Tbilisi. Walking in the streets

New church built in 2004 in traditional Georgian style:



Georgian lion:



View from the mountain:





Old Narikala Fortress:



Thunderstorm and heavy rain started but two brave Georgian girls did not pay attention to the weather:



Mosque in the Old town:



Ancient sulphur baths:



Still raining...



At that Orthodox church...



I found true Muslim washing place. Either there was mosque in old times or first Christians took hygiene more seriously.



Rain was powerless against that lamp-lighter,...



musician...



and joyful dancers.



Three more pictures of Tbilisi:










Next post will be about Mtskheta and Open-air Museum of Ethnography in Tbilisi.

Georgia is A Winner

My this year travel took me to Georgia. I spent there 15 days in July. Tbilisi - Mtskheta - Zugdidi - Svaneti - Vardzia - Sighnaghi (Alazani valley) - Kazbegi. It is so wonderful country. Mountains, sea, valleys, sun, air, rivers, wine, chacha, kindness, hospitality, joy...
Photos are coming soon. Now I just wish to express the most important observation of that travel.
GEORGIA HAS WON CONFRONTATION WITH RUSSIA AND 2008 WAR.
Russia is developing xenophobia and paranoia. Russia closed borders with Georgia and cancelled all transport connections. People are arrested for their skin colour, shape of eyes and foreign language.
Fear and suspicion are feelings of the looser.
Georgia is full of hospitality and kindness. Georgia is open to everybody including Russians. Georgians speak Russian much and enjoy it. Georgians sympathize with Russians and not otherwise. Yes, they sympathize and sorry for Russians because of present Russian regime.
Kindness and generosity are feelings of the winner.
Thanks a lot to Georgia and Georgians. Madloba! I hope I'll visit your beautiful country again.

Back home from the ship

So I am back home from my last ship Havhelt. She is small bulk carrier (length 80 meters, deadweight 2500 tons), built in 1977.

I joined vessel on 20 of November 2009 at the port of Vejle , Denmark. For almost three months we worked in Baltic and eastern part of Norh Sea, between ports of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Russia and Latvia with cargo of salt, stones, sand, iron ore and rapecake.
It was cold winter this year, with snow, fog, and heavy ice navigation. In the beginning of January we have got a hole below waterline and pumped out water continuously for ten days.   Other time on the way from St.Peterburg to Bergen in heavy weather water was leaking through the hatch covers to cargo hold, and pumps were running again round-the-clock.
But for many years I worked mostly in tropical areas and it was interesting new experience to discover Northern Europe in winter.