Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaijan

[Fifa]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

Fantastic TR!
It's very enjoyable to read and I love the way you have displayed the photos.

 

[Major]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

Haven't seen any rocks yet

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

Haven't seen any rocks yet

There was a decent sized 'rock' on the décolletage of a lady in the F cabin, but I didn't think it was good manners to photograph it .

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

A day in Dubai; with apologies to those who would love to have it and explore, its hot, humid and I'm a bit stuffed after the flight.

After freshening up, I jump on the metro and head for Dubai Mall near the Burj Khalifa for lunch and an avocado smoothie. If you've never had one, go to the juice bar next to the entrance for the Burj 'At the Top' on the lower ground level and ask for one, even if its not on the list. Avocado, milk, honey and a bit of cinnamon whipped into a smoothie. Bliss!!

I was hoping the fountains outside would be performing, but I was 40 minutes out. But I did find a mate of juddles' and JohnM's





Inside the mall (cool!), purple dinosaurs and divers in the Aquarium tank.




The burgeoning Dubai skyline from the World Trade Centre, next to the Novotel.




And when I got back to my room, some additional Accor Gold perks (in addition to free wi-fi, a welcome drink and the odd upgrade):

 

[Dudditz]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

Great start RooFlyer - look forward to hearing your insights about Georgia in preparation for my visit next month!

 

[Flying Fox]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

Great report.

Can I ask about the bed? Since aircraft fly with approx 5 degrees of nose up attitude (IIRC), sleeping in an East/West configuration across the A380, did you feel any slope whilst in bed?

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

No; never even crossed my mind. We had an incredibly smooth flight, too.

 

[boomy]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

Wow what an experience! How would you ever appreciate another F product after that

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

Wow what an experience! How would you ever appreciate another F product after that

Never mind another F experience, the whole long haul J think is looking a bit tawdry !

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

I wake to a pea souper fog, but flights at DXB seem to be operating on time.

Check-out and I'm told I can get a ride to the airport at no charge . Apparently I was upgraded when I checked in ( they didn't say so at the time!) and hence the free ride.

Abt 25 mins to Terminal 2 in light traffic. T2 appears to be given over to flydubai. Lots of check-ins:



15 mins through checkin, passport check, security ( all pretty fast) and immigration ( slow). And now, just wait.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

flydubai is a LCC and I was a bit apprehensive about doing it for the 3 hour journey Dubai-Tbilisi. I needn't have been.

We boarded onto buses which amazingly were only filled to the seating capacity each :shock: . On board I was in row 6, the first row of economy and I had paid 100Dh (A$38) for this 'extra legroom' row. I'm glad I did - the extra room was good, and I was up-front for the walk to immigration.




There is a neat IFE driven system for ordering paid viewing services (you could see what films and TV were offered before you paid - I didn't - and also order drinks and snacks (although they did the usual cart-walk by).




These are the characters in their safety demo .... and one of the drink purchase options was a bit predictable ...




One everyone was seated and the doors had closed, I observed a feature which you see occasionally, but for me never so boldly done. Its called 'self upgrade'. You and your mate walk up from row way-down-the-back and settle into 2 business class seats. Very nice, thank you. FAs observed this with some amazement, then one entered into polite negotiation to reverse the transaction. I couldn't understand what was being said, but it sounded along the lines of:

"Why can't we site here - its crowded down the back and these seats are empty...."
"Sorry sir, these seats are for business class only"
"But if we sit in them, then we are business class ..."



It took a few minutes for the boys to get the message, but all done in normal talking tones.

Landed at TBS on time, to an air bridge and a new terminal building.

I was one of the first at immigration and was processed by a very good looking young lady (am I still allowed to say that sort of thing?), long blonde hair and lots of gold braid. Murphy's Law prevailed and I was through in about 30 seconds (Aussies don't need a visa), then it was walk through customs (I'm HLO this trip) and out to land-side, in about 5 minutes from walking off the plane.

And there is my guide for the week, Nato, a young lady who explains that 'Nato' is short for Natalie and she has no connections with the military. I'm liking Georgia already.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

Quick quiz.

Can you name the functions of the following Tbilisi structures:

 

[defurax]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

Trying to compete with Brasilia for architecture! Google tells me the first picture is a new theatre...

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

I've been in Tbilisi for 1.5 days now and I'm gradually getting my head around it. First impressions:

* Its probably the cleanest city I've ever been in - as in b-all litter. The number of discarded plastic/take-away items, or wrappers or the like I've seen must be less than ten and that's counting going up many back streets, outside KFC etc. Even cigarette butts - and they smoke a LOT here - are few and far between.

* The city is busy and few people you'd call 'just hanging around'; lots of street vendors but they (mostly) aren't selling cheap cough;

* Lots of tourists - mainly Israelis and Russians;

* Traffic is busy, but not choking; drivers are manic (especially swarthy men in BMWs) but do stop when you walk out on a crossing;

* Great pride in the people and sense of being 'Georgian';

* Plenty of English signs, especially pointing directions to churches, parks and other attractions; also in the metro. Your average lady-behind-the-counter won't speak English, but understands enough to complete a transaction.


A few intro pics:

Panorama from the originally 4th Century Nariqala Fortress that dominates the Old Town:



Left: The Presidential Palace built by the last President Mikheil Saakashvili as a residence. A quite outrageous building; its now empty pending a useful purpose. The 2 leggy-things (quiz question above) was supposed to be an amphitheatre; again, not fit-for-purpose and also closed, pending something creative. RH pic: The Holy trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, completed in 2004 (!) and the third highest Eastern orthodox church and one of the largest in the Caucuses.




