Day 89 Monday

Well, the day has finally arrived, and we are up early again. Beloved and I spent most of Sunday afternoon packing--right up until we were invaded by Indy, Berry and Berry’s two brothers. Then Manchester dropped by, and later that evening two others stopped by to wish us well and send us off. We love you all and you will forever be in our hearts.


Finish packing and Yaver arrives about 8:45. I leave the house at 8:50 to walk down to the bank, arrangements have been made for one of the bank employees to drive us to the border, then we will walk through the station and get a taxi  the rest of the way to Tbilisi.

The ride out was uneventful enough, and about two and half hours later we were pulling up to the border control. We had not been stopped twenty seconds when four or five guys approached the truck--”Are you going to Tbilisi?” All speaking in Azeri, all wanting to take us in their taxi. I upset Beloved a little bit by making an agreement on this side of the border even though our friend had told us to acquire the taxi on the Georgian side. Nevertheless, after some bargaining, we agreed on a price and set off for the passport control. They x-ray’d our luggage and stamped the passport and that was it. exit on the other side and our taxi driver was waiting on us.


We drive about a hundred yards and stop to show our passports again, we get a Republic of Georgia stamp. That’s new!


The taxi driver knows where Tbilisi is and makes good time, however, has no clue where the hotel is and is very grumpy. I showed him the address when we were negotiating the cost, and of course his answer was “yes yes, no problem,” but we stop three times to ask directions and he paid another taxi driver to lead him. He stopped to ask for directions too. I have nothing to do but be patient and check out this ancient city. 

Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia, 1.48 million inhabitants. We are in the older section of town and there is still evidence of a 6.5 magnitude earthquake in 2002 that was centered right below us. There are shattered houses and apartments all around, with people still living in some portions. There is a lot of new construction too, and our small hotel is one of them.


Only 11 rooms it has four floors. It is a little over-priced for what we are getting, $65.00 per night, but the staff is friendly and it has a little bit of a view.

We go for a walk in the afternoon and find a place to eat. We have been recommended some of the local cuisine, so we let our waitress read what our hotel receptionist has written down for us. The waitress asks, “How many?” Beloved and I exchange looks, shrug our shoulders and reply, “Bring whatever is normal.” Shortly the first part arrives, meat and mushrooms wrapped in a small dumpling-type package. It is okay, not what I would eat on a regular basis, but filling. About the time we are finishing up with these the second part arrives, it is like pizza, but the dough is sweet and there is no sauce. The cheese is thick and hot, and it is pretty good but also pretty rich. We don’t finish this nor do we decide to bring it along, so we pay the bill and depart.

It is a beautiful day, sunny and warm, and we walk very leisurely back to the hotel. We are tourists today, and we stop to buy a carmel latte that is pretty good--our first non-instant coffee in over three months! We walk through the old city and take photos. One building stands out in particular, an old church that split down the middle by an earthquake. Here is a great photographic metaphor of a church split--HA!

Other things catch our eye and our camera, castles and statues and modern architecture all mixed together.


We get back to the hotel and call it a night after a long day.

One more thing about our departure from Azerbaijan. Georgia is a Christian nation--Azerbaijan is Islamic/Atheist. Many people talk about the “feeling” of a place and I usually try to down-play it as much as possible. However, not even ten miles from the border it was abundantly obvious that this was a different place. There are trees all over. The air is cleaner and I’ve only seen two Ladas--a sign of prosperity. There can be no denying that a nation that recognizes God and His provision enjoys a level of blessing that other areas do not. It is not just the American sentimentality of seeing a church on every other corner that makes us feel safe and blessed, in this case it seems to be the truth.