Our first day in Georgia was marked by daring exploration. We walked around the old city, trotted into alleyways (most of them lit!) and went in every breathtaking church we saw along the way. We explored every nook and cranny of the best streets of the Old City, taking in the sights and sounds we encountered along the way; from the old Soviet architecture to the new bustling art galleries to the vendors selling fresh baked pastries.
We left our hostel, Star Hostel (recommended, but very small.) around noon on Friday after needing some serious sleep. As we put on about thirty layers, prepping for the chill of a post-Soviet winter, we left, led by hunger. Following our stomachs and our eyes as well, we stumbled upon a wine tasting bar and restaurant and decided we could venture no further without energy. We tried all the typical Georgian foods- roasted eggplant with walnut paste and a spicy sauce, bacon potato and cheese roasts, a variety of different salads, coffee and wine. We stuffed ourselves silly and then began our walking tour of the city. We ventured into the old churches and were lucky enough to walk into several services and witness the vastly different religious rituals. We meandered in and out of different art and tourist-selling-kind-of-shops, amazed by the sheer amount of religious souvenirs available. Stores a plenty lined the cobbled streets of Tblisi, offering every golden plated picture of the Christ child or Mother Mary you could ever want. Rosaries and crosses galore! It was interesting to note the rather large differences in the expressions of faith. The Georgian Orthodox Church wasn't quite as ornately decorated as the other orthodox churches I've seen, but it still held its own in terms of gold shiny things. There were decorated frescoes and incense swinging back and forth from the hands of the priests. After we saw a good bit of the Old City, we decided to walk across the bridge extending over the calm, winding river, to the new city, and visit a beautiful church hanging over the side of the cliff overlooking the river that separates the city of Tblisi in two. As we were crossing the bridge, we saw the cutest couple snogging on the cliff of the church. And when I saw snogging, I mean snogging- arms wrapped around each other and all. It was lots of love. We smiled at them and blew them kisses after they noticed us shamelessly staring.
We left our hostel, Star Hostel (recommended, but very small.) around noon on Friday after needing some serious sleep. As we put on about thirty layers, prepping for the chill of a post-Soviet winter, we left, led by hunger. Following our stomachs and our eyes as well, we stumbled upon a wine tasting bar and restaurant and decided we could venture no further without energy. We tried all the typical Georgian foods- roasted eggplant with walnut paste and a spicy sauce, bacon potato and cheese roasts, a variety of different salads, coffee and wine. We stuffed ourselves silly and then began our walking tour of the city. We ventured into the old churches and were lucky enough to walk into several services and witness the vastly different religious rituals. We meandered in and out of different art and tourist-selling-kind-of-shops, amazed by the sheer amount of religious souvenirs available. Stores a plenty lined the cobbled streets of Tblisi, offering every golden plated picture of the Christ child or Mother Mary you could ever want. Rosaries and crosses galore! It was interesting to note the rather large differences in the expressions of faith. The Georgian Orthodox Church wasn't quite as ornately decorated as the other orthodox churches I've seen, but it still held its own in terms of gold shiny things. There were decorated frescoes and incense swinging back and forth from the hands of the priests. After we saw a good bit of the Old City, we decided to walk across the bridge extending over the calm, winding river, to the new city, and visit a beautiful church hanging over the side of the cliff overlooking the river that separates the city of Tblisi in two. As we were crossing the bridge, we saw the cutest couple snogging on the cliff of the church. And when I saw snogging, I mean snogging- arms wrapped around each other and all. It was lots of love. We smiled at them and blew them kisses after they noticed us shamelessly staring.
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