Tbilisi

Last Friday evening took an evening flight to Tbilisi, Georgia. From Kiev to Tbilisi is a bit more than two hours.

Tbilisi always sounded exotic to me and I wanted to visit for some time. But the August 2008 war with Russia in Abkhazia and Ossetia in a way delayed a trip.
On May 26th this year there were demonstrations in Tbilisi. For a brief moment I was considering cancelling the trip - but finally decided to go.
The town charmed me. It's leafy - the vines are everywhere. Palms and cyprus trees are next to maple, linden and yew trees. Every few steps there is a small park.
Roads are infested with potholes. Majority of buildings in need of restoration. From some houses facade is peeling off. On some balconies are hanging on some tiny wires.
It seems as since the 1917 revolution not much was spent on the city maintenance.
But restoration works are under way. While now the city looks a bit rough and neglected I expect the works which are underway will turn it into highly polished gem.

Tbilisi

Georgia is poor country and most of the shopping is done in small grocery stores. I found one big supermarket which was empty. It was full of imported (expensive) goods.
Some cloths store sell imported second hand things from Europe - at quite steep prices. I saw an H&M second hand dress for about 150 EUR.
Photos of city shopping:

Tbilisi Shops

I was most fascinated by inventive shop signs:

Tbilisi Shop Signs

People are very friendly. Unfortunately the younger generation does not speak much English and does not speak Russian at all.
Older generation speaks Russian. But I admit I felt uncomfortable trying to converse in a language of aggressor. Once I told I am from Croatia some mentioned the war, some recalled Croatia voted for Georgia in Eurovision. But people were very kind, friendly and helpful.
People are religious and men will stop to cross when they hear distant sound of a church bell. Taxi drivers will cross themselves every time the church is passed along the driving route.
Many dark haired men have blue or green eyes which made me stare.
On a warm sunny day most men take off their shirts and expose publicly their hairy chest and backs. Women often wear headscarf or a head band.
National History Museum in the basement has some fantastic jewellery dated 1-2 century AD. On the forth floor is very impressive and emotional Soviet Occupation Museum.
In the National Galery they have one whole floor dedicated to Niko Pirosmani - a self-thought Georgian 19 century painter who liked painting animals.
Food was great. For three days I enjoyed shashlik, kebabs, sweet tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, delicious herbs, khachapuri, lavash bread.
Over few days I got a nice taste of Georgian capital. I truly hope I will be back soon.