Tblisi with the tour group

Today is a city tour of Tbilisi with my group. Fortunately most of the stops today are places I never visited previously.

Day starts with an iced latte which I haven’t had much of lately.

We meet our local tour guide Tamara who will be showing us parts of Georgia. We board a tour bus that stops at the church on the hill in the city. Metekhi Church is very crowded inside because there is a service today. I don’t spend too much time indoors but the hill does offer great views of the city.

We walk down the hill and past a piece of the Berlin Wall that has been gifted to the city due to the Georgia’s role at the end of the Cold War.

We wait in a long line for the cable car to take us up the hill to see the Mother of Georgia up close. My friend and I attempted to do this previously but ended up the wrong cable car. I am glad I finally get to make the trip.

We arrive on top and have great views of the city. An accordion player finds out many of us are from the USA and plays an american song for us. After viewing the very large Mother of Georgia we use the path to the stairs down into the old town. The path eventually leads us down to the waterfall in the middle of the city, something I also missed while sightseeing the other day.

We view a waterfall, sulphur baths and then take a break for lunch. We unfortunately pick a tourist trap spot that has a hard time dealing with a larger group. While the food that does arrive is good, some end up leaving hungry because many of our food items are never delivered. We watch large parties arriving after us get plates and plates of food delivered but not us.

We are also introduced to the toastmaster (Tamada). The toastmaster is a statue with a drinking horn that is a reproduction of famous Georgian colchi relic found. In Georgian culture the toastmaster leads a feast and makes toasts for the meal. It sounds like the toastmaster also gets pretty toasted.

We continue our tour to old town and the nearby Sioni cathedral which has a relic of the famous St Nino’s cross that I kept hearing about and also it holds the burial site of the high respected but recently deceased patriarch. The patriarch is of the highest regard in the Orthodox Church, like their version of the Roman Catholic pope.

After our tour ends the bus takes us back to the hotel but we all decide to branch out in smaller groups for other adventures for the day. Not ready to eat I go with a group to do a private wine tasting across town. It takes us longer than normal to get there by the Bolt car service because many streets are closed due to the upcoming independence day festivities. The driver takes us as close as we can; we walk the rest of the way.

The gentlemen giving us the wine tasting is from USA and now lives in Georgia. We, a mix of Americans and Canadians, entertain him with our silliness. He gives a dinner recommendation nearby.

We enjoy the streets empty of cars. Dinner is in a charming underground homestyle restaurant where bills are tallied with an abacus. I wish I had photos of this because it is rare seeing anyone using an abacus these days.

Next stop is at a speakeasy with no menu. At this bar the bartender makes the drinks for you off vibes. You mention flavors and liquors you like and the bartender makes something perfect for you. Even the skeptical are happy with what is made for them.

We make one last stop on the way back to the hotel at the wine window. Only one glass of wine before we notice drips of rain. We make it back to the hotel just before the sky erupts again. We were lucky today with the lack of rain after I’ve had so many days of it.

Time for bed as we are off tomorrow to the Kehketi wine region for more adventures.

Day tour to Armenia

Today we have a long bus tour scheduled to Armenia. I normally do not participate in the whole visit-a-country-in-a-day thing but I am curious about Armenia and want to see if it warrants a longer visit another time. I love the introduction to the country but it is a painfully long day, especially when my stomach doesn’t feel the best.

We mistakenly arrive at the wrong meeting spot after seeing other’s waiting for another tour. We ask another guide if our tour meets here erand he says “I think they meet here, probably”. We wait for a while longer and get nervous that no one else is here for our tour yet. We double check the meeting spot and find out we are in the wrong meeting spot. We quickly rush over to the correct spot; we aren’t the last two to arrive as two others have been delayed due to street closures caused by an impromptu holiday (the patriarch has recently died in Georgia). Unfortunately the only seats left on the bus together are in the very back where we have a poor view out the window for the long drive.

To travel to Armenia from Georgia we have two border crossings stops that require us to get out of the van: one to leave Georgia and one to enter Armenia. We use the toliet facilities at the Georgian crossing and they are some of the worst toliets we have seen in the country thus far. Our border check seems to take longer than normal because there are three girls in our group with a special visa situation that delays us a bit.

Our first stop is at Haghpat Monastery, a medieval Monastery. I admire the property and interesting arches inside. There is a man that lives nearby and takes care of the monastery grounds. He is very friendly and offers to show me how to take good pictures of the structure inside. He tells me how his friend made one of the altars currently inside the church.

We stop briefly at the Dilijan, the Switzerland of Armenia; called that because its houses are similar to those in the Swiss alps. We view a lake and statue based on a famous movie that contains a Russian man, a Georgian man, and an Armenia man.

We stop at a fancy rest stop for lunch.

