Every city has its Journalist hangout.  In Tirana it was Fideli’s, a strange cross in décor and ambiance between Beethoven’s opera and Fidel Castro.  There were few working landlines in Tirana at the time, and no mobile phones.  If I wanted to meet a journalist I always went to Fideli’s and usually would find him or her.  My office, effectively, was there.  That bar is long gone, cleaned up when Mayor Edi Rama reclaimed Tirana’s parks.  In Prishtina it was Tricky Dick’s, named after Holbrooke not Nixon, although there is a famous autographed picture of Dick Holbrooke being led into … Continue reading Frontline, Tbilisi

Working in Georgia is like being on a vacation; I stay in a luxury hotel, with a spa equipped with a pool, hot tub and sauna.  It has nice food and my room has a wonderful view over Freedom Square, up the hill to the Citadel and across to the Presidential Palace and Holy Trinity Cathedral.  St. George is constantly in the act of slaying a dragon on a pedestal just above eye level right outside my window. On weekends I get to go to see interesting places; walled cities, monasteries, mountain scenery; and on weekday evenings I walk through … Continue reading Tbilisi from my window and other views, Sept. 2013

On Sunday I took another road trip.  I was the passenger in a Japanese, steering wheel on the right, Mitsubishi 4X4.  So I was the one facing traffic.  The pass other vehicles the driver pulled out into the oncoming lane so he could see if there was any oncoming traffic, and if needed quickly duck back in to avoid the head on.  I, of course, being in the “driver’s seat” saw it all coming — head on.  On broad curves to the right the driver pulled to the right to look around the truck in front.  If he didn’t see … Continue reading Gombori Pass, Georgia.

I walked back to the hotel, down steep streets toward the glass domed presidential palace.  A lot of the streets on my map were closed for security so I followed several dead ends but got to where I wanted to be, the upper entrance to the Rike Park Theater and Exhibition Hall.  I have described this building as looking like two tubes, or perhaps jug mouths, pouring culture down into the river from just below the presidential palace.  There’s been enough progress on the building that I can tell that the main entry is at the bottom of the hill … Continue reading Rike Park Theater and Exhibition Hall, Tbilisi, Georgia.

The town closest to the Russian Border on the Georgian Military Road is Stephantsminda.  Most people still call it Kazbegi.  The town itself is not particularly pretty with rundown buildings, jumbles of electric wires and a jungle gym of above ground natural gas pipes typical of old Soviet towns. The natural setting makes up for the open infrastructure.  It sits at the foot of Mt. Kazbeg which rises to 16,512 feet.  However the town’s main attraction is not the mountain but the 14th century Gergetis Sameba (Gergeti Trinity) walled monastery that sits above the town and below the big mountain … Continue reading Stephantsminda (Kazbegi), Georgia

I rode up The Georgian Military Road 6 months ago in the March snows.  The Russians built it in 1799.  Watch towers on hills provide line of sight communication from the border to Tbilisi.   We drove across Jvari Pass, at 7815 ft.  A Soviet monument of mosaics highlights Russian and Georgian history, celebrating the military road that carried Russian troops to help protect the Georgian kingdom from Moslems, and then helped them impose Russian rule in 1801.  The road was crucial to the economic development of Georgia. The road in the pass is under reconstruction.   Many of the tunnels, lined with … Continue reading Jvari Pass, Georgian Military Road

tThe Georgian Military Road connects Tbilisi with the Russian Border.  It was started in 1799.  In 1801 Russia annexed the Kingdom of Georgia.  I rode up the Georgian Military Road last March and took pictures of some of the same watchtowers, churches and mountainsides in the snow.  Now you can see them in the summer.  These pictures are taken south of Gudauri, which is the ski area where I traveled last March.  I did not get north of the ski area.  I missed a lot.  The next post has pictures from North of Gudauri Continue reading Georgian Military Road in the Summer

The key to overcoming jet lag is to keep pushing.  I arrived in Tbilisi at 3 AM Saturday morning and was in bed by 4:30.  I forced myself to get up at 11:30 AM even though it was bedtime in Sitka, (12 hour difference) and tried to figure out something that would keep me interested and awake until bedtime in Tbilisi, which is just when I would be getting my second wind because it’s time to get up in Sitka. I hopped on a marshruka (mini-bus) at Freedom Square and headed up to the lower terminus of Tbilisi’s funicular railway.  … Continue reading Tbilisi Funicular Railway

Georgia has beautiful countryside.  In spring rolling green fields lead to the still snowcapped Caucasian Mountains.  Flowers and flowering trees are in bloom.  Between towns there are citadels and castles in varying degrees of decay and on hilltops monasteries and churches.  In contract to the countryside Georgian towns can be less than picturesque, with abandoned Soviet factories, an industrial wasteland, on town outskirts oddly punctuated with massive works of Socialist Realism art, including a huge mural of Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.  Georgian towns, like many former Soviet towns, have utilities above ground, including the pipes … Continue reading Georgian Road Trip, May, 2013