We have complete the Silk Road tour (aka “-Stan countries”), and have now entered Georgia with Mehmet Özbalci. One of our stops on this first day was at the Metekhi Georgian Orthodox church. A wedding was being photographed while we were there, and the groom’s men were willing to pose for us in front of the church (center image).

We got up around 4 AM, well before dawn the second day, to photograph the Freedom Bridge (center plus upper-left) before the sun rose, and before the bridge became crowded with people.  We also wandered around town and caught some other random images, including the aerial view from the castle. The Mercure Hotel is our absolute favorite to date, with views of the castle and high speed internet – it was the lap of luxury, and we were tempted to just stay there and have Mehmet pick us up on the way out!

On a day when the two of us were alone, we wandered down the street near the hotel, and were introduced to a wine tasting store (by Karin) advertising free visits to a 17th century wine cellar (middle).  The owner pointed out a tiny tunnel where Stalin used to hide when he was being hunted by the military, before his rise to power.  One can only wonder how history might have changed if the military had found him…

Tbilisi is a colorful town, full of rundown apartments, but also with both reconstruction and new construction.  There is a type of string candy sold in numerous shops (center bottom) that consists of various nuts or fruits on a string, then dipped into boiling honey & starch.

We walked into several Georgian Orthodox churches.  Some were not much more than simple dark caves, while others were elaborate cathedrals, like the one shown above.

We also visited Dezerter Bazaar, another market in town, so we will end Tbilisi with another block of the faces of the people that welcomed us to their city.