Menu
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • THE FAMILY ALBUM
  • ONCE UPON A TIME IN ROMANIA
    • ▸Bucharest, 1989: The days of Revolution
    • ▸I’ve also lived under communism
    • ▸Portraits of transition
    • ▸”Cabernet cu pepsi”
    • ▸Romania, 1990: Beyond the headlines
    • ▸“Mineriada” – My story
    • ▸Memorial of pain
  • WORK IN PROGRESS
    • ▸Barbershop
    • ▸Melancholic Identities
    • ▸Alone, together
    • ▸Faces
    • ▸Fragmentary world
    • ▸Two
    • ▸Buddhist monks
    • ▸About windows and walls
  • STORIES
    • ▸Life and death in Varanasi
    • ▸Trans-Siberian – An experience of becoming
    • ▸Boxing in Havana
    • ▸Medellin – Moving out of Escobar shadow
    • ▸One night at Htee Thein monastery
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – I misteri
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – La pasquetta
    • ▸Stalin’s Museum in Gori
    • ▸Havana – magic and decay
    • ▸Muay-thai family, for a day
    • ▸Cuban billboards
    • ▸Seeking a geisha
    • ▸Bazar – Barakholka – Vernisazh
    • ▸Belfast’s murals: Behind and beyond
    • ▸Riding the Yangon’s ring train
    • ▸An unexpected trip to Dhobi Ghat
    • ▸A different way to look at death
    • ▸Cannes under siege
    • ▸Inside the Guru’s kitchen
    • ▸Tibetan refugees
    • ▸The Golden Triangle – A mecca of tribal diversity
    • ▸Bullfighting – barbaric or art ?
    • ▸Crafts and traditions in Morroco
    • ▸Mediterraneo
    • ▸“Glastonbury with God”
  • TRAVEL
    • Cuba
      • ▸The show must go on (part 1)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 2)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 3)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 4)
    • France
      • ▸Paris
      • ▸Paris. Again
    • Greece
      • ▸Mount Athos
      • ▸Postcards from Santorini
      • ▸Athens
      • ▸Mykonos – The picture-perfect Island
    • Germany
      • ▸Berlin
    • Vietnam
      • ▸Four days in Hanoi
      • ▸Cruising through the misty Halong Bay
    • India
      • ▸Portraits of Kashmir
      • ▸Rishikesh – Spiritual marketplace
      • ▸Life on the Sidewalk
    • Ireland
      • ▸The capital of pubs
      • ▸Ireland in ten days
    • Israel
      • ▸Israel in black & white
    • Colombia
      • ▸Colombia
      • ▸Paisas, coffee and much more
      • ▸Streets of Bogota – From Dystopia to Hope
      • ▸Life along the magical Magdalena River
      • ▸A non-touristy guide to Cartagena’s Caribbean paradise
    • Myanmar
      • ▸Min-ga-la-ba Myanmar
      • ▸Up and down on the hills of Shan State
    • Japan
      • ▸Tokyo
      • ▸Springtime in Kyoto
    • Portugal
      • ▸Life at the edge of Europe
    • Russian Federation
      • ▸The unexpected Moscow
      • ▸White Nights in St. Petersburg
    • Italy
      • ▸Rome
      • ▸Random Sicily
      • ▸“Vedi Napoli e poi mori”
      • ▸Venice
      • ▸Vanishing Venice
    • Morocco
      • ▸Tea in the Sahara
      • ▸Medinas – The hearth Moroccan cities
      • ▸Morocco outskirts
      • ▸Djemaa El Fna encounters
      • ▸ Surf and hippies
      • ▸The road to One thousand kasbahs
      • ▸Amazigh – Berber – Free men
    • Georgia
      • ▸Postcards from Georgia
      • ▸The Many Faces of Tbilisi
    • Nepal
      • ▸Kathmandu Valley
    • Romania
      • ▸Romania to go
      • ▸Maramures
      • ▸”Tara Motilor”
    • Jordan
      • ▸Bedouin Trails
    • Turkey
      • ▸From Turkey with love
      • ▸Ballooning Cappadocia
      • ▸Where East meets West
      • ▸Street life, Istanbul-style
    • Mexico
      • ▸Finding Mexico City
    • Malaysia
      • ▸Transit KL
    • UK
      • ▸London
      • ▸Grab your kilt and bring your pipes
    • Sweden
      • ▸Stockholm
    • Spain
      • ▸Off-season Andalusia
    • Thailand
      • ▸Bangkok, Year 2555
      • ▸Life in Pai
      • ▸Thailand
    • Laos
      • ▸Luang Prabang – The City of ultimate Zen
    • Poland
      • ▸Why I love Poland
    • Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
      • ▸The Baltic States – Neighbors, but not relatives
      • ▸Patarei – A little slice of Hell
    • Findland
      • ▸A sunny day in Helsinki
    • Denmark
      • ▸Copenhagen
  • SINGLES
  • CONTACT

