Adventurous Times in Georgia

Note: I finally arrived at a town with broadband Internet. Signaghi had a cyber cafe, but it was dial up. Most web pages don't work well that way anymore. I waited 12 minutes and could never get to the posting page here at my blog.

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008--Tbilisi to Signaghi

I got up early to catch the bus for Signaghi at 9:00. It leaves from the southern part of the city from a metro station that I do not know. Also, the family here has company (the father's sister and her daughter) coming from the U.S. today for a long visit. They need to clean the room and have everything ready for when they arrive.

Signaghi is a beautiful town. It looks like an Italian village. It is an old walled city set on a mountain top with old brick towers extending into the air. The entire center of the city has been restored--buildings, cobblestone streets, tile sidewalks, etc. They have installed some nice statues that make good picture-taking spots. They have some nice parks for sitting and relaxing. The only place I saw that looked bad was a base for a missing statue that has obviously been pulled down due to steel rebars sticking into the air and bent downward. My guidebook shows that it is a statue of Stalin who was born in Georgia, so its removal must have been recent.

I am not happy with where I am staying. It was arranged by the son in Tbilisi, but the family here is charging me too much for what they have--$35 per day for the room and 2 meals (which is the most expensive place I have stayed in Georgia). The town is a bigger tourist town than elsewhere, but I have learned from the tourist office here that I could have stayed in a nicer, restored guesthouse with TV and hot water for that price or less. Instead, my room is an old Soviet room which is bare other than for the bed and a cabinet. And the bath is down outdoor stairs under the house and connected to the carport. There is no hot water. If it had not been pre-arranged, I would not have stayed here. It's only 2 nights, however, so I will bare it and find my own places in the future. I did get an extra meal out of the deal, though. The lady made me breakfast at 11:00 when I checked in--fried eggs, fresh bread, honey, homemade ketchup, tomatoes, cookies, tea, and homemade vodka! (Apparently they drink that in the mornings here.) That means I will have 3 breakfasts for the stay of 2 nights. Of course, they are happey to do that for me, since what I paid them for the two nights is about 2/3 of the per capita income per month in Georgia.

The man at the tourist office is nice, but his life must be difficult. He is married to a Russian woman, and Russians have not been appreciated since independence. They are especially disliked now because of the recent war. But he and his wife are also Jehova's Witnesses, a religion that is not favored in Georgia which is mostly Orothodox Christians. He was helpful to me, however. And he will try to find the names of places to stay at my next stop, since my guidebook does not list any.

As I walked around exploring the city, I passed a young boy of about 12. A moment later, he rushed back to me and motioned for me to stop. Then he pointed at a dog that was resting in a passageway. Apparently, it can be vicious. He guided me around the short block and pointed up to where I had been intending to go.

I walked outside of town to see the walls of the city. Without a good map (none in my guidebook and a poor one offered at the tourist office), it was difficult to know just where I was. Eventually, after failing to find a path to take me up from the highway, I returned took a local road that angled upwards to a point where I had seen a church above me. The church proved to be a chapel in a cemetery on the point. In the distance was the long, flat valley below our mountain and then the range of the snow-capped Caucasus Mountains which separate Georgia and Russia. What a view!! There was a gravesite which had a table and benches beside it, so I reclined and read from my novel for a while. Then I napped maybe 10 minutes.

I returned to my room at 17:50 with nothing to do but read. I am worried that I will finish my current and LAST book and find myself in other quiet towns with nothing to do at night. There are no places here outside of Tbilisi for buying English language books.

It started to rain 15 minutes after I got back to the room. I am lucky that I returned when I did. Then later, it began to hail. But within an hour, it was quiet and the clouds had disappeared. I went down to dinner--chicken, beatballs, fried potatoes, pickled peppers, eggplant stuffed with cheese, bread, vodka, and cheap wine (but not homemade). The lady brought a plate of plums, grapes, and figs to the room later for me to have for dessert.

Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008--Signaghi

It is a beautiful, clear day thanks to the rain last night. Unfortunately, I had to start it with a cold bath. Then I had a meatball, eggplant with cheese, French toast with honey, tea, and an offer of vodka for breakfast.