LH pic: Metekhi Church, originally built in the 13th century and reconstructed many times since. Before that, it was the site of the original palace at Tbilisi, built after the town's founding in the 5th century. RH pic; a relatively modern statue of the founding King Vakhtang Gorgasali.





LH pic: This statue (quiz question above) called Kartvlis Deda erected 1958 in celebration of the city's 1,500 anniversary. Said to symbolise the Georgian national character: in her left hand she holds a bowl of wine to greet those who come as friends, and in her right hand is a sword for those who come as enemies - in short: come as friends and we'll have a party; come as enemy and I'll cut 'em off.

RH pic (quiz question above) Bidzina Ivanishvili is a Georgian made-good story; poor Georgian boy, got a slice of the Russian oil privatisation action and now worth billions. Did a heap of good back in the home country, but then entered politics and stuffed it up. Decided to build a little house overlooking the old town. So, this is the house!




Lastly, wine is Georgia and Georgia is wine. Wine shops and tasting rooms are everywhere. And they pour a LARGE glass!! I haven't gotten my head around Georgian wine yet - the grape varieties; the districts and especially how the same grape can produce vastly different wines. More research needed .

 

[cgichard]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

I was through in about 30 seconds (Aussies don't need a visa)

In June this year I took slightly longer than that, not realizing that the small bottle of red wine offered to me (a lowly Y) at the immigration desk was a free gift. Were you not given one too? Or maybe it's only handed out to everyone in peak tourist season.
Lovely country: will be following your travels with interest.

 

[Buzzard]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

A very enjoyable read during my lunch break.
Nice photos and no big words

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

In June this year I took slightly longer than that, not realizing that the small bottle of red wine offered to me (a lowly Y) at the immigration desk was a free gift. Were you not given one too? Or maybe it's only handed out to everyone in peak tourist season.
Lovely country: will be following your travels with interest.

Whaaaaaat? No, no red on offer for me. I'll have to go out and come back in .

 

[cgichard]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

I can't report on its quality as I prefer white to red. But as I had no small notes to hand, I gave it as a tip to the taxi driver and he seemed very pleased with it. Others in my group who came on different later flights were also given one and reported that it was good; it had an attractive "Welcome to Georgia" label tied to its neck.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

Continuing walking about Tbilisi.

The first pics follow on from the last above - I plunged into the first wine shop/cellar I passed and was welcomed not only by a gorgeous cellar crammed with wine, but an affable host who proceeded to take me through about 8 wines. I realised then that I had my work cut out. The 'whites' included 'amber wines' and the reds included the staple saperavari but it came in a wide range of styles and tastes.




Right next to my Hotel - the Tifilis Palace (Tifilis is the Russianised form of Tbilisi ... I guess they are chasing the Russian tourist market!!) is the complex of baths and spas which were integral in the foundation of Tbilisi. Legend has it that King Vakhtang Gorgasali was hunting in the area in the 5th Century. His falcon caught a pheasant and they plunged into a small river, and died in the sulphurous hot waters (Tbili means 'warm' in Georgian). What actually happened is that the king drove out the occupying Persians and moved his capital here at that time. More about the history of Georgia in general, later.

LH pic is the small river by which the sulphurous hot waters spring forth, now covered by the Abanotubani bath complex. The domes are each a bath house - this is the view from the hotel. The Russian writer Pushkin bathed here and declared it was the best bath he ever had!!




LH is the falcon and its pheasant victim. RH is in a park next to the baths. Statue of Heydar Aliyev the immediate past president of Azerbaijan, erected by the Georgians as a symbol of the friendship between the 2 countries. Georgia 'gets on' with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, but the latter 2 very much don't, due to the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.




One thing that totally surprised me about Tbilisi is the architectural style of many or the old town buildings - the verandas I'm told started to be added in the 1940s and many buildings now sport them.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij

Tbilisi Old town is full of churches - mainly of the Georgian Orthodox Church, but also the Armenian orthodox church, a mosque and a synagogue, all within a short walk of each other.


Here's Metekhi Church again, originally built in the 13th century and a 1960s statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali, of the 5th Century. he was a big man and his sword is reputed to have weighted over 35kg.



Here is the Anchiskhati basilica, Tbilisi's oldest surviving church, originally constructed in the 6th century. Parts have been re-built but most of the church is original.




Doors on the church. On the left, the 'Grapevine cross' or 'cross of St Nino'. St Nino is credited with bringing Christianity to Georgia in the 4th Century. She converted the pagan King Mirian III (although female, she was referred to as King). Georgia was the second country to become Christian, after Armenia. Nino made a cross of vine branches, secured with her own hair.




The Sioni Cathedral, originally built in the 6th or 7th centuries, has been destroyed and re-built many times, and its history is a testament for Georgia and Tbilisi, somewhat like Poland, as being on the path of every invader going, in the area. there have been the Persians, the Arabs (each several times), the Mongols etc.





Its the seat of the Georgian orthodox church and the throne of the Patriarch of the church is prominent inside; nice frescoes decorate the walls.

The RH pic is a clock tower, seeming about to topple sideways through age (with a dramatic steel girder for support), but it was built that way only 5 or so years ago.