logo

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • THE FAMILY ALBUM
  • ONCE UPON A TIME IN ROMANIA
    • ▸Bucharest, 1989: The days of Revolution
    • ▸I’ve also lived under communism
    • ▸Portraits of transition
    • ▸”Cabernet cu pepsi”
    • ▸Romania, 1990: Beyond the headlines
    • ▸“Mineriada” – My story
    • ▸Memorial of pain
  • WORK IN PROGRESS
    • ▸Barbershop
    • ▸Melancholic Identities
    • ▸Alone, together
    • ▸Faces
    • ▸Fragmentary world
    • ▸Two
    • ▸Buddhist monks
    • ▸About windows and walls
  • STORIES
    • ▸Life and death in Varanasi
    • ▸Trans-Siberian – An experience of becoming
    • ▸Boxing in Havana
    • ▸Medellin – Moving out of Escobar shadow
    • ▸One night at Htee Thein monastery
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – I misteri
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – La pasquetta
    • ▸Stalin’s Museum in Gori
    • ▸Havana – magic and decay
    • ▸Muay-thai family, for a day
    • ▸Cuban billboards
    • ▸Seeking a geisha
    • ▸Bazar – Barakholka – Vernisazh
    • ▸Belfast’s murals: Behind and beyond
    • ▸Riding the Yangon’s ring train
    • ▸An unexpected trip to Dhobi Ghat
    • ▸A different way to look at death
    • ▸Cannes under siege
    • ▸Inside the Guru’s kitchen
    • ▸Tibetan refugees
    • ▸The Golden Triangle – A mecca of tribal diversity
    • ▸Bullfighting – barbaric or art ?
    • ▸Crafts and traditions in Morroco
    • ▸Mediterraneo
    • ▸“Glastonbury with God”
  • TRAVEL
    • Cuba
      • ▸The show must go on (part 1)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 2)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 3)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 4)
    • France
      • ▸Paris
      • ▸Paris. Again
    • Greece
      • ▸Mount Athos
      • ▸Postcards from Santorini
      • ▸Athens
      • ▸Mykonos – The picture-perfect Island
    • Germany
      • ▸Berlin
    • Vietnam
      • ▸Four days in Hanoi
      • ▸Cruising through the misty Halong Bay
    • India
      • ▸Portraits of Kashmir
      • ▸Rishikesh – Spiritual marketplace
      • ▸Life on the Sidewalk
    • Ireland
      • ▸The capital of pubs
      • ▸Ireland in ten days
    • Israel
      • ▸Israel in black & white
    • Colombia
      • ▸Colombia
      • ▸Paisas, coffee and much more
      • ▸Streets of Bogota – From Dystopia to Hope
      • ▸Life along the magical Magdalena River
      • ▸A non-touristy guide to Cartagena’s Caribbean paradise
    • Myanmar
      • ▸Min-ga-la-ba Myanmar
      • ▸Up and down on the hills of Shan State
    • Japan
      • ▸Tokyo
      • ▸Springtime in Kyoto
    • Portugal
      • ▸Life at the edge of Europe
    • Russian Federation
      • ▸The unexpected Moscow
      • ▸White Nights in St. Petersburg
    • Italy
      • ▸Rome
      • ▸Random Sicily
      • ▸“Vedi Napoli e poi mori”
      • ▸Venice
      • ▸Vanishing Venice
    • Morocco
      • ▸Tea in the Sahara
      • ▸Medinas – The hearth Moroccan cities
      • ▸Morocco outskirts
      • ▸Djemaa El Fna encounters
      • ▸ Surf and hippies
      • ▸The road to One thousand kasbahs
      • ▸Amazigh – Berber – Free men
    • Georgia
      • ▸Postcards from Georgia
      • ▸The Many Faces of Tbilisi
    • Nepal
      • ▸Kathmandu Valley
    • Romania
      • ▸Romania to go
      • ▸Maramures
      • ▸”Tara Motilor”
    • Jordan
      • ▸Bedouin Trails
    • Turkey
      • ▸From Turkey with love
      • ▸Ballooning Cappadocia
      • ▸Where East meets West
      • ▸Street life, Istanbul-style
    • Mexico
      • ▸Finding Mexico City
    • Malaysia
      • ▸Transit KL
    • UK
      • ▸London
      • ▸Grab your kilt and bring your pipes
    • Sweden
      • ▸Stockholm
    • Spain
      • ▸Off-season Andalusia
    • Thailand
      • ▸Bangkok, Year 2555
      • ▸Life in Pai
      • ▸Thailand
    • Laos
      • ▸Luang Prabang – The City of ultimate Zen
    • Poland
      • ▸Why I love Poland
    • Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
      • ▸The Baltic States – Neighbors, but not relatives
      • ▸Patarei – A little slice of Hell
    • Findland
      • ▸A sunny day in Helsinki
    • Denmark
      • ▸Copenhagen
  • SINGLES
  • CONTACT
Show Thumbnails Prev / Next

