NThe Road to Nagorno Karabagh
When I set out I'd intended to write regular blog entries, but the app on my iPad proved awkward and I ended up posting on Facebook instead. Now I'm sitting in a pavement café in Yerevan, after a fine meal of chicken and rice, writing this down in Word to paste in the blog later.
What have I noticed since the long flight from Manchester? Ukrainians seem to favour tomato juice over other juices. That Georgia seems to dislike Russia, while Armenia seems very pro-Russian. That beer in Georgia seems cheaper than bottled water. That despite being neighbours to Islamic countries I have seen fewer people who were obviously Muslims than I would in Lancaster. But I have met a huge variety of people, Turks, Iranians, Kurds, Syrians and Azeries apart from the Georgians and Armenians.
My cheap flight included a six hour wait in Amsterdam and ten in Kiev, so I was very tired when I arrived in Tbilisi. Luckily the B&B I had booked was very near the Philharmonic Hall bus station where I landed up. It was near but no one knew where it was. I had the address written in English and most street names were in English and Georgian. I should have sorted out my phone but I had not, so I was reluctant to use it for a very expensive call. Finally I asked a woman passing by and though she did not know others joined in, and there was much argument. I knew the place was near so was not going to be sent to the far side of town as one of the group suggested. At last two young people came to my rescue; a man and woman who knew the street I was looking for. If they had not been such a pleasant pair I would have been scared when they led me down a narrow side street and up a graffiti scrawled alley. We found the place, number 8, and banged on the door. After a few minutes a woman appeared on a balcony and shouted something in Georgian that must have meant, try next door because my guides began to bang on the green metal door of a house we had just passed. Eventually, only moments before we were about to give up, the door opened and Kristin appeared.
When I set out I'd intended to write regular blog entries, but the app on my iPad proved awkward and I ended up posting on Facebook instead. Now I'm sitting in a pavement café in Yerevan, after a fine meal of chicken and rice, writing this down in Word to paste in the blog later.
What have I noticed since the long flight from Manchester? Ukrainians seem to favour tomato juice over other juices. That Georgia seems to dislike Russia, while Armenia seems very pro-Russian. That beer in Georgia seems cheaper than bottled water. That despite being neighbours to Islamic countries I have seen fewer people who were obviously Muslims than I would in Lancaster. But I have met a huge variety of people, Turks, Iranians, Kurds, Syrians and Azeries apart from the Georgians and Armenians.
My cheap flight included a six hour wait in Amsterdam and ten in Kiev, so I was very tired when I arrived in Tbilisi. Luckily the B&B I had booked was very near the Philharmonic Hall bus station where I landed up. It was near but no one knew where it was. I had the address written in English and most street names were in English and Georgian. I should have sorted out my phone but I had not, so I was reluctant to use it for a very expensive call. Finally I asked a woman passing by and though she did not know others joined in, and there was much argument. I knew the place was near so was not going to be sent to the far side of town as one of the group suggested. At last two young people came to my rescue; a man and woman who knew the street I was looking for. If they had not been such a pleasant pair I would have been scared when they led me down a narrow side street and up a graffiti scrawled alley. We found the place, number 8, and banged on the door. After a few minutes a woman appeared on a balcony and shouted something in Georgian that must have meant, try next door because my guides began to bang on the green metal door of a house we had just passed. Eventually, only moments before we were about to give up, the door opened and Kristin appeared.
As Tbilisi is becoming a fashionable destination for tourists I was expecting more information in English and more English visitors. Luckily the main streets have signs in Roman script as well as Georgian and the Tourist Office gives out an English language street map, but in the museums and at historical sites there is little in English so I had to fall back on the guidebook and Internet. Russian is still the second language even though relations with Russia are strained because of the Stalinists purges and a later massacre during the struggle for independence. So far the visitors I have met have been Russians, Kurds, Turks, Syrians, Portuguese, Philippino and others. I have not met another English or American person and though I have heard English spoken – as I passed by in the street last night I heard someone say – I am worried about you and frightened for you – it has always been as a second language, or at least the speakers looked as if their origins were from this part of the world.
After I had explored Tiblisi and tried the wonderful beer and eaten the huge boat shaped pizza the call katchapuri I headed for Yerevan in Armenia. A very cosmopolitan city lying beneath the snow capped peaks of Ararat and her little sister. I have not been to any of the Eastern European cities but I imagine Yerevan to resemble one, broad avenues, grand buildings and many parks dotted with restaurants band cafes. But the most extraordinary sight WA the Cascade park and art gallery. A series of steps leading up to levels in a hillside, each level with cascading fountains and modern sculpture. The actual gallery being housed inside the hillside beneath the cascade. Though unfinished and without a huge collection of contemporary art the Cascade still manages to impress.
After I had explored Tiblisi and tried the wonderful beer and eaten the huge boat shaped pizza the call katchapuri I headed for Yerevan in Armenia. A very cosmopolitan city lying beneath the snow capped peaks of Ararat and her little sister. I have not been to any of the Eastern European cities but I imagine Yerevan to resemble one, broad avenues, grand buildings and many parks dotted with restaurants band cafes. But the most extraordinary sight WA the Cascade park and art gallery. A series of steps leading up to levels in a hillside, each level with cascading fountains and modern sculpture. The actual gallery being housed inside the hillside beneath the cascade. Though unfinished and without a huge collection of contemporary art the Cascade still manages to impress.