Tbil 'Where?'isi

To be honest I didn’t know much about Georgia before I saw a job for an English teacher there about 9 months ago. I thought about applying but having never been to anyplace like Georgia I was worried if I would be able to live happily there. This stuck with me so when I wanted to plan an unusual stop over point on my way to Australia the capital Tbilisi seemed like a perfect option. I emailed the school to see if I could attend but I heard nothing back from them so instead I was just going to explore the city independently. 

The country used to be part of the Soviet Union but after its breakdown Georgia became an independent nation. Situated on the eastern side of Turkey the country shares boarders with both Azerbaijan and Armenia and since those two countries remain at war with each other Georgia sort of acts as a go between for travellers visiting the ‘Caucus Region.’ Border crossings direct between the two countries are not possible despite a large land boarder. Since independence there have been a few ups and downs but now Georgia is hoping to get admittance to the European Union and is developing many large-scale projects including a streetcar system, a railway bypass and a relocation of the central station and new urban highways. 

As my flight left Istanbul’s Sabhina airport I couldn’t help but feel as though I was venturing into the unknown. I was on a flight to somewhere that I couldn’t even pronounce without careful concentration. Once on the ground I came to see that the airport here looked quite nice, and that any city with an airport as modern as this couldn’t be a scary place. If it hadn’t been for the man smoking a cigarette at the urinal before immigration then I could quite easily have been in any EU airport at all. And they say that men can’t multi task!

Once through immigration I found free wifi and began to feel a little more at home. Suitcase collected I ventured through customs and looked for the driver who the hostel had sent to collect me. He was there, stood waiting with a sign displaying the name of my hostel. I liked him instantly, he spoke no English, and made no effort to speak to me all the way to the hostel, I love taxi drivers like that. I also quite liked his determination. What I mean is his windscreen had a huge crack (I mean from drivers top corner to the passenger side, size crack) and yet he didn’t let that stop him from working with the car, talk about determination. A heart stopping 30 minute ride in his car later and I learned that cracked windscreens are stronger than autos direct would have us believe in England. My first thoughts when he drove up to my hostel were, ‘what kind of place is he taking me to?’

Geogian Writting

It was 3 am I was tired, cold and in desperate need of sleep, I didn’t care that the sign displaying the hostel name was graffiti badly on the wall at the bottom of the alley; all I cared for was a clean bed and a warm blanket. I got both of them and set my alarm for the early morning so I could arrange my train to Yerevan.

Morning came and I spoke with Bridget the South African worker at the hostel and she advised me to take marshrukta to Yerevan instead of the train. She did present a good argument; half the time, able to see the views along the way and during daylight hours. I was still considering taking the train mainly because I’d heard you got a little picture of a train on your passport stamp and I’d like to get me one of those. But when I checked the train times it resulted in an arrival time of around 0100 in Yerevan, and I don’t like to arrive in a city at silly o’clock in the morning unless I can really help it. So it was decided I was staying in Tbilisi for an extra night and then getting a marshrukta in the morning. For those of you unfamiliar with a Marshrukta it is a minibus that works like a small coach. It wasn’t quite as luxurious as the coaches in Israel (i.e. it had no wifi) but at least I wasn’t in a war zone (ish).

Less of that and more about Tbilisi. I had read that the city was similar to Prague only more run down. I can agree with the run down part but not so sure about the Prague part, I’ll leave that assessment up to you when you visit the place. I started my day with a walk up try and discover a nice Georgian place to eat breakfast at. After my discovery of Egyptian pie (bit like pizza) I guessed that Georgian pie would be similar so I order that. Turns out I was wrong. It was more like a pasty and the filling inside were not good. Still I tried and in the process of trying I was reminded of home; guess who should come on Georgian radio, nobody but Lisa Stansfield. Funny she seems to be stalking me on this trip, she was huge in Italy, I had conversations about her in Belgium and here she is on the radio in Georgia. I think it’s nice she still working. After I had embraced a bit of ‘been around the world and I I I I I  I ‘ (I was still no closer to finding a baby; hers or anyone else’s, sorry)I decided to tackle one of the many hills that surrounded Tbilisi. I chose the one which had the fortress on the top and the statue of Mother Georgia. 