1 / / 0

 

 

 

 

 

Postcards from Georgia

 

Georgians are survivors. That’s what they’ve always done and they’re good at it.

Situated in the geographic and historical crossroad where Russia meets the Turkish and Persian Near East, the Georgians were always caught in that archetypal East-West conflict between empires. Georgia was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1922. Its independence was restored in 1991, but since then, the former Soviet republic often hit the titles with bad news. War, instability, corruption. But Georgia is more than that.

As cliche as it may sound, Georgia is a country of many contrasts. The old town of Tbilisi made me feel like I was in some fake western movie but a few blocks away I woke up in full space-age architecture. The new parliament building is a huge glass and concrete bubble, as symbol of Georgia’s aspirations for democratic transparency.

The Georgians are exceptionally hospitable nation. They say “A guest is from God” so visitors are plied with bounteous food and rivers of wine. Excuses like you have to drive somewhere won’t be accepted. Instead, you’ll be offered a bed for the night, and be propelled into a full-scale traditional feast with all their essential components: wine, toasts, and songs. The toast is an inseparable part of it, through which people express their feelings about life, friendship, honor and love. The Georgian toasting traditions are unique in the world.

Holding a sword in one hand and a cup of wine in the other, Mother Georgia statue looks out over the Tbilisi city – a classic metaphor for the Georgian character. Me, I always choose the wine. And I don’t see why others would not do the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Postcards from Georgia

 

Georgians are survivors. That’s what they’ve always done and they’re good at it.

Situated in the geographic and historical crossroad where Russia meets the Turkish and Persian Near East, the Georgians were always caught in that archetypal East-West conflict between empires. Georgia was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1922. Its independence was restored in 1991, but since then, the former Soviet republic often hit the titles with bad news. War, instability, corruption. But Georgia is more than that.

As cliche as it may sound, Georgia is a country of many contrasts. The old town of Tbilisi made me feel like I was in some fake western movie but a few blocks away I woke up in full space-age architecture. The new parliament building is a huge glass and concrete bubble, as symbol of Georgia’s aspirations for democratic transparency.

The Georgians are exceptionally hospitable nation. They say “A guest is from God” so visitors are plied with bounteous food and rivers of wine. Excuses like you have to drive somewhere won’t be accepted. Instead, you’ll be offered a bed for the night, and be propelled into a full-scale traditional feast with all their essential components: wine, toasts, and songs. The toast is an inseparable part of it, through which people express their feelings about life, friendship, honor and love. The Georgian toasting traditions are unique in the world.

Holding a sword in one hand and a cup of wine in the other, Mother Georgia statue looks out over the Tbilisi city – a classic metaphor for the Georgian character. Me, I always choose the wine. And I don’t see why others would not do the same.

  • INFO