Monthly Archives: July 2019

Hangzhou: Don’t Hesitate to Irrigate

Hangzhou was one of the seven capital cities of classical China, and was an imperial capital between the 10th and 12th centuries. Located about 180 kilometers southwest of Shanghai, it acted as the southern outlet of the Grand Canal Waterway, which was constructed around 600 AD to connect imperial China, and which reaches as far north as Beijing. Hangzhou is a popular domestic visitor destination featuring the medieval-era landscaped West Lake, with forested hills and tea plantations to the west. Marco Polo visited in the late 1200s and liked the place. The Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta visited around 1345 and stayed in the Muslim quarter. Kublai Khan invaded in 1276 at the head of the Mongol Army, overthrowing the Southern Song Dynasty that had used Hangzhou as its capital since 1132.

The West Lake

The fresh water West Lake is quite atmospheric with various historical sites and the forested hills off to the east. It will tick all your classical China boxes with mist-shrouded forested hills, pagodas, water lillies on the lake, landscaped garden islands, medieval temples, and at least on the east and north sides, large crowds. It is about a 12-kilometer circuit if you walk round the shore, although there are two causeways that provide short cuts. The lake was originally dredged in the 8th Century by the Tang Dynasty Governor (and noted poet) Bai Juyi, to provide a stable water supply, with many of the islands and causeways from the 10th-11th centuries, and many temples and gardens dating from the 16th-17th centuries, built for the aristocracy of the day. It gets quite busy around the east and northeast sides but the crowds thin out the further away from town you go.

West Lake

There are various temples and pavilions by the lake, such as the 13th-century Buddhist Yuewang Temple, off Bishan Road on the north side. This commemorated Yue Fei, a general who served the Southern Song Dynasty. Further west is the Lingyin Temple, which also leads you into the forest park area. You can also head north inland to Baoshi Hill, which hosts the 10th century Baochu Pagoda. This small hill park facing the northeast lakeside is quite close to the city and so gets crowded; if you stay near the northeast corner of the Lake, it is a candidate for a short early morning walk while the air is fresh and the crowds are lighter.

Yuewang Temple

Luijin Bridge and Pavilion

Hangzhou Forest Park

A slightly more ambitious exercise is go for a hike or bike in the forest park to the west of the Lake. A few key areas in the north of the park include the (fairly busy) Lingyin Temple (http://en.lingyinsi.org), built in AD 326, destroyed and rebuilt multiple times and still an active Buddhist temple. The temple is about 4 km west of the northwest lake corner, reached along Lingyin Road leading into Lingyin Branch Road. It is one of China’s major temples and is surrounded by hundreds of medieval Buddhist stone carvings. There are also the Three Tianzu Monasteries, the first dating back to about 600 AD, in the hills surrounding the temple. You could also continue west from there up the almost 2 km trail to Mount Beigaofeng (https://goo.gl/maps/15d858TKdyVuXvxPA), which is the highest peak (314 m) in the park.

Moving further south, you could head to the Nine Creeks waterfall area on Erlong Mountain, reached via the Yangmei Mountain Road (https://goo.gl/maps/YcABD78MWKY8U65NA). There are well-regarded if touristy tea plantations in the area (look for the Longjing or Meijiawu tea plantations), and Hangzhou’s tea and spring water are claimed to be a good combination. You can stop at the Longjing Dragon Well Village for a cup. A few trail suggestions are here: http://en.gotohz.com/homepage/whatisnews/201605/t20160511_141796.shtml

Wushan Scenic Area and the City God Pavilion

Overlooking the old town from the south is the forested hill and religious sites of the Wushan Scenic Area. The temple area contains the multi-story City God Pavilion and a series of smaller temples.

This area is also a good starting point if you want to head west to explore the Hangzhou Forest Park starting from the south side. The view from the top level of the Pavilion across the forest hills and the lake is impressive, albeit a bit grayed out with the smog.

There is an extensive model of Hangzhou at the time of the South Song Dynasty in the ground level of the Pavilion. Hangzhou is believed to have been the most populated city in the world in the 13th century, with around 1-2 million inhabitants.

Medieval City

Hangzhou’s old town sits just north of the Wushan Scenic Area and can be accessed by the Ding’an Road Metro stop. It is mainly bounded (east-west) by Hefang Street in the South and Ding’an Road in the North, and (north-south) by Huaguang Road in the West and Nansongyu Street in the East.

