Day 173b: İstanbul - Tbilisi (თბილისი)

Sept 23 - Not much to see over Anatolia and the Black Sea coast due to cloud cover.

And I must first apologize for my regional grouping. Georgia is not technically part of the Middle East, or North Africa, but rather the Caucasus Region. As far as the trip is concerned, it is a bit of an outlier.

The terminal feels like a little shack after trooping through IST. Get the bags and change $50. It is about 2.8 Georgian lari to the US$. Also get two bus cards, which cost 2 lari each, and charge them for 24 hour use (3 lari). This takes some time, as it isn’t clear where to go or how to run the card charging machine. I was getting used to being able to at least read the letters on everything (Latin or Cyrillic), and now the script is completely unintelligible.

Important to note that the name ‘Georgia’ was a name given to this region by foreigners, in this case, probably Persians. The correct name as stated by the inhabitants is Sakartvelo (საქართველო), meaning "land of Kartvelians”. And in case you were wondering, Georgia the US state is named after King George II of England.

The Georgian alphabet is unique, and originally had 38 letters (now only 33 are used). There is no definitive history of how it developed, though the sound order is similar to Greek. I show examples of it in the names of places we go, as to give a feel for what it looks like.

On the long bus ride to town. I am immediately struck by the stark countryside. The grasses are all dried out in the fields and some of the trees are changing to fall colors. There is a strong wind, blowing dry and harsh across the plains.

We disembark near Europe Square and Google map our way out to our place. It is tucked in an alley behind a lively street of restaurants, currency exchange booths, and wine vendors.

There is a gritty, old vibe to the streets, and a sort of relaxed attitude. I immediately feel drawn to it. Watch a police car pull up and flash his lights at an illegally-parked car. An orthodox priest runs out of a nearby store, bread in hand, waving his hands in apology. After checking in our tiny hotel I walk the night streets for a bit.