James Duncan

So I've arrived in Tbilisi, and I'm tooling around with Nati in oddly old architecture. It took a while until I realised that it's like Edinburgh in that it looks historically preserved because the RAF and Luftfaffe never came through. It's impressive, and the old architecture means that it doesn't have that horrific 70s concrete look of lots of ex-Soviet cities. We went and saw the hill fort and church at Narikala (although Nati was kicked out for wearing trousers), climbed the fort up a horrifically dangerous path of death, then went down to Tbilisi old town through a very poor street. I saw the the old Turkish baths and got nice shots of one. The baths are actually heated by natural hot springs, and smell slightly of sulphur over the vents. I also notice that Georgia has no geothermal energy, which is slightly surprising given that their main geopolitical power tends to apply pressure through prices of energy supplies. After that we went along to Sioni church for more frescoes and past the cool bar street at Shardeni to Antchiskhati church where Nati's sister got married. Another marriage was happening; beautiful chanting really filled the small church and I got to see the always touching couple in love. I then commited somewhat of a faux pas; I washed my hands at a tap then realised it was holy water. Ah well, at least I'm holier now. Tbilisi is nice.