The temperature gets colder and the wind is biting on our journey up the stairs in up to Sevanavank, the charming church that overlooks the large Lake Sevan, the largest lake in Armenia.

We drive for a while further and we arrive in the city of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. What we see is pretty but we have too short of time to really enjoy the city. We visit the mother of Armenia monument and the famous steps in the city center. The steps are at the end of a park adorned with art sculptures (I spy a Botero or two in there). Many in our group climbs the steps up but I choose the escalator option due to my uneasy stomach. From the top there are beautiful views of the city.

We then undergo a very long ride back to Georgia, border crossings and all. We don’t arrive back until almost midnight. The tour guide’s assistant takes some spectacular photos of the rainbows we see on the way. A fun thing the guide does during the drive is have each person play a song from their country for the van. It is a fun icebreaker but would have been useful at the beginning of the day to get to know the group better. I learn that the American rock band System of the Down is mostly Armenian. When it is our turn we choose Cher and the song Believe. The overachiever in me is glad I choose someone who is both American and Armenian.

Wroclaw: last day

In the morning I have a timed entry for the Battle of Racławice, a panorama depicting a battle during the uprising against Russia in 1794. It is good thing I bought my ticket in advance because it is 9:00 AM and they are completely sold out for the day….just another example how there is no more go with the flow when it comes to traveling.

Things along the way to the panorama:

This panorama is a bit different than the others I have seen in Germany. This one is more stationary (if that is the right word). There are some sound effects and commentary (through an english audio guide) but for the most part you just are looking at a panoramic painting. Some of the others I’ve seen use light and sound to make it seem living. It is still cool to see though.

My ticket includes admission to three other museums but I am burned out today so I just walk 20 minutes to see one of them.The Ethnographic museum is small but informative. There are displays of old artifacts and a great history lesson of the Lower Silesian area of Poland. There is information of immigration coming in and out of this area from many different countries in the region. One interesting group of things in the museum were the figurative hives. They are carved out wooden figures meant as beehives.

It’s about to rain so I am officially done with sightseeing for now. I am going to hibernate for a couple hours. Hopefully it will stop right after dark because there is just one more stop I want to make tonight.

Some stops around town when the weather was nice.

I am in love with Dubai Chocolate ice cream

Neon Side

The one place left I had on my agenda is to visit the street with all the old neon signs at night. Called Neon Side the street has some bars and nightclubs. Luckily the rain stopped long enough for me to walk down there to snap some photos.

After Neon Side I grab a late night snack of cheese and there’s a dwarf staring at me.

One the way to the train station in the morning I stop by the statues called the passage. The figurines look like they are disappearing into the ground but then appear again on the other side of the street.

Now off to Warsaw for the next stop of my trip.

Wrocław

The train here is packed. I am glad I have a reserved seat in first class. As I walk to my hotel there are tour groups with rolling luggage and many people carrying guitar cases. I am confused at first then I remember there is a big punk festival this weekend for the holidays.

I catch a protest of some sort as I walk to my hotel. It is constitution day so it doesn’t seem out of the ordinary. “Workers united are invincible” is on their sign. It appears to be a labor protest on constitution day.

I walk into the city center there are more guitars and artsy people. I hear music playing at a stage near my hotel. My goal is to check in quickly and check out the music.

I drop my things off and turn the corner to find a band playing a cover of “Sweet child of mine” it is busy in the courtyard but not as busy as it will be in a hour or so. The crowd slowly fills with people carrying guitars and bystanders like me. I am here in time for the annual Guitar World Record in Wrocław. People come from all over the world with their guitar to play “Hey Joe” in unison to reach a world record. If I read the news correctly I think they beat the record this year.

About the holidays this weekend, I had only scheduled 2 1/2 days to enjoy Wrocław and I later discovered that two of these days are during national holidays: May 1 Labor Day and May 3 constitution day. Not everything is closed on these days but a good number of things are and if they aren’t they close early. This means I won’t get to see all the things I want to see in town because I really only have one full day of sightseeing and part of that day is going to a festival to see some polish and international punk-ish bands (when in Rome).

I escape from the crowd temporarily to get a snack and climb the tower to see Bridge of Penitents or Witches Bridge. This is famous for its little witch dwarves overlooking the town. The view is nice but there is way too many people on the bridge at one time so I don’t stay up there too long. They really should do some crowd control at the top to make the experience better for everyone.

Georgian food to go. I love cheese so much

After the bridge I find an antique market I explore for a bit before I brave the guitar crowds once more.

While the crowd gathers a woman who used to perform with Michael Jackson is on stage. I can’t get close enough at this point to take any pictures. The crowd is a sea of guitars getting ready to play.

Finally they play their “Hey Joe” for the record recording. I walk out to beat the crowds but I hear the crowd cheering in the distance.

