Friday, June 9, 2017
The sleeper train from Gyumri to Tbilisi left at 12:25 a.m. and I had a sleeping compartment to myself. There was a full moon, so I was able to see the landscape between naps. Entering the Republic of Georgia, the immigration official seemed pleased to have people visiting his country. Customs gave a cursory look into my backpack, then a very thorough search of all the hidey holes in the compartment that I did not know were there, including spots where the ceiling panels could be removed (1).
Arrival on schedule at Tbilisi "Central" Station (2). I think the train attendant is from Tbilisi (rather than Yerevan), judging by how excited he was when he pointed out the window as we neared the station and said "Tbilisi!".
I found my guest house; I had asked by email if I could drop my bag in the morning when my train arrived. I entered the guest house and emailed where I should leave my bag because no-one was around. A few minutes later, an older women entered and handed me her phone with an "it's for you" gesture. The hostess was in Batumi; the older woman was her mother who showed me to my room. Because no one was in my room the night before, I was able to check in and take a shower in the shared bathroom.
I took a walking tour of the old city. "Tbilisi" means warm city in the local language of 1,500 years ago when the city was founded. We passed the Seminary where Joseph Stalin studied for the priesthood (3) and a mosque in where Sunni and Shia worship together, which is rather unusual.
Cable cars are part of the city transit system, and I rode to the old fort. I tried to find the trail climbing to the top of the funicular a few kilometers away, but no luck. I walked over to the bottom of the funicular instead, rode up and walked down past a church and the Georgian Pantheon, where the top Georgian literary figures are buried.
The modern part of the city is dominated by an enormous cathedral, which is the seat of the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox church. While it looked like something restored from Medieval times, the Cathedral was actually built in 2006 (4).
(1) There were signs at Yerevan station warning about drugs and other medicines enter Georgia. Georgian customs had even used special tape to seal some hidey holes on the train.
(2) A bit of a misnomer because the station is 2 miles from the central square.
(3) Yes, you read that right. The man who ruled the officially-athiest Soviet Union with an iron first for almost 30 years in the mid-twentieth century attended seminary in his younger days. He was a native Georgian, born in Gori (a). I understand he spoke Russian with a thick Georgian accent.
(4) I had a chat with Tamar, a local Tbilisian about this. She perceives that religion is popular now, even among young people, because the communists were against it, and anything forbidden must be worth trying. She does not think the high degree of religiosity among the Georgian people will last in the long run.
(a) I encountered a Swedish traveller later in the trip who had visited the Stalin museum in Gori. He told me the Museum's treatment of Stalin was relatively balanced. When I told him that Stalin had studied for the priesthood, he responded "no surprise." I bit and asked why he was not surprised. "Priests love power too" came the quick reply.
No comments:
Post a Comment