8/16/14

For my last full day in Tbilisi, I spent a pleasant morning and afternoon simply wandering around. I first found a park and sat their a while, before going and looking at the baths and the mosque. There was not actually that much to do and I found myself somewhat bored--of course it was possible to go to more churches but if you've seen one you've seen them all, unless church art and architecture is your thing. I did wander into the museum of musical instruments, which at 3 lari could hardly be called disappointing, though its three smallish rooms were fairly modest.  There were some particularly nice examples of instruments preserved there. After that, grabbed some lunch at the KGB restaurant in the touristy section of the old town--it wasn't cheap and there wasn't much food, but overall it wasn't bad and I was also trying really hard to save my remaining funds for the evening. After that I went to the art museum right off of Freedom Square--since there are several art museums and maps/guidebooks show them in conflicting places, this is the one nearest to the tourist office, not on Rustaveli. There, after some chaos at the entrance, I joined a tour which was led by a very nice tour guide who was clearly very passionate about her work. Though it's the standard collection of mostly icons and jewelry, her exciting narrative made things more interesting and she allowed substantial opportunities to ask questions. It was the best tour I went on.

After that, I went and hiked up to the Nariqala Fortress in the late afternoon. Despite the strenuousness of the hike, the distance was rather short and at the top I found myself facing a church. I heard what sounded like recorded music being played inside, and there were a number of people milling about so I went in. Turns out, they were having a service and the music was live--the acoustics were absurdly good. It was really interesting to watch the service--nothing like in America, there are no pews and people just sort of stand around. Luckily, it seemed like you could come and go, which, since the services last several hours, was good. I left after about 10 minutes to go explore the rest of the fortress. There are several ruins in various states of preservation and decay, and I climbed to the highest one with the cross on top. There's no real path here, just some trails people have made climbing it. On the other hand, it's not specifically marked as off limits, and it does have a nice view. The trail is safe but be very cautious as there are some places where a fall would likely put you in the hospital, if not the morgue. I would also recommend, since it is a historical site, to be very careful about respecting the fortress when you are there and not disturbing the remaining parts. If you do go up, be a better person than I was and take some trash away on your way down (I was in too much of a hurry).

The Town

The fortress

I got back down and met up with friends for dinner at some tourist restaurant downtown which served Georgian food. It was nice enough for such a place, and the khachapuri was pretty good. I'm a bigtime khachapuri fan now. Also churchela, those little grape-gummy-with-walnuts-rope-candy are pretty good too. But I digress. After that we went to drink wine and chacha at the little bar/café in an old streetcar called. It was called Konka, and they had some live music which was pleasant. Chacha was far from being the backwoods hooch I had expected it to be from all I had heard from guidebooks and other travelers, so it was a bit disappointing in that regard. But it was still definitely very high octane, and had a decent taste that made it a good way to get sloshed quick, if that's what you were trying to do. It's also dirt cheap. After that, I went up a few levels in classiness and had a white and a red semi-sweet wine, followed by a dry red. This last one I talked our friend, Olga, into buying me because she had requested I play piano after I brought up my ability at some point. The bar had a piano inside, and so true to the deal I played it. The thing had the most dampened sound I have ever heard--it was like shouting into a pillow, only with a piano--but that also worked to my advantage when I made mistakes, since the sound was quiet and fairly slushy. That being said, true responsibility lies with the musician, and it was far from unplayable, if quiet. I managed a decent job on Tiny Dancer, and actually got through Your Song (had to reset halfway through, and missed one repeat) for a change, which was nice. And I naturally finished with Linus and Lucy. So this was a great Omega to the Alpha of my journey when I played piano in the bar my first night in Baku.

The next day I got up at 2 AM and left.

Overall, the Caucasus are a wonderful place to visit, because they offer so much beneath the surface if you're willing to put in the leg work. History, natural beauty, and great people are all commonplace here. You won't be force fed attractions like you might be in other parts of the world, but you'll feel more confident and have a better grip on the meaning of things after you've hopped a dozen marshrutkas, bargained the same amount of taxi-drivers, and asked twenty people for directions to some random museum. You'll get lost, but you'll learn to deal with it and function in this chaotic place. One of the main impressions I had was that there was a system here, but that I just wasn't privy to it yet. The interpersonal interactions, the transportation chaos, the routes to various places, these are all clearly well known by locals and functional on some different level which it was impossible for me to experience. But flailing along beside the system as I did only made me appreciate it more, that things don't utterly collapse. Whatever is holding these places together is obviously quite strong, and it's worth going just to see that, even if you don't understand it. And with that, I'm done editorializing. Go to the Caucasus if you like challenge, adventure, and learning--about great cultures and great people, but also about yourself.