Mother Georgia, do You think she's a red or white girl?

The fortress was also linked to the city centre by an ‘aerial tramway.’ Basically a wire connected the top of the hill with the bottom of the hill. On this wire you could sit in little cabins and ride all the way to the top. These carts had glass floors. I was not sitting in one of those. I’ve just read that in 1990 the rope snapped killing 20 people and injuring many others. I think my rationale for not riding the bugger has been justified

If I’m honest I found the fortress path more as a matter of good luck rather than good planning, but I was glad I was. The view from the top was great. Whilst at the top I met my first Georgian who spoke English, he was trying to sell me a tour but not in the pressured way I was used to in Egypt. Apparently Mother Georgia is a symbol of Georgia’s past and of future hope. If you look at her she has a sword in one hand and a glass of wine in the other (clever woman). The sword represents a warning to her enemies, the woman of Georgia have fought alongside men for years defending  Georgia and her people. The glass of wine is for her friends, it’s this symbol which makes me wish I’d have met her. She also has huge boobs, I’m not sure what that represents, maybe the statue was designed by a straight man?

 

Anyhow from the top it was clear to see that Tbilisi was changing. Sure I was staying in the old town so it was old and dilapidated in parts, but that does have its charm, but alongside the river bank and on the other side of Republic Square you could see modern buildings. I’m no architect but they’re quite unusual designs. Look at this bridge. It’s not what I expected from an ex soviet state. Guess that teaches me to be so judgemental.

Walking around the city I couldn’t quite make my mind up what I thought of it. It was by no means unsafe, in fact I felt safer there than I did in many other cities on my trip, most notably Brussels. The people were friendly when I spoke with them, but no one really cared I was there. I may get an odd lingering look of one of the children, kids will be kids, because to be honest I’m white, blonde and blue eyed, I couldn’t look more like a tourist than if I had a map in front of me. But no one cared; no one pestered me to buy from their shop or to go on one of their tours. It was refreshing.

Some Graffitti

After a day of site seeing I went back to y hostel and spent the evening getting to know the people who lived there. We exchanged stories and even read out funny articles we each found on the internet. The articles became article read from ‘The Guardian’ newspaper. It was at this point I started to get an uneasy feeling. I was already aware that the ceasefire in Israel was no longer being upheld, I was there two weeks ago. Then I read about the demonstrations and protests in Cairo, I was there a week ago. Then I heard about Turkey declaring war on Israel (or was it Syria, by this point I was in shock) I was there only the day before. I’m starting to feel like imp a bad omen and that war / civil unrests break out after each I’ve been too. Fingers crossed Georgia can survive after I leave without any problems occurring.

1 city 2 Continent, Lots of boats (and a few bridges)

Istanbul 20^th November

I write this as I’m sat waiting for my flight to Georgia. In a little over a week I’ll be in oz and this ‘journey’ will be over. I feel as though I am really going out of Europe now. In the past week, I’ve passed through Asia, Africa, Europe and Asia again, it’s fair to say I have very little idea about where I am at the moment.

I had 2 nights and almost 3 days in Istanbul and it has to be said, I love this city. Maybe it’s just after the chaos of Arabian/African Cairo but I really appreciated the 'Europeaness' of this bi-continental city. I arrived at Ataturk airport after a very good (albeit short) flight with Turkish airlines. Being one of the few opportunities to receive a meal and free drinks onboard on my trip I definitely made the most of it. I even ate the smoked salmon starter and cheese cake afters that had been included in the in-flight meal. The salmon was bad, the cheesecake was not. I can’t help feeling that I have been missing out on cheesecake for all these years.

