The above photo is of a bracelet from The Treasury of the Georgian National Museum. The collection looked interesting and important so I got a private English speaking guide since they didn’t have an English language group tour that day. The guide was lovely and the information was detailed. I very much enjoyed the experience and remember very little.
This cameo was about the size of a quarter.
This guy was about two inches in length. One source says c. 2300-2000 BCE: and that Georgia’s got one of the oldest gold mines in the world, c. 3400 BCE. The guide told the story about how they believe this lion inspired the legend of “Jason and the Golden Fleece” because they would use a ram’s fleece to capture the last of the gold washed into a river and end up with a Golden Fleece.
Showing half the displays in The Treasury. Most of the items are in those windows.
There was also (among many others) a display called Museum of the Soviet Occupation, seemingly much more to the point than the adoration of Stalin at his museum in Gori.
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I decided to walk to a specific restaurant that the tour guide highly recommended as did the people where I was staying as did the guide books and online, so yes, let me go there. The walk took me on a fascinating bridge to get across the river. Looking up about this bridge now, 2 weeks later, I see that the traffic layer, above the pedestrian walkway, has some very cool statues that I didn’t see. Oh well, we can’t do Everything much as we wish we could.
Here at the pedestrian level of the Baratashvili Bridge are these amazing documentary photographs from the Kolga Tbilisi Photo Exhibition. All the pictures are particularly strong and have a decided political and/or social point of view. I wish I could find them on the internet but the website and facebook page only have a few and you can’t read the titles. The photos have faded and the plastic covering was reflecting like crazy.
As a reference to the Museum of the Soviet Occupation, the title of this photo reads “Forever alive: The Unwavering Devotion to Stalin in Gori.”
I saw these costumes many times throughout the day and more than once on the bridge.
Here’s a picture from the internet of the bridge at night.
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Making it to the neighborhood of the restaurant, I came to the exact point where google said I should find the restaurant. But I did not find the restaurant. So I asked in a near-by pizza place and the sweet woman there shook her head in a knowing way and said “follow me”. So I did. She led me through an unmarked door, down some poorly lit stairs, through a deserted hallway, and into the restaurant. Oh thank you thank you kind soul!
Down the hall to the restaurant on the left, and that’s the unisex bathroom on the right.
The name of the restaurant is Salobie Bia and what an exceptional treat. I got the semi-sweet Georgian clay-pot red wine, determined to develop a taste for at least one of the Georgian wines, and the absolute best chacha of the entire trip. I’d had the bean dish before but this one was better. The vegetables on the side were all lightly pickled and mixed with the beans, oh my mouth was happy. The bread was made with corn, so like some tasty corn bread to go with the beans. Perfect!
This picture was above my table. I haven’t figured it out entirely, but I like it!
I realized a little late in the game that tomorrow was my last full day and the ladies at the flat wanted me to pay in cash. I’ll take this opportunity to note again one of my favorite travel-tricks. If you need anything at all go to a fancy-schmancy hotel. They will speak English and they will help you. Guaranteed! I was able to safely get the cash here without the least problem.
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A few pictures from my walk home. You might remember this Chimney Cake that I first noticed at the wine festival. That line outside one of the shops is always there, always crowded. I wanted one, I had one, I don’t need another one.
This is a wishes tree, you tie a ribbon and make a wish. That guy in the chair told me all about it.
Yup.
So many of the streets are like this, so leafy green.
