The tour is over, the group has dispersed, and I’m staying in Tbilisi for several nights on my own. Here is the story of the Intrepid Armenia and Georgia tour. I was also in Yerevan for five nights before the tour started. It’s been amazing and here I am catching up on Tbilisi 10 days after getting home from Georgia and heading right out to The Ranch. No doubt I’m going to be struggling to remember.
You might recall this was the time of the large demonstrations in Tbilisi over the “Russian Law” and Georgia’s hopes for admittance to the EU. Flags were going up around the city as you can see in the above picture.
Below is my new accommodation, a fine 1 bedroom flat on the top floor in a different neighborhood across the river from our tour hotel and in a perfect central neighborhood for a solo traveler. Absolutely everything was less than 20 minutes away by walking.
The neighborhood felt a little rough-and-tumble but not in the least, for even one moment, less than safe. The nicely refurbished buildings and the abandoned buildings lived side-by-side. This is an alley short-cut to my place and the mural I walked past often.
Merlyn and Hilda hadn’t left yet, they stayed one extra night, and we were out for a walk together when the skies opened and rain fell in buckets. We ducked into this place which turned out lucky for us because it was cozy and the food was delicious.
Continuing our walk after lunch and after the rain stopped, we went in search of a sweet treat and soon found ourselves in a large very nice enclosed mall with all the mall stores and plenty of sweet treats.
Cookies, my favorite, honey cake, Merlyn’s favorite, and tea, Hilda’s favorite. Everyone’s happy.
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We came upon a cool collection of murals in an underground passage, these plus plenty more.
And more from my new neighborhood.
Another view of the Peace Bridge from “this” side of the river.
And then I went shopping for coffee, milk, granola, fruit, and yogurt, which is all I really need to be happy. But also of course I bought some pastry delights because there they were, right on the street, hot and calling my name.