Cutting out the boring stuff I got to my hostel, checked in, and discovered what the wifi password was. I then went out exploring the city. I had arranged to meet someone from couch surfing with whom I had been speaking with since I had arrived in Israel. His name was Sahad and was an engineering student at university. We walked to the golden horn and he told me a little about the history of the city. If you’re like me and have no idea what the city looks like I’ll try and explain. The city is located where the mouth of some river meets the sea. There are 3 (main) ‘bits’ that stick out and are so surrounded by water. One of the openings is called the Golden Horn and the other in the Bosporus. It’s the Bosporus that separates Europe from Asia. Anyhow we walked over the golden horn and he told me a story about when the Ottoman Empire controlled Istanbul and some European nation (he was unsure which) was trying to take control of the city (and all of its riches). The Ottomans not wanting to give their riches to the Europeans and so instead threw all their riches into the water. It seems a little short sited to me, surely they could have buried them or sent them someplace else, but what can you do. As we walked across the bridge that spans this stretch of water it was hard to miss all of the men stood there fishing. Apparently this is a constant occurrence; I was told that this fishing goes on for 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I can’t say it’s a pass time I’d be interested in pursuing but each to their own.  Sahad showed me Takzim Square and the Galata tower. The tower was pretty at night but as it was after 6 the tower was closed and we were unable to climb to the top.

Not deterred we wandered the streets and eventually decided on Turkish pizza for tea. Turkish pizza (or big Turkish pizza as the menu described it as) is strange. It’s almost like a very thin tortilla wraps with toppings on the top. Then once you have it served to you, you roll up each slice with tomatoes and lettuce and maybe some sauce then eat it like a wrap. It works though I really enjoyed it and wished I’d have order 3 instead of two. During our meal Sahad told me about how fast Istanbul is expanding and how, in his opinion, there is no thought going into how the city works together. After spending 1 hour and 30 minutes on a bus to get to the airport I’m starting to understand what he means.  City planning and food over we decided it was time to see what the nightlife of this city was like. Since it was a Sunday night I didn’t expect much, but there was enough people out to create an atmosphere. We went to one bar which was a shot bar. They had 4 pages of the menu full of different shots and one page devoted to ‘regular’ drinks. Apparently it’s a Turkish thing. We ordered 13 shots between us and didn’t even bother to look at the ‘long drinks’ section, who am I to argue with tradition. I have to say each shot had its own flavour and they were all awful. I did question my new found friend, part way through our thirteen about the reasons why we were putting ourselves through such misery, but neither of us could find a reason more than to get our money’s worth. I don’t think I’m cut out to be Turkish; I need my shots with a chaser. 

The morning after the night before I felt awful, nothing alcohol induced (no more alcohol passed our lips after our tray of 13 shots) but because every hour in my hostel dorm someone made some kind of noise which was enough to wake me up. I’ve never wanted my own room so much in my life. The next morning presented new opportunities and I had arranged to meet Onur another member of couch surfing who again was a student but this time in tourism management. Onur, his friend and I visited the Blue mosque (where we all had to take our shoes off, although they give us a little bag to carry them in). It was an amazing site inside, the mosaic was so intricate and the design so symmetrical you wonder how it was ever designed and built. I was also very impressed at the standard of the carpeting; it is definitely a shining example of why you should not wear shoes indoors. Next time I have carpet, I’m enforcing the same rule.

After the Blue mosque we visited the Grand Palace of the Sultan. This was in the Ottoman Empire where the Sultan would have lived. The palace differs from European palaces as each person who lived in the palace would have a building of their own, and gardens would separate them. It’s amazing how weather can influence designs, even royal ones. The palace holds some incredible jewellery which has been restored and displayed; my favourite being a diamond pendant that had once been stolen so now had an extra barrier in front of it. I couldn’t get any pictures as this was forbidden, and guards were present enforcing this rule. 

