Tbilisi After Dark: Tourist Quarter Edition

The white vehicles are city tourmobiles.
I'm not much into seeing a new city by being driven around, whether a car or bus,
but those white cars are cool enough to make me reconsider.

After a long day of walking and climbing, I thought that a great way to end the day would be a soak at the sulfur baths of Tbilisi.  The best value among the Tbilisi sulfur baths is the Sulfur Bath No. 5.  It is the only "public bath," meaning everyone is out in the open bathing in the sulfur waters designed for their respective gender.  All the other baths are available only for use by private room, which is a great option for couples (because of the gender segregation).  I'm not half of a couple, so it was the public option for me.

Admission was 10 GEL (Georgian lari) for men.  That's less than three bucks.  Women get in for 6 GEL because there is no sauna on the women's side.  I paid the extra 20 GEL for the full service of scrub, massage, washing, and tea.  Well worth it.  My feet legs feel a little better, but still drained.  No pictures inside allowed.

Then it was time for supper after having not eaten since the hotel breakfast buffet that morning.

By this time, this was a tourist town after dark.

I didn't want to go to any of the restaurants too close to my hotel.  Too touristy!

It's interesting.  All of us current era tourists want to go eat somewhere that is not "touristy."  So we all go the same few non-touristy to be away from the tourists.  Together.

This is a tourist neighborhood.  There is no escaping my kind.

The cable cars, a.k.a., the "ropeway," was still operational.  It does not shut down until the time hits tomorrow, 12 midnight.

There is something about that photo that doesn't look recall, like the cable cars are glued to a sheet of indigo blue cardboard.  But that really is Tbilisi after dark for real.  Trust me.  I know.  I was there.

The non-touristy restaurant in the tourist district that I selected was the Pasanauri.

It actually might have been authentically non-touristy despite the tourist district location.

There were no pictures on the menu.  Hardly any of the staff spoke English.  Service was authentically indifferent.

I had the carrot and walnut salad for a starter.

The carrots are coated in walnut dust, which is why they are not orange.  The scallions actually dominated the flavor more than the carrot or the walnut.

I then had the ostri:

This also is known to the Georgian dining public as chashushuli.  It is a beef stew cooked in a tomato broth.  Despite being authentic -- I like to think that it was because it was authentic -- it was a little bland.  Georgian cuisine is not quite Upper Midwest USA in its flavor profile-- although your average Wisconsinite would appreciate the liberal use of cheese and eggs in Georgian cuisine.  It was, however. thankfully real.  It did not taste like someone opened a Sysco pouch and reheated it.

And with that it was time to go back to the hotel for well-earned night's sleep.

Phot-o' the Day: Plaza Mayor, Villa de Leyva, Colombia

Back in Black. And White.

This is the Plaza Mayor in Villa De Leya, Colombia, late morning on a hot November day. (It's near the equator, so there is no seasonal cooling in November. There's only rainy season and dry season and this is from the dry season.) Villa de Leyva is a fun little tourist magnet about four hours north of Bogota by bus (the only way to get there) (unless you have a car) (and I would not recommend driving in Colombia, especially anywhere close to Bogota) (the buses are clean, cheap and worry-free).

Villa de Leyva may be a tourist magnet, but it's not "tourist-y," because nearly all of the other tourists are from Colombia. Here's one of many travel rules: Tourist towns in foreign countries are huge fun when you're the only American tourist in town.

VdeL visited in November 2018.