I felt good, so I walked outside of Signaghi to Tsminda Nino Nunnery (also known as Bodbe) and back. It was about 3 km each way. The church looks modern on the outside, but inside it is old with frescoes covering the walls. It is the burial place of the saint who brought Christianity to Georgia and is also where the kings for this area were crowned hundreds of years ago. It, like almost everything in this area, has a setting that is fantastic with a view of the valley and the mountains in the background.

Signaghi has the best tourist infrastructure in all of Geogia--a tourist office, signs (street, statues, etc.) with English spellings, complete restoration of the town to make it pretty and comfortable, new touches such as the statues I mentioned yesterday and a couple of parks. It has a good atmosphere or feel about it. Unfortunately, it has few tourists right now, since the war has ruined the appeal for now.

I had another nice conversation with the tourist office man. He told me the name of the only hotel in the next town where I will go. And he asked me what I thought would help make Signaghi better. I suggested that they might encourage someone to put in a homemade ice cream store, since tourists seem to like that everywhere. I told him that small tourist towns where I live have weekend festivals at least once a month and suggested ideas such as a home canning competition, an arts and crafts festival, etc. I also suggested that with the city's beautiful setting and nice atmosphere it would be nice if there were some sidewalk tables outside some of the cafes and restaurants. However, I told him how special the town already is with what they have done up to now.

I went to the local museum afterwards and was really impressed. It, too, has been completely restored and has English explanations for all exhibits. In fact, the English explanations are very specific and made the trip educational for me. It covered the ethnographic history of the area (including a beautiful gold lion, brasswork, photos, and costumes). It also had an exhibit of paintings by Pirosmani who is the best known Georgian painter. He lived at the turn of the last century and painted on black oil cloth.

I tried to post to the blog. It was a dial-up computer, however. After 12 minutes, there was still no page for creating a post. I gave up and left.

A cool front came through. The air is breezy and chilly. My sandals and shortsleeve shirt are not enough if this stays the same.

It is quieter tonight at the house where I am staying. Last night, the entire extended family was here. Children were crying. People were walking around making noise. I think they were all celebrating their good fortune with my money I had paid them. For dinner, I had leftover chicken, fresh meatballs, rice, meatball soup, picked peppers, wine (the leftovers from the bottle last night), and fresh pears.

Friday, Sept. 12, 2008--Signaghi to Gurdjaani

Everything I have is wearing out. My favorite travel pants are getting a hole in the rear of the seat. I hope I have my press-on patching material in my suitcase to repair them when I get back to Tbilisi. I only have one other pair of pants with me on the trip. My shoes started wearing out (sole wearing through) way back in Japan. The laundry person in India caused spots I cannot remove on some of my shirts. My socks and underwear are wearing thin. My suitcase is lame with a broken wheel. Luckily, I will be back in Texas in only about 3 1/2 weeks.

There was no running water this morning. I bathed with water caught in a big barrel beside the bathroom. Then, around 8:30 as I waited to leave for the bus station, I heard the water come back on. Again, this place is not worth what I am paying for it.

I am having an experience today. I came to Gurdjaani because of the spa here. (Actually, it is called Aktala Sanatorium.) They give mud baths in addition to long-term treatments for various ailments. I missed getting a mud bath in Japan earlier in my trip, so I decided to try to do it here. There was a problem communicating, however, when I arrived. A man and several women stood there in white coats unable to understand what I wanted. Finally, the man motioned for me to follow him. We got in a car and went to his home where his son speaks English. It was arranged that I would stay in a room at the sanatorium for one night, have dinner and breakfast there, and have a mud bath tomorrow morning at 10:00 before leaving. The man, who is the doctor at the resort drove me back and got me checked in. That included getting my blood pressure checked. It was high (140/80) due to all the stress created from trying to communicate without a common language.

The sanatorium is in an old building. Nearby are other buildings. It was probably a major place for treating people in the Soviet days. But today, it is rather quiet. It does look like what I have seen in films and on TV of spas in the USSR--rather worn with old-fashioned treatments. I was given a room on the second floor. It is a plain room with two twin beds. The toilet is down the hall. Baths are taken in another building as a part of the treatment. It feels a bit like being checked into a nursing home. I am free to come and go, however. For one night, it is an adventure!

