This is Day 5 of a rather fascinating week in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. I am here principally for business, although sneaking in a few minutes of dinner and a child’s portion of the remarkably good Georgian wine has been quite possible. It is, of course, quite different from the summer both climatically and in the sense of the city. Cities live and breathe, have seasons and moods just as their individual inhabitants. They have characters and idiosyncrasies and change with the relentless passage of the year. Late autumn in Tbilisi is very pleasant. The weather has been good, the […]

Now even I would be the first to admit a certain lack of impartiality. Riding, as I am, well restored by a couple of beakers of the concentrated soul of the Italian sun, in the business class cabin of a bmi plane heading back to Tbilisi, I am extremely comfortable, and prone to offering compliments. However, bmi, now a part of the Lufthansa Group following the remarkable fiscal foresight of its founder, Sir Maurice Bishop, is a wonderful airline. I have been flying long enough to remember the days when aviation was not only fun, but glamorous. One dressed up […]

Mundane, daily chores are actually quite fun to do when one is not at home, but simply playing house. We have rented a small house in Tbilisi for five nights, partly for the space, and partly to be able to get under the skin of the city, at least a very little bit. Our little grocery store is a case in point; having been in now for three days in a row, this morning when I went to buy some eggs and bread I was pondering the selection in the cooler to see if there was something that resembled butter, […]

Every time I finish an overland journey, I decide that it was the last one that I would make. It comes as a complete surprise every so often to realise that I am neither getting younger, nor is my age staying still. Not, I have to emphasise that I am ancient, but simply that the virtues of Marriott Hotels and airlines are more pronounced than they used to be. But then I look at an atlas, spot a curious journey and start thinking about it. I have two or three on the go at the moment actually, fomenting in my […]

I have an explanation to offer. I like travelling overland for a variety of reasons. I can see people; I can actually feel the earth beneath me and know that we are all connected; I can meet people, and perhaps the most important point of all is that it is the only way I have of cocking a snoot at the ghastly intrusions of airport security. Of course, these intrusions are new, and I have been wandering around for decades, but they area current bête-noire of mine, and the very thought of the scowling and shrill battalions of “security officers” […]

I love Georgia, and was pleased to get off the train and speed toward Tbilisi, its fascinating capital. We were only stopping there for an hour to meet friends, pick up their daughter and three of her friends and head off to Svaneti, a distant and remote part of the country that we were looking forward to exploring. So after a reviving cappuccino in the city we headed west first to Gori, some 65kms from the city. Stalin might not be everyone’s choice for the focus of a museum, but Gori, in central Georgia, was his home. When the young […]

It is now late on Saturday evening, August 28th, and we have just returned after spending three days in Svaneti, a remote and rather interesting region of Georgia. Needless to say, I had no access to an internet connection, and will get to posting the stories of the journey, and our time in Mestia and Ushguli soon. Today marked our 34th wedding anniversary, and I am sure it is testament to Andrea’s patience with me that it was spent on an eleven-hour drive, including four hours to cover 130 kms of various sized boulders. More soon when I have slept!