Tbilisi, Georgia Sunday, 17 May 2026 — Family Purity and Respect for Parents Day It is said that Georgia’s vibrant capital, Tbilisi, almost manages to encapsulate the entire Caucasus experience within its city limits. Having seen relatively little of the Caucasus beyond Batumi, I’ll have to take that on trust. Walking alone, one encounters an… Continue reading Mellow Yellow Hallelujah
Tag: history
Rustaveli Road
“An anvil of soft lead breaks even hard stone. Now want I tongue, heart and skill for utterance! Grant me strength! And if I have aid from thee I shall have understanding…. Tenderly indeed should we cherish his memory…. In truth none like him have ever been. Hitherto the tale has told as a tale….“… Continue reading Rustaveli Road
Timeless: What survives?
Saturday 16 May 2026 Room 203, Old City Boutique Hotel, Tbilisi, Georgia Above: Old City Boutique Hotel, Tbilisi It is late in the evening. Despite my fatigue I find myself musing over the past (How did I get here?) and the future (Where am I going?) while perhaps not fully appreciating the present moment. “There… Continue reading Timeless: What survives?
Into the Big Good
The Road to the Big Good – Conclusion Saturday 16 May 2026 Tbilisi (Tiflis), Georgia After an eternity I finally arrive in Tbilisi. Above: Tbilisi, Georgia I walk out of the railway station and enter a city that doesn’t seem entirely certain which century it belongs to. Above: Tbilisi Train Station Persian influences, Byzantine Christianity,… Continue reading Into the Big Good
The Stalin heap
The Road to the Big Good, Part Four Gori, Shida Kartli, Georgia Saturday 16 May 2026 I want to revisit the idea that disembarking before one’s intended destination isn’t necessarily a mistake. We tend to think of journeys as having: But life doesn’t always cooperate. Sometimes we discover something interesting along the way. Sometimes we… Continue reading The Stalin heap
The soul of a place
The Road to the Big Good – Part Three Saturday 16 May 2026 Zestaponi, Imereti, Georgia The train stopped at Kutaisi Airport station, but I somehow managed to sleep through that. I will save my descriptions of Kutaisi for next week’s planned stay there. Seeing yet another rather uninspiring railway station, reminiscent of Batumi’s own… Continue reading The soul of a place
Deep forest?
The Road to the Big Good – Part Two Saturday 16 May 2026 Ureki, Guria, Georgia The train next stops at Ureki, one of the strangest and most distinctive resort towns on the Black Sea coast. Above: Ureki Station, Guria, Georgia Its principal attraction is its magnetic black sand. The beach contains unusually high concentrations… Continue reading Deep forest?
Rainy day in Georgia
Batumi, Adjara, Georgia The Ides of May 2026 This reads less like a travel diary entry and more like a man wandering through the physical remains of interrupted futures. Batumi in relentless rain can become introspective to the point of paralysis. As I had been advised that trains to Tbilisi may be difficult to obtain… Continue reading Rainy day in Georgia
Place your bets
Hope springs eternalOn a gaudy neon streetNot that I care at all Such a muddy line betweenThe things you wantAnd the things you have to do Friday 16 July 2026 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Above: In Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland On the way to Konstanz, 15 km away, to get my teeth cleaned upon the… Continue reading Place your bets
Synod
Above: Holy Trinity Cathedral, Tbilisi, Georgia Wednesday 15 July 2026 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Violent wind. Heavy rain. Hailstones. Nothing about the weather yesterday did I have any control over. Above: Weather Wizard (Mark Mardon) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. We readily speak of acts of God. Earthquakes. Floods. Lightning. Events beyond human control.… Continue reading Synod