Georgia is on the very eastern shore of the Black Sea. and the country stretches further east up into the Caucasus mountains. The capital, Tbilisi, is in the very east of the country, in a valley within the mountains, running along both banks of the Kura River.

The river valley is steep and narrow but widens to the west to hold this city of just over a million people.

This is Asia. Any further east are the handful of countries with names that end in “stan”, and then China. And yet here, this far away, Georgia is a country that is historically “connected” to Europe, because of their Christian religion.

The “Golden age” of Georgia was around the time of the crusades, the 12th and 13th centuries, considered the time of the development of the Georgian culture. Sheltered somewhat west and east by the Black sea and the Caspian sea, and up in the mountains, they have been able to maintain their own culture over the centuries. But not without adversity.

You can read their actual long and interesting history, but here is a “nut shell” version of the determining flows of the last few centuries: Invaded and dominated by Persia (Iran) and the Ottoman Empire…

…they had to reach out to Russia for protection. The Persians sacked and burned Tbilisi as recently as 1795, whereas Georgia and Russia have the same Eastern Roman Orthodox religion.

“Saved” by the Russians they were then dominated by them from the mid 1800’s. But the relationship was never happy. Every time the Russian state weakened, the Georgians declared themselves independent: In 1917 during the time of the Russian revolution, but the Russians came back.

And in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 2008 -2010 the Russians tried to come back, but they were still weak while Nato and the USA had been strengthening and training the Georgian army. After a brief nasty little war Georgia was free.

Unfortunately this mostly rural, poor, agricultural country (serfdom was only abolished in 1864) has endured ongoing corruption and political turmoil during their independence. These negative factors have steadily diminished, but still exist today. And this has caused investment and development to be slow. But steady. And today gives us a case example of an economy in transition.

First the old. It is amazing that the Georgians have remained Christians for so long considering that they are surrounded by Muslim countries. (They are called Georgians because of their reverence (since the Crusade era) for St. George). When you look out over the city the Christian churches stick up like mushrooms. And they date from 1020 to 2004! The populace appear to be very religious. On the street you constantly see people “crossing” themselves as they pass near a church.

They have also maintained their own language with it’s curious and attractive font.

As to the town, maybe half of the buildings are crumbling. No, maybe 75%. Not figuratively crumbling, I mean walls cracking, structures falling apart and down. Incredibly, people are living all throughout these areas.

All across the city you can still see what I call “local initiatives”. This is where (I have seen this a lot in Russia in the 1990’s) the collective system collapses and locals are free to establish themselves as entrepreneurs. And they can get little businesses up and running when nothing much else is working.

Some of these businesses may be able to grow and survive into more modern times. But many, extremely undercapitalized and offering the quality level of soviet products, will perish. When your income and standard of living increases, why would you continue to buy the horrible old Russian breads..

..when right down the street western breads and pastries and sweets are on offer?

I think the laundry I found will be a success. It is very tidy. The woman that runs it is super friendly and has cleverly positioned herself just outside the new Holiday Inn. It was great for me.. a week’s load of laundry wash and fold for 9 bucks.

More and more this divergence of the shopping offerings is occurring, as modern, efficient shopping such as Spar and Carrefour and other international brands move out into the neighborhoods.

Just off Freedom Square there is a glittery new Mall housing the familiar global brands.

The stores in the mall are “manned” by young attractive females while on the street corners downtown clumps of men stand around and smoke cigarettes.

The super upscale brands are also landing in Georgia.

And of course the Americans are here.

The nicest area of the city is west of Freedom square, around the government center, where many buildings and the streets and walks are in excellent repair.

As the investment climate has improved, many global brand hotels have been newly constructed, or set up in renovated buildings. The new modern constructions can seem very strange sticking up in an area where literally across the street the buildings are crumbling.

There are now new apartment blocks with many more on the way.

Renovation and investment are generating nice new areas in the city.

The upkeep of the city parks is now excellent, and so the neighborhoods around them are improving and becoming nice.

I have had a fun week exploring the food. Had to forego the acres of complementary breakfast in the hotel to go out at lunch and track down “must try” Georgian dishes. (One can only eat so much). Then every night through the magic of the “Concierge lounge” three new hot Georgian entrees to sample. Here are some observations:

They have an extremely long grain rice that cooks up beautifully loose and is delicious. Many of their dishes are sauced like Indian curries, but with completely different spices. Mountain herbs and berrys and seeds. Very interesting and many of the dishes are quite delicious.

Lamb Chakapuli is notable as characteristic of this cuisine. Simply braised, but heavy with mountain herbs including lots of tarragon and garlic. Delicious.

Chkmeruli was suggested to me as one of their best and most famous dishes. A small chicken, browned and then simmered done in a powerful cream and garlic sauce. I thought it was too heavy, very hard to eat, and also hard to taste anything but cream and garlic.

They have a green condiment here that is as ubiquitous as ketchup in the US .. “Tkemali” .. made from unripe green plums that is so outstandingly flavorful it made my heart throb. When home I may try to find some on the internet.

They do a lot of things with doughs, many combined with cheeses, which makes the cuisine a little clunky.

Unfortunately, for me, their famous “”Khinkali” dumplings were disappointing. Compared to the Chinese XiaoLongBao these Georgia dumplings are crudely crafted and poorly flavored.

I did not get out to seriously encounter their wines, so consider these comments just my reflections. The few whites I had were limpid. Their standard red wines are “semi-sweet”, and do not agree with me at all. You have to ask for “dry red wine” to get what we would consider standard fare. But the ones I tasted were surprisingly well crafted and delicious. I am sure that I did not have the “really best stuff”, but the best wines I encountered were from the Saperavi grape, and they were very very good.

What Tbilisi is currently famous for is ruckus nightlife, but I am afraid I cannot report much about that. I did walk down streets with bars and night clubs, cheek by jowl. But I believe that they start up around 11PM and run through the night. Probably not so much here in the winter.

Some things that surprised me on the street. The abundance of offerings to sell Tourists souvenirs, tours, transportation did not. But the offerings of alcohol and particularly wine were seriously, everywhere.

Also in surprising abundance were offerings to Exchange money, in some places every 100 steps down the street. And in all types of establishments from glitzy to very humble.

And flowers. These people seem to love flowers. They are on sale everywhere and many people are carrying them in the streets.

Statues. I could take 50 pictures of them. Maybe a hundred. From the glorious to the remembrance down to the guy who changes your tires.

And the simply peculiar:

And last, the bees. All of this trip the bees have shown up. I was around in the back of an ancient church, in the churchyard investigating a consecrated well. The churchyard backed onto a city park, and they had maybe 15 bee hives .. right in the city center, almost across the street from the Parliament building. Standing there you could smell the honey.

And that is it. It has been beautifully sunny here all week, cool, in the 50s for highs during the days. I am now heading west and will stop for some days in Izmir and enjoy the hot weather. I will check in from there.

Meanwhile, thanks for coming along.