The Shifting Sands

Big smiles a result of free wine from the Georgian Immigration Department. Better than a body cavity search from TSA! I had the good fortune of a ski trip to Georgia last year with my nephew Tom and Kate and Ada were both jealous that they were not able to join us. This year the girls were not going to miss out so a week after returning from Sri Lanka we packed our ski gear for Georgia. A couple of local up from Tbilis complete with homemade Cognac in the coke bottle! I am no Cognac drinker but it tasted ok to me Given I had been there a few times before most things went relatively smoothly.  One surprise on arrival was that the immigration officer at the border gave two bottles of complementary red wine! You know a country is civilised when Government official hands out good (yes it was) red wine! On our last visit we stayed exclusively at Rooms Kazbegi, which was great but we were caught in the town when t...

Intricate brick work in Narikala Fort which over looks the city After our helicopter flight out of Stepantsminda, we travelled by car back to Tbilisi to the sister hotel of Rooms Kazbegi, Rooms Tbilisi. It was a wonderful design hotel with a great restaurant and a bar that seems to be frequented by Tbilisi's beautiful people.  At one point I noted that there were four ladies for every man in the bar, a fact I stored away for my nephews! The hotel was a 15 minute walk fro the main town square and the edge of the old town; alternately, it was one metro stop.  The Metro was old but functional with very deep stations and large and elaborately decorated underground halls which were common for Soviet era metro design. A mixture of old and new in the Georgian Capital, the silver funnel style structures are yet to be fully completed and have not found a purpose! The old town below the Fort Although Georgia is part of Asia, Tbilisi ...