 

Other items here didn’t quite evoke the response I feel as though they should. There was what looked like a plastic wooden stick which was displayed as THE stick Moses used to part to Red Sea. I was also lucky enough to see Mohamed’s beard in a bizarre container which reminded me of an old fashioned egg timer (you know the type with sand in) and a foot print made by Abraham in the sand which had presumably fossilised the instant he lifted his foot from the sand (sorry, pardon my sarcasm, I’m just a little sceptical). Being rushed through the palace as closing time was approaching us; we enjoyed the gardens and a whistle stop tour of the other rooms. The evening was drawing nearer and food was on our minds. Onur introduced me to a type of ‘Turkish meat’ which was served as part of a wrap. I’d like to tell you what it was called but I have no idea. It looked like a paste and it merged quite well with the salad also wrapped up in my kebab. It tasted amazing, in fact it was the first real Turkish meal I had had since my plane meal and I was very impressed (oh except my Turkish pizza the night before). I also had a local drink which again I have forgotten the name of, but it was a concoction of natural yoghurt, water and a little salt. As I was drinking it I couldn’t help think it might be a good addition to a hangover.

That was the thought I discussed with Sahad later that evening after he had offered to show me the Bosporus and the area under the bridge. We watched the light display that illuminated the bridge that spans the two continents and I couldn’t help but think what a poetic this location could be viewed as, at the edge of two worlds. Watching the ships pass and the eventual ripple effect on the water proved quite comical. My favourite moment being when the water hit the banks on which we were sitting and flew high into the air, landing on a group of defiant men who clearly believed they had more rights to be there than the water did. Anyway hunger had started on us and I was about to try another traditional Turkish dish from one of the street vendors which litter the side of the Bosporus. This dish was similar to an English jacket potato with cheese except instead of leaving the cheese to melt, it was all mashed together in the skin and then you could add your selection of vegetables and or meats. I decided to play veggie for the night and had only sweet corn and red cabbage but it was good. 

After a restless night I was ready for bed and so we walked back to Sultanahmet (the area of town which I was staying in) and I was determined to get a good few hours sleep before my dorm mates woke me up again. It shows that determination works as I slept until 7 am and didn’t wake once during the night. I remained in bed past 7 though; there was no need to rise so early on my holidays.

This last day seemed a little of a waste as I had a last walk around the city and then returned to my hostel to prepare for the next part of my trip. Boring things like book accommodation and make notes of the addresses. I passed the time away with a few conversations. Also discovered that Georgia has had snow recently which just happens to be my next destination. I am looking forward to arriving there as it is totally alien to anywhere else that I have ever been, but I wish it could be a little warmer.

Interesting Turkish Phrases i have learnt

Iyi – Good (to me it’s pronunciation is similar to ear but I’m told otherwise

The rest of my phrases are all spent phonetically, why don’t you try and say them ;)

Aberza – An isult we don’t have in the UK

Aberzulik – The Act an Aberza does, to make them an Aberza

Cudge – Chuck

Cher-rrref-errrr   - Cheers

Hajjr – Mate

Tashak mai yiow - another insult, it can be matched with Aberza to make a full sentence :)

And finaly the very British phrase to know

Tesekkiur  Ederum – Thank You

T'Egypt

Sharm el Sheikh

Happy Reunions, Whenwe were all firm

A week in Sharm was supposed to involve a week of relaxation with my parents. It was supposed to allow me to rest after the first half of the trip and give me the energy to complete the second half. However it gave me food poisoning. And I spent much of the week either using the toilet or being very aware where the closest one was. Luckily it wasn’t only me and we all took it in turns to get a bit better and get a bit worse again. The chemists here must make a fortune of us tourists and our dodgy stomachs. I tied a concoction of different antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and pain killers in my quest to feel normal again. Eventually either they worked or someone got bored of playing with me because, it didn’t kill me! It was good however to catch up with my mum and dad and as we had an apartment there was plenty of room for one of us to be dyeing quietly at a safe enough distance from the others.

We stayed in Naqb Bay which was a lot quieter that Na’ama Bay. I like it there. Our apartment was on the outskirts of the town. Even though we were all ill, we managed to have a good time. Days were spent by the pool or the beach (always within spitting distance of a good clean toilet) and then followed by a nice meal at night and obviously a few drinks.

