I gotta tell you that we so much enjoyed visiting your country!
Rusi, my dear Rusi,
I cannot relate all to you that we accomplished in 7 days with the aide and assistance of a GREAT guide who is now a friend and who was recommended to us by an El Al pilot, patient of ours, and his bro-in-law who were there about 8 months ago with her, and the tips you gave me, and we melted all of it into her planned itinerary that was developed with my dear friend and brother Stuart the Yorkshire man, as well as my specific agenda, IT WAS GREAT. If it had not been for the unbelievable, accurate, and careful driving of my son Guy, the trip we mapped out would have taken 6 more days that we did not have. HIS DRIVING WAS EXEMPLARY, but a couple of times he sweated too.
We, actually HE, did 2040 KM, covered the roads from Tbilisi and back to Tbilisi, some of which looked like the surface of the moon (but my kid wanted a jeep trip, so he got one), we toured all around the town, the Great Cathedral, the palace, all the important areas, the new park on the mountain near the high radio tower and (my personal favorite statue) the silver LADY statue of the Mother of Georgia, on the mountainside, and ate at a great restaurant Maidan (where I very nicely pushed my BRAND new digital camera on the floor (whilst trying to save a plastic bottle from hitting the floor) and broke it (the camera, that is) after taking 27 photos and then went to Yom Kippur services at the synagogue Met an American AF Lt Col from Atlanta that I know his parents !; In the morning we set off for Mtskheta,the cathedral , Jvari church on the hill overlooking the city, Ananuri ,the beautiful church , rafting on the river at Pasanauri, (where the water was a little low, but it was great fun anyway) Uplishtikhe, with a wonderful local guide and gentleman , Gori, saw the synagogue and the Stalin museum, and overnight at a hotel that was next to an apple processing plant that had 4 trillion apples laying around. Kutaisi, the Bagrati Cathedral, Gelati Academy, the synagogue, saw from afar and in the twilight the Nikortsminda church and onward to the village of Oni (a special place in a beautiful area with an incredible synagogue which will soon disappear.) 50 years ago there were 24,000 Jews there, now 8 families. The brakes on the jeep were beginning to sing, but we pushed on. We then backtracked to Kutaisi because the roads were not recommended to go direct and we went through Abasha, Senaki (synagogue), Zugdidi, the Dadiani’s Palace there, and on to the beautiful lake and the power plant and dam, and on to Mestia, Ushguli, Mezari. WHAT CAN BE SAID? ? ? BEAUTIFUL DOES NOT SAY ENOUGH. We stayed in a guest house two nights with three lovely people who could not do enough for us. After the visit to the museum in the mountain area, walking through the village of Ushguli and climbing towers to take photos, we had to leave this surreal area of our planet. Back to Zugdidi and a visit to a large government dental clinic, Poti (couldn't get to the synagogue because of time but there is one there) and on to Batumi and a look at the Turkish border. Ate a snack at a coffee house on the beach and had the local dumplings. We went to the synagogue there too.
During all this time we had two flat tires and lost all the brakes on the Mitsubishi but had to keep on driving. The 4 X 4 drive NEVER worked and the guy who rented our guide the jeep, knew that all the tools needed to change a tire were not there, but didn't say anything, so on a mountain road halfway between the Enguri Dam reservoir and Mestia we had a flat tire and by the time it was fixed we had stopped three trucks, a private car with three great kids who tried to help us, and a police car, and finally got it changed. We got the brakes fixed luckily in Batumi at a fix-it place that does Mercedes, Ford, BMW and VW but had a pair of brakes for our jeep; lucky us. Saw the synagogue there too, but couldn’t get in the beautiful white building although Manana tried calling all the numbers she had. SHE WAS GREAT. SHE HAS guided groups of Israelis before, even groups that really were so observant enough that they had to eat only Glad Kosher food. That gotta be a real horror show, at best, and as an extra added attraction, they are Jewish too ! ! ! (I say this, as I have had experience of bringing American Jews to Israel on intensive study trips of 7 to 14 days in length over a period of 7 years before moving to Israel. A crowd of those people on a bus, can be a royal pain in the butt) THIS LADY HAS TO BE MADE THE CHIEF GUIDE OF GEORGIA She knows everyone and everything, even to buying local candy made of nuts strung on a string and covered with congealed plum jelly. She taught us the hard boiled egg ceremony, the coin throwing in the river ceremony, and that there are so many different dialects and customs that differ from area to area, that we must come back to learn it all.
We saw the Queen Tamara and Dandalo bridges, went over the pass [not without incident, as a truck had fu screwed up the road {dirt} and got stuck and, again, lucky us, it got removed in only minutes after we arrived on the scene, and they did not even ask us for advice on how to get it out, anyway, we had previously almost got lost on the mountain because of no signs of direction and ( lucky for us an oncoming car told us where to go or we might still be on that mountain) and then on to Akhaltsikhe to see yet another Synagogue ( actually two, but the second one now has a boxing ring and body punching bags in it as it is a gym for training fighters. The cemetery on the hill, behind the synagogue, dates from before 3 to 7 hundred years (depending on who you speak to) but is immense, occupying an enormous area of land and served a community of 40,000 in years past. Today, 3 families remain, and it won’t be long before they will probably have two gymnasiums in the old town.
Onward to Borjomi, saw the water factory and spent the night in a great little hotel in the ski village of Bakuriani. In the wee house of zero - dark- thirty, we arose, and drove quickly back to Tbilisi, but not before visiting Svetitskhoveli magnificent Cathedral to see the tombs of the three kings and then entering back to the city past the statue of King David the Builder and the goofy looking transportation ministry building that David probably did not build. We returned a rather dirty jeep to the car wash, got picked up by Manana's driver and van, found an English bookstore Prospero’s and coffee house in town, with great coffee bye the way, (across the street from the Art Institute), and then went to the airport for a tearful farewell and promises to send discs, photos, and tapes, and then to see each other again in Israel when Manana comes for a travel fair in February.
This blow-by-blow description may not be totally accurate in succession and time, and obviously not complete in terms of all the happenings; like, for instance, mention of the pig holding it's breath competition at the river we were rafting, or the constipation caused by the pears eaten off the tree that were picked while riding on horseback in the magnificent mountains over Khulo, but we will expand later.
All I can tell you, lady, is that your country is MAGNIFICENT, the people are WONDERFUL, the progress being made is DESERVED, and I wish them a peaceful tenure in which to continue their drive for excellence. Thanks for giving me those two little booklets that spirited my mind to go there to visit, and take my family with me.
With much thanks, Steve, Stuart, and Guy
