Day one in Tbilisi

We arrived at the Airbnb in Tbilisi around 04:30 and went to bed around 05:00.  Fortunately the street noise was minimal and so we were able to get some rest.  Around 11:00 we ventured out to find breakfast at one of our favorite local restaurants on Agmashenebeli feasting on scrambled eggs with cheese and smoked salmon on dark bread and a cup of cappuccino.  Total for the two of us was around $6.  We spent a lot of time walking around and checking things out.  

 

This photo shows one half of the large room we had for overnight lodging.  Two beds; one behind David and that sofa and one beside Marty from where she took the photo.

The first thing we noticed on the street was the fresh fruit, in particular the cherries from eastern Georgia!  Red, pink, and yellow cherries.  Lots of other fresh fruit is currently available and that's a real treat since no fresh local fruits are available right now in Maine.

 

We connected with Bev McAloon and her friend Fran for dinner with our shared Georgian friend, Maia.   It was a khinkali dinner with traditional salads followed by ice cream after a short walk in the old city.

 

We headed for the cable car on the other side of the river so we could ride that up near the statue of Mother Georgia and get an even nicer view of the city.  Over by the base station there was a festive atmosphere created by the presence of many tamed animals and birds.  There were monkeys, parrots, at least one tamed hawk and a peacock.  People were taking photos and having their photos taken with and near these creatures.  The thing that most interested Marty was, however, a new sculpture of a tree which appears to be constructed with the use of found objects or recycled ones such as stove doors.

 

Maia had never ridden on a cable car and found the experience both scary and wonderful.  The late afternoon/early evening lighting was wonderful.   

 

We all enjoyed the trip up, albeit too short and too quick!

Once at the end of our ride we headed toward Mother Georgia where we had quite a musical treat.  Right beside the sculpture there were two men playing music.  One was on the violin and the other on the accordion.  The music fit the environment and many of us stopped to listen and just take it all in.

 

 

Mother Georgia stands on a ridge high above the city and we got wonderful views from there.  After a bit of searching, we found a set of steps that wound down along the face of the ridge, finally passing by the beautiful old Bethlehem Church and ending at Asatiani Street near Maia's house.   On our way down past the church we passed a lively small rose garden.  Below is a sample of the blooms.

 

Because Georgia does experience the occasional earthquake as it did earlier thus week, we discussed the visual evidence of prior damages.  This photo shows the extreme level of external support we have found,

 

 After goodbyes, we four travelers headed back to our beds for a well-deserved rest.  David and Marty found that they couldn't block out the music and party noise from shops on nearby Agmashenabeli and therefore got little sleep.