Sheki > Tiblisi, Georgia 276km

Woke up at 6:30 to just 19 degrees – a full 10 degrees less than what we have been having for ages now – and a high of only 33, very nice.

Tobacco growing (I think) – we saw some of the leaves drying

Still with the mountains, wide empty stoney river beds just like the South Island

A beautiful Church perched high over the area, we have seen many standing alone in high places

We had to go off road a little bit on a detour because of roadworks to a bridge, then after that the gravel continued so we kept on going thinking it was still the roadworks.  However the road started deteriorating to the point where we stopped and checked where we were – yep, the GPS was taking us on a “shortcut”.  It was all good, the road improved again as we reached some small villages.

Crossed another border today, took an extra hour as we arrived just on lunch, so 2.5 hours

The main road in Georgia twisted its way through small villages for quite a distance along the sides of the hills

Headed straight to Tiblisi.  A lot of traffic here, very modern dress style – we no longer stand out in the crowd.

Next day a walk around the city

A menu – I’m not even going to try to work out this alphabet.  Fortunately most of the road signs are in both alphabets

NZ kiwifruit on sale in Tiblisi

It’s what we do

Some grand old buildings here, this one has been in the renovation process for a number of years

Went up the funicular to a viewpoint – yay this one is working – Tiblisi, so many churches

People live in these houses

Many photo ops – hard to choose

This little window is a bread shop

The fort

Wouldn’t want to live there

The quirky clocktower

Met up with Jacobe for dinner, the French backpacker we met on the ferry, then later walked around and enjoyed the vibrant evening.  Lots of people around, buildings well lit up.

Georgia is considering joining the EU, it certainly is more European than it’s neighbours.