I walked far out of town to see Kvelatsminda Monastery. First, I walked northward, because that is how my guidebook implied I should go. Then I asked and was told to go the other direction. So I had to go all the way back to town, through it, and just as far south as I had walked northward. Then I turned on the road up to the church which went uphill at a rather steep incline for about 1.5 km. When I got near the church, it looked as if I were at a deadend at a home. But some young men at a lookout point nearby yelled at me. I went there, and one led me to the church by going through what looked like a private gate by the home.

The monastery proved to be the best one I have visited in terms of nice atmosphere. The floors have carpets on them. And the walls are exposed brick. There was a monk inside who spoke English, and it was nice visiting with him and learning about the church and his life. He majored in psychology at university, then became a monk. He has been one for 5 years now and has a long beard. He is 31. He said that he likes his teacher here, so he will stay at this monastery for the rest of his life.

On the way back to town, I met a lady on the roadside who had given me directions along the way to the monastery. She was impressed that I had walked there (probably 8 km round trip not including the walking that took me the wrong direction) and wanted to know my age. All this was communicated without understanding each other's language.

Dinner was at an outdoor area down the hillside. While waiting, many of the men and women were curious about me and tried to visit. Some of the women were from Azerbeijan. A young man in a wheel chair was especially nice and spoke just a bit of English. Everyone was very friendly and seemed happy to have me there. The dinner was a meatball, noodles, homemade yogurt, bread, rice porridge, and tea. Rather institutional tasting.

The doctor from the sanatorium was waiting for me when I finished dinner. He motioned for me to go with him. He drove me to his home. His son explained that they wanted me to be their guest for fruits and wine. We had watermelon, grapes, and figs. There was a read wine and a sweet liqueur. The son visited with me for about two hours. Since his parents do not know English, they left the table after a short time and watched the news on TV. Anyway, it was nice of them to have me over, and it was interesting to visit with the boy who also wants to be a doctor but still has two years of high school to go.

There is nothing else in this town to do other than see the monastery and be at the spa. And there is no Internet connection in town. I will move elsewhere tomorrow after my mud bath.

Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008--Gurdjaani to Kvareti to Shilda

Breakfast was as simple as dinner. It consisted of a meat patty, groats, homemade yogurt, porridge (like fine grits), bread, and tea.

Finally, I got a mud bath! I was taken down to a building beside a mud flat where there were pools of bubbling mud. Inside, they took my medical papers and registered me. Then I was lead into a room with 4 tubs--3 of them full of muddy water. I was told to undress and go to the last bath next to the wall. I got in. The water was warm (38 degrees C, according to my medical papers) with a layer of mud clay on the bottom. I lowered myself into the bath and rested. The woman came inside and set a timer for 15 minutes. I stayed there feeling the warmth. I wasn't sure what else to do. I occasionally rubbed my skin with the mud thinking that would probably be something that should be done. The 15 minutes was just the right time length. I was hot by then. The lady told me to go to the shower area behind me and rinse off and dry, then to get dressed and come back out. It isn't easy to get all the mud off, though. It gets along and under the nails, in the naval, etc. When I was dry and dressed, they told me I was free to go back to the building, so I did that and checked out.

I had planned my next destination to be Kvareti. So I went to the bus station. There were no vans preparing to leave for there. Apparently they all go through town from elsewhere to there, so it is necessary to stand by the roadway and hail one down when it passes. The problem with that is that the signs are written in the Georgian alphabet which has lots of swirls. I have not learned to read it. But a couple of men were looking out for me. Finally, one yelled at a passing van and they stopped and took me.

Kvareti is at the base of the Caucasus Mountains. It is known for two things in particular--the house museum of a famous Georgian and a winery located there. I went to the house museum first, since I got off the van right beside it. It is a modern building that looks as if it could have been designed by Corbusier. A lady there spoke perfect English and said that she is the English teacher at the local schools. Later, I spoke with two boys who are her students, and they both spoke English well, too.

After the museum, I walked down the street to the Kindzmarauli Winery. I was given a tour of their facilities and shown their products. and given a taste of one of their wines and of their chacha, a vodka they make. They gave me the address of their importer in the U.S. in case I want to order some of their wine when I return home.

Note: I have been at the cyber cafe for almost 2 hours. Now I will stop for today and continue with the biggest adventure of all when I am online again in a couple of days.