Some of the many dwarves in town playing little guitars for the day. Dwarves are important to Wroclaw but more on that later.

I walk down to one of the many “islands” that are connected by pedestrian bridges. The goal this afternoon is to stalk the gas lamplighter on Cathedral Island but I am way too early for that so I explore other islands and surroundings.

On one island there is a huge park with many groups picnicking, many with small foil pan metal grills. The smell of grilled sausages permeates the air and makes me really hungry. I’m waiting to eat until I get back closer to my hotel but does it smell good. I take a break to have a happy hour by the water. I watch the boats go by while I finally get a moment off my feet. Today has already been a long day.

I get to cathedral island to explore and even though most things are closed except a few restaurants there are still many people strolling around. Lines are consistently outside the college botanical garden that should be closed right now so I am not sure what is going on over there. Finally I spot the lamplighter and he moves quickly. He’s got an entourage of kids following him. He is not an official tourist attraction he’s just one of the few actually gas lamplighters left in the world. He (or someone else) lights at sundown and then they extinguish in the morning. I think I saw another in Zagreb, Croatia a couple years ago. This is not the only one but they are rare these days with electrical power.

I walk back toward the main market square where I have my eye on a Soviet communism theme restaurant that has a private room (not so private tonight since it is being used for diners). There is a long wait for food and it is just ok but I love the theming of the place so I explore the secret room quickly before I head back to my room to sleep. It’s late and I am tired after this long day.

I need to rest for touring tomorrow.

End of Prague visit

I signed up for a wine tour today to try some wines from the Czech Republic. I enjoy trying local wines when I can. The tour ends up being more of a walking tour with a little wine and snacks at the end. It is me and one family of four from the USA on this tour.

Our guide points out some Art Nouveau architecture, the famous upside horse in a mall, and a hidden park (Frantiskanska) – most of it I had already found on my own earlier in the day but its nice to learn the history behind it all. The upside down horse, Statue of King Wenceslas riding an upside-down dead horse by David Černý, is in the same shopping center where I attended a movie the other night. In the same complex is the former Paternoster Lift, an elevator that doesn’t stop or slow down. To ride this elevator one would have to time it just right to jump on. Unfortunately they are all closed to the public now because of safety.

Owl traffic signal. If the owl is upright there is vacancy for horses, no vacancy if turned down.

Prague Free walking tour

In the morning I have another walking tour, this time the free one. It is on this tour I see the rotating Kafka for the third time. He isn’t rotating this time but I think I’ve seen it enough. I do see another Kafka though; another Cerny work.

Astronomical clock and old town hall, only building partially destroyed in war

Rococo facades

Our guide also takes through the Jewish quarter and tells us the terrible history of the Jews in Prague. There are very few Jewish people left in town to this day due to the atrocities during WWII. This town was not spared in the horrors except it is one of few places that wasn’t bombed, rumor is Hitler had a soft spot for Czech Republic or had it in mind as his retirement country. Who knows.

Guide hates this building’s architecture

After the tour I rush down to Náplavka park for their Saturday market. I’ve been to so many markets now that things rarely impress me anymore but it is still a nice market. Some of the booths are on boats on the water. I note the cafes right on the river. It’s just a very hot day so I grab a wrap and a strudel and desperately try to find a shaded spot to eat.

I commute up the hill to the Strahov monastery and associated brewery. The original plan is to tour the monastery and then try some of their beers. The heat has zapped all my energy. All I have in me is to try one beer. I later regret cutting my visit short when I realize I miss out on seeing a historical library – I love old libraries. I run back to my hotel to rest until dinner, hoping going back out later will be cooler.

My plan for the evening is to get dinner and then see the town lit up. I choose pizza for the night because I am tired of Czech food. The restaurant has no AC so it is a very uncomfortable meal. I am actually excited to go back outside since the sun is setting. I don’t stay out too late but I do see the city awaken for the evening.

The next day is a mostly work day. I have to go across town to do laundry but the laundry place is probably the nicest I have seen in a while. I order fancy coffee nearby while I wait. I love this coffee house.

Later I try some open face sandwiches and get a cocktail at an Anonymous themed bar. I had tried to book a massage at the Czech beer spa attached to my hotel where I would soak in a beer tub but they cancel on me because they are having equipment malfunction. The experience wasn’t high on my list but I regret a little that I didn’t try the spa earlier.

I leave early tomorrow to visit another city in the Czech Republic.

I like Prague but I’d come back during a shoulder season for less crowds and cooler temps. And while my hotel was generally clean and had AC, the moisture in the room messed with my sinuses so I felt like I was sick for two days-even taking cold medicine. I do worry at times that I will get sick but 9 times out of 10 as soon as I change hotels I am miraculously better. It becomes more and more apparent that I need to start staying in nicer hotels unless I want to feel terrible during my travels.

Next up Český Krumlov.