Tag Archives: resting
into the grey
I got up at four and fumbled with my luggage for a while, then I hopped in a cab. Thirty minutes later I was at the airport. It turned out to be just like any other place in Georgia – there were street dogs hanging around outside: The flight was delayed for one hour. Two […]
Mayakovsky, hero and enemy
I took a walk through the village of Baghdati today. There was a special reason why I had come here, and it was this guy: Vladimir Mayakovsky. One of the most gifted poets of the early Soviet Union, he was initially a fervent believer in Socialism, but he later became disillusioned with the reality of […]
backstroke
The hotel I was staying at consisted of four rooms that were located on the top floor of a gym. I walked past the weight room and the exercise rooms every day, but I never went in. I didn’t want to lift any weights or do aerobics or take part in a karate class. Here’s […]
unhatable clown
Zestafoni is a quiet little town in the west of Georgia. They say it’s a place where not much ever seems to happen. Today was different, though. Today, the circus came to Zestafoni: “Are you planning on going?” the people at the hotel had asked me. I had said no. I generally didn’t like the […]
She-ra is NOT a pickle
I had bought a jar of pickles, and I devoured one after the other: And then it dawned on me, how in English there were two words for one and the same thing, just in different states like water and ice: cucumber and pickle. One is a fresh vegetable, the other one has been stored […]
The Price Of Independence
Gori is so small that you really can’t walk around without passing Stalin every once in a while: So today I walked past him, and I went through a few back alleys with some weird graffiti: And then I reached the fortress: It was on a hill in the center of the town, and when […]
Stalin’s birthplace
Both my pairs of long pants were in the laundry, so I went out in my shorts with a pair of long johns underneath: It looked ridiculous, and children would point at me in the street, but at least I didn’t have to go far – the Stalin Museum was only a few blocks away: […]
what I found in a flame
The rain had never really stopped. And it was devious, too. Sometimes it would pause for a few minutes, just enough for the puddles to become still and for the people and the dogs to come outside again: But then it would start all over again – drip-drip-drippity-drop as if there was never going to […]
different views
I was staying in a guesthouse that was nice and warm and very close to the cathedral, and it was even supposed to have a view. Only not so much from my room: Outside, it was raining in a determined way: So I stayed in my room most of the day, and only one time […]
churchorama
There was a monastery on a hill overlooking Mtskheta. It was called Jvari, and I had seen it before, first on the map and then with my own eyes when I reached Mtskheta. So today I took a taxi up the hill to check it out: The view was like something out of an Austrian […]
The Story Of The Longest Way
“Chris, why do you walk, and what’s the story?” The answer to the first question is a bit tricky. I tend to give different reasons every time people ask me, depending on my mood and the way things are going. But I think the most precise answer is this: I walk because I like to […]
Gaange Rolf
I was renting an apartment on the 7th floor of a high-rise that sat on a slope. The view – albeit being partially blocked by some other buildings – was quite spectacular: Also, it had Netflix. So I watched Ragnar Lodbrok do all kinds of awesome shit (and also some things that were very disturbing) […]
(a) political society
Remember the protest at the Parliament that I had told you about a few days earlier? Well, it was apparently still going strong, and the protestors seemed to have gathered more tents and more people: It often baffled me to think that this was the first truly democratic country I had walked through on my […]
oil or no oil
Went to a massage parlour today. “Oil or no oil?” I was asked. I don’t get massages very often, so I figured a bit of oil would be nice. Turns out I should have asked for Shoulder & Back instead. Either way it was alright, and the people were very nice. When it was over […]
the eleventh day
November the ninth. I don’t know how many of you have read the start of this journey eleven years ago, but I started walking in Beijing on this day in 2007. It was my 26th birthday. Today I am in Tbilisi, Georgia, and I am 37: So I went and had Lebanese soup and hummus: […]
wallowing
Tbilisi has at least two high points with a view. One is the “Mother Of Georgia” which is atop a cable car station. The other one is a bit higher, and there is a funicular taking people up a mountain. I went there today: The view at the top was more spectacular than at the […]
hot fighting mom
I decided to do some more tourism today. So I went to the old part of Tbilisi: There was a park: And in the park there was a cable car that went up a hill, so I bought a ticket (it was actually just a metro ticket) and went up. The view was quite spectacular […]
Georgian avocado
Here’s something you don’t see everyday: Georgia is a country that has its own avocados. Real, honest, home-grown, going-on-toast, rendering-millennials-unable-to-buy-homes, green, fatty avocados! I bought one and had it with bread and tomatoes: It was gud.
Tbilisi selfie
Remember when I posted almost nothing but daily selfies for two months or so while I was on the shores of lake Issyk-kul, waiting for my Turkmen visa? Well, don’t be scared, because it’s not going to be like that this time. Here’s a selfie anyway: I still take one every day. Well, actually not […]
oink
Went to a little village outside of Tbilisi today. It was called Udabno, and there was not much to see there. Just mountain roads: And a little village: But it was some sort of miracle. The village was located on the way to a famous monastery that people liked to visit. Of course this didn’t […]