Our Pool

On one of the ‘firmer’ days we became quite confident and hired bikes to cycle down to the town on. Having spent 7 months with good cycle paths in Italy I didn’t expect much from the Egyptian equivalents. Although to be fair apart from the regular missing paving stones the cycle paths weren’t that bad. They even had a little detour to a hotel reception at one point. And like any good cycle path, there has to be pedestrians walking along them looking at you blankly as you try to cycle past them. I don’t think I’ll ever understand the look of shock on people faces when they see a person on a push bike on a cycle path. Maybe I’ve been away from England for too long.

We visited ‘Soho Square’ which we were told is the ‘up and coming’ area. It was very nice. We found a restaurant that specialised in Indian, Egyptian, Thai and Chinese food. As much as I wanted a curry, I knew it wasn’t in my best interest so I opted for something I knew my stomach could contain. Chicken noodles, no spice, no chillies. It was good, in fact it may have been because I had been living of crackers and crisps but it may have been the nicest noodle dish I’d ever had.

We also found ‘The Queen Vic Pub’ It had the name from Eastenders but it didn’t have any likeness to it, not that I really care, I’ve never liked Eastenders is always doom and gloom. It was a nice place to sit at during the day. We came back later in the week and it was here I had chicken goujans, although I think that something was lost in translation as when my food arrived it was 2 huge breasts of chicken. Not one to complain (as they tasted good) I ate them down and tested how good my Egyptian pills had been working. They passed the test and I managed to feel normal all day after :-) Unfortunately the same can’t be said for my dad, who’ turn it was to make friends with the toilet bowl.

As the week drew to an end, and our health began to return to normal we realised how little time a week is when you factor in all the health complaints we had all had. On our last day we all got a transfer to the airport at the same time. I was flying to Cairo, my parents back to Manchester. We said our good buys as I went through security and I began to realise that I’m going away for a long time (if all things go well). It’s something that I don’t really allow myself to think about, because I know I can always come home if I want to. 

My Best Friend In Egypt

Cairo

18^th November

So I’ve had three nights in Cairo and I think I have gone against what one feels is expected of them in a city. I have relaxed and recharged my batteries. After my bout of stomach problems in Sharm el Sheikh I was grateful to feel like myself again and I decided this was the perfect time to recuperate. I arrived after my relatively short (not as short as Tel Aviv – Amman flight) flight in the late afternoon, early evening into Cairo to a nice taxi driver waiting to take me to my hostel. Within 5 minutes of being in the car I had learned a few words in Arabic (sorry they’ve all gone now) and my little tour of Cairo had begun, all to the back drop of sunset. Quite emotional really, or maybe that was because I’d just said goodbye to my parents in Sharm?

Baron Palace

Once at my hotel I was impressed by my room, I even had a balcony and best of all the wifi connection was strong. After a week without it I cannot believe how much of a slave I am to modern technology. At some point in time I may want to detox but that certainly isn’t going to happen any time soon.

I arranged for the next day to be taken on a tour of Giza the site of the pyramids I associate with Egypt and to Sakara. This was the site of the first Egyptian pyramid and it was designed as a step pyramid and not as a smooth front as the ones I think of when I think of pyramids. My guide Ahmed and my driver Ahmed took very good care of me and after the initial introductions we were heading through morning traffic toward Sakara. I was surprised how green Cairo is; I guess being so close to the river (biggest in the world) has its benefits.  Once in Sakara I was given a brief history of the place. The king of the third dynasty of Egypt had decided that he didn’t want is body to be left in a normal tomb which his previous kings had had. He wanted something that would provide safety for his possessions and so carry them forward with him into the afterlife. I’m presuming that you know that in Egyptian times it was common knowledge that you actually could and did take wealth with you when you died and so tombs which contained a person’s earthly treasures was the standard way to leave this mortal world. It also provided tomb raiders with a steady flow of income.

