Noteworthy

On Wednesday, while Marty was lunching with a friend, David walked around the Old Town section of Tbilisi and discovered something we'd never known existed.  So, after Marty's friend left, we headed off to see what David had found.  One of the singular features that brought the ancient people to what is now Tbilisi is the existence of hot sulfur springs.  These were developed into Turkish baths, which are still a feature of the Old Town.  While we lived in the city, the area was ever so slightly run-down, so we never explored it fully.  What David found on Wednesday was that it has been renovated and many centuries-old structures have been uncovered and preserved.  Now, one can walk past the baths and into a steep gorge that leads to a waterfall, which must be 60 or 70 feet high.  We'd known of the stream that feeds it, because it is one and the same as that which runs through the city's Botanical Garden, a beautiful preserve that we had explored many times in the past.

Near the start of the walkway to the water falls

Bridge and spiral staircase to upper street level

Waterfall created by stream coming down from Botanical Gardens.

In the Old Town we saw many old buildings in the process of destruction.  There are so many that it is saddening and we wish we had taken even more photos over the years, as some very interesting places have been reduced to holes in the ground.  Yes, much of these were necessary because the buildings had deteriorated beyond the point of saving.  The chaos of the years following the collapse of the Soviet era has doomed so many historic structures in this oldest part of the city.

This may be a building that will be saved, at least in part.

Last Thursday we had a chance to take one of our favorite hikes in the hills above the city - from Tskneti to Turtle Lake and then back down to the Vake district of Tbilisi.  Tskneti is a small village high up in the hills to the northwest of the city, and is a convenient trailhead for our three-hour trek back into town.  On the Tskneti end we share the trail with cattle, while the approach to Turtle Lake gives fine views of Tbilisi.  We found that many places in the trail were greatly eroded from heavy rains.  Since it has been several years since we made this trek we can only assume the damage was caused by heavy rains over the past several years.  Generally, though, the air above the city is hazy, so photos don't come out as well as we might hope.  Turtle Lake itself is a relatively small outing spot with cafes, paddle boats and a cable car that used to bring folks up from the city.  It is in need of a spruce-up, but we understand that there is a dispute regarding ownership, so likely it will stay as-is for the time being.
















We have inserted a video of the of the cows we passed so that you could hear the wonderful sounds of the cow's bells as they eat!

View of the trail as it leaves the spring, shown below.

David getting some water from the spring

As always, after a hike one must be rewarded with a good latte and a sinful snack!  Three hours of hiking deserves something.

Our last few days were filled with the running of errands and seeing more friends.  We didn't get to see them all which made us a little sad.  Our last evening was yet another wonderful meal with family, this time held at Kety and Dato's.  After dinner on Saturday night we returned "home" and crashed for a few hours, leaving for the airport at 4:00 am.  We were amazed that at this hour Etuna was still up doing patient history work for her job.  Doctors in Georgia work a whole lot harder than most that we've ever met in the US and they are certainly not getting rich.

Great dinner that was spread out for us on Saturday evening.

Our flights were uneventful, other than having to endure an eleven-hour leg from Istanbul to Dulles, and we arrived back in the US around 6:00 pm Sunday night.  Now it's time for our lives to return to a semblance of normalcy.  We'll drive to Maine on Tuesday and hope that the cats forgive us for this long absence.  This will be our last blog entry until we start to plan our next trip.