old Tbilisi

: One of the hot spring baths of Old Tbilisi

: House overlooking Mtkvari river

: Main ‘city’ in Svaneti. According to some it’s not a city when cows are walking in the main streets.

: The story tells an angry father has built this tower to lock up his daughter who dared to marry without his permission.

: Lost girl :-)

: View from the church

: The highest village in Europe – according to Georgians

: Getting touristic. They have a shop and ‘soevenirs’

: The doors are so small…

: Walking around in the UNESCO World Heritage Site

: From the highest village you can still walk much higher into the Caucasus mountains.

: Hiking from the village Becho in Svaneti to see the two tops of Ushba.

: As seen from our hiking trip

: As seen in evening from above Mestia

: Shooting photos when waiting for a building truck to pass.

: Heavy road works on the way to Mestia.

: In Anaklia, the first beach resort south of Abkhazia.

: Wondering what kind of huge modern building will arise here

: Opposite of Metechi church, Tbilisi

: On Freedom square in Tbilisi

: I like these Georgian balconies

: Why not use the equipment when it’s there?

: Under freedom square in Tbilisi

: Just wall art in a street in Vake

: In the streets of Old Tbilisi

: A very interesting fact

: Chaplin in Tbilisi

: Maybe a famous Georgian cameraman on a wall near the cinema house.

: One of the stencils in Leselidze street

This gallery contains 32 photos

Space Invaders

In the last week of winter 2011 we took the very comfortable high speed train from Amsterdam to spend some days hanging out in Paris. When we got out at Gare du Nord it was warm and a few hours later we were sitting outside at a restaurant in Montmartre, eating delicious Tibetan(!) food.

Most tourist places I had seen before, but there were some nice surprises, like the beautiful Père Lachaise Cemetery where Jim Morrison also has a (small) place. We walked around there for some hours, impressed by the strange, huge tombstones and statues.

Also it was great to see all the new bicycle infrastructure and people cycling around with their shopping bags and briefcases. It became normal to take the bike, even as a businessman.

We read there was an exhibition somewhere of the street artist Jef Aerosol, but couldn’t find it. We saw actual street art on the street mainly in Montmartre and around Centre Pompidou. The space invaders -figures made with small tiles -dominated our findings.

This gallery contains 45 photos

(Black) Plastic Beach

About 3 weeks ago an email went around among friends: let’s go to Georgia for one week to have fun and see each other again. A reunion of people from Netherlands, England, France and Switzerland who were living in Georgia in 2007. Great idea, and a great way to spend some last summer days in a bit warmer climate. September is the best month to be in Georgia, because the temperature is perfect then.
My Swiss friend and I arrived both on the evening of the birthday party of our British friend currently living there. A good welcome with a fair amount of vodka to start the holiday with . The first 2 days we were hanging around in Tbilisi, looking at the changes in the city and eating and drinking at our old-time favorite places.
Then after a failed attempt to go to the high mountain region Svaneti (no planes due to bad weather/ train tickets to Zugdidi sold out), we took a minibus to Kazbegi to get some fresh air at the foot of this 5000m high mountain near the Russian border.
Like written on a tourist map, ‘In Georgia it’s possible to ski in the morning and lay on the beach in the afternoon’, we acted like real tourists and went to sea the evening after we came back from the north. Arriving at 5 o’clock in the morning to see the sunrise at the beach, spending the whole day eating chatjapuri, drinking beer, swimming… until seeing the sunset and then more eating and drinking… Ureki was a short time paradise.
The last day it appeared not so easy to leave this paradise: the only bus back to Tbilisi (4-6 hours driving) went only at 10 in the morning an I had missed it… Luckily with the help of a Georgian friend I got a lift back to the capital and spend a nice last evening in Georgia with his family.