Foot step in the Sand

This new king didn’t want the same to happen to his wealth once he passed so he sought someone to design a tomb structure which would be secure enough to prevent tomb raiders from having their wicked way. The design was a pyramid 60 meters high which gained height with every step. 6 steps took the pyramid to its summit. Happy with the design the king decided he liked it and he’d have it, he changed a few things as you can do when you are buying of plan so to speak and the result was the step pyramid at Sakara with we see today. Due to thousands of year’s worth of decay the Egyptian government is spending money on restoration of this pyramid in the hopes it’ll last for a good few more years.

We had a quick visit to a pyres ‘museum’ which turned out to be more of a shop where they showed you how pyres paper was made and then you could buy some authentic government priced (but still up for negotiation) pictures hand painted on pyres paper. I must admit the process was quite ingenious and it is much stronger than the paper which my flight details are printed on to but having no home as such the idea of buying one was the furthest thing from my mind. However the shop worker didn’t seem to accept that I had no need for any pictures as he kept telling me how small they could make them or that they could ship it to my home address.  Eventually I found my guide and we left, I understand that this is how people make money, commissions and such, but just wish it wasn’t.

Next stop was Giza. The crowds were huge. If it hadn’t been for Ahmed going buying my entrance ticket then I wouldn’t have gone in the crowds were so bad. Once inside again Ahmed gave me a brief history of the different pyramids. About how each king/pharaoh had they designed for themselves for after they’d died. How the three grand pyramids in front of me actually belonged to father son and grandson and that the small pyramids around the basis of each pyramid each belonged to the wives of the pharaohs. He also explained that the biggest pyramid was the oldest and his son (I forget his name but I’m sure it was a girl’s name) wanted a pyramid to show his wealth and power but decided to have one slightly smaller than his father’s out of respect. The third and most distant pyramid in the picture is the smallest and belongs to the grandson pharaoh. Turns out by the time he came to die Egypt didn’t have as much money as it was (credit crunch seems to have happened before) and so an extravagant pyramid was out of the question, it is also said that he didn’t see himself as a god as his father and grandfather had done he just saw himself as a king and as such did not need such a large pyramid and he settled for a small one. Quite cute really. The Sphinx is also there as you can see, by the time he was explaining the history of the sphinx I was being irritated by kids selling postcards so I began to lose concentration on the story. All I can remember at this time is that it’s a mixture of a lion and the head of the owner of the middle pyramid. If you want to know more I’d recommend googling it, I’ve done it once or twice and it’s amazing what you can find there.

I don't like Crowds

No I dont want a Camel

Hard to Believe thats the best view. And it's from KFC

Obligatory Picture

That night I had a walk to the local KFC and had myself some fried chicken. It was nice and this along with a diet of antibiotic and codeine had prevented my stomach from repeating the illness I suffered in Sharm. I know Cairo has this image of being chaotic and disorganised, and it is, I felt much safer at night there than I do walking even around Manchester at night. I’m sure it was safe and I’m also sure I stuck out like a sore thumb, being blond and all, but I think this feeling of security was born from the fact that no one was trying to get me to buy anything from them. They were happy for me to just walk past; either that or they could tell I had no money.

On my third and final day in Cairo I met Mohammed, a friend I had found on couch surfing who had invited me for a coffee and a chat, and so we did. We went to a coffee shop which I would never have known about had it not been for him and we spoke about everything. Turns out he’s been out of work due to the global recession for 3 years and although he spoke many languages had never left Egypt, although he desperately wanted to do, and soon. Turns out we both love Whoopi Goldburg films and apparently Mr Been has an Egyptian following too. After eating at a place which wasn’t an American Franchise for the first time in 3 days I tried some authentic Egyptian cuisine, I was told what I had eaten in Sharm was Middle Eastern and not Egyptian. I tried some of his Egyptian pie, it was like a sandwich made with flour tortillas, it was good, think a bit of meet and mushrooms would have done it some good. But being cautious of my stomach I settled at only one piece and then continued to drink my coke and eat my burger.

The Nile not looking so Great

The evening came and I felt as though I was finally getting an idea of the way Cairo works. The next morning was my flight to Istanbul and so I did all I could do which was set my alarm, utilise free wifi and then went to sleep, ready for an early start and the reintroduction to wearing a coat again.