Nansongyu Street

Hefang Street is pedestrianized and a bit touristy, but a good starting point. Gaoyin Street runs in parallel to the north is a good place to get lunch at one of it’s many restaurants and food stalls, that also line Shiwukul Alley and Zhongshan South Road towards the hill. Nansongyu Street is a tree lined former medieval roadway that has also many 19th and 20th century buildings from Hangzhou’s growth as a commercial center.

Nansongyu Street also has an interesting mosque – Arab traders worked in Hangzhou from the time of the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) and the street was developed with modern office and commercial buildings in the 19th and 20th centuries as Hangzhou’s economy grew.

Logistics. I stayed at the Deefly Lakeview Hotel at 2 West Huancheng Road, on the northeast side of the lake which worked out quite well, as it was 5 minutes from the lakeside and under 10 minutes to the Fengqi Road metro station.

Longyou Road Night Market

Airports. Hangzhou is served by Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, located about 30 km east of the city. While many people entering Zhejiang Province will fly into Shanghai, it is worth considering as a point of entry or exit and falls with the transit visa eligibility, discussed later.

Metro. The Hangzhou Metro is an excellent way to get around the central city area east of the Lake and to access the main railway station. Note that the metro stations are quite large and also have a security check (including bag x-ray machine). As to cab and ride hailing alternatives, note that Uber does not operate in China – you can try the main Chinese provider, Didi Chuxing, but check online for the latest as far as obtaining an English version of the app. Logistically, note that all metro entrances have a security checkpoint (with baggage x-ray so don’t carry a bag unless necessary) before the ticket barriers.

Bikeshare. Bikesharing is popular and well-established in China, and Hangzhou has a good level of providers. This could be a good option if you want to explore deeper into the forest park area.

Rail. China’s high-speed rail system is comfortable, fast, cost-effective and well worth trying. The two main issues you should factor in include the high passenger volume it manages in a country of 1.4 billion people, and the airport-style security requirements at rail stations. This means you need to plan your journey and factor in time beforehand. Many trains are 100% occupied so unless you don’t mind a “standing” ticket, you should book in advance: trip.com is a useful website. Secondly, you will need your passport to buy or pick up your ticket, after which you will go through a security check (including baggage x-ray) where you will present your ticket and passport. The ticket is scanned again when you enter the platform via the boarding gate. If you book for a certain departure time, there will be a specific departure gate that usually open about 15 minutes pre-departure. If you allow 15 minutes to buy or pick up your ticket from the ticket office queue (there are self service machines with only Chinese language access), 15 minutes to enter the station, pass security and navigate to your gate, and then assume you get in line at the gate 15 minutes pre-departure, for your first time I would allow arriving at the station at least 45 minutes pre-departure. At post-journey arrival, at the larger stations you are sent through a separated (from the departures) arrivals level and put out into a pre-security area.

Hongqiao Railway Station Main Departures Hall

Your Chinese Language Skills. Lack of Mandarin Chinese language skills is not much of an issue; all public signs are bilingual Chinese/English – even the metro ticket vending machines have an “English” button on their touchscreen displays. Since China’s schools have had English language training from about 8 years of age for some time now, English is more commonly spoken to some extent. However, you should still either pick up a basic language guide or go to the many Mandarin Chinese language Youtube offerings in advance of the trip.

Craft Beer. Craft beer has reached China, or at least it’s more expat and overseas travelled populations, and it’s worth trying. The Midtown Brewery, located in the Shangri-La Hotel at 6 Changshao Road does a great job with the West Coast standards.

Visas and Visa-Free Transit. You usually require a visa to enter China, however certain areas, including the greater Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang region, permit visa-free entry for transit purposes (i.e. traveling between two different countries) with up to 24, 72 or 144-hour visit periods, for citizens of 53 countries. As such, you could arrive at Hangzhou Airport and depart out of another approved international gateway such as Shanghai or Nanjing airports. Here is a useful summary of the conditions and you should check latest conditions with the Chinese Embassy or a visa service before you go: https://www.travelchinaguide.com/tour/visa/free-transit-144-hours.htm

Shanghai’d

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Shanghai – China’s largest city and its principal port, located at the mouth of the Yangtze River delta. Shanghai’s heritage is very mixed given its role as a major trading city, especially as China opened up to international maritime trade in the 18th century onwards. Much of this was forced on the declining Qing Dynasty mostly in the mid-19th century by Western powers via the “Unequal Treaties,” which remain a sensitive point to this day. The expulsion of the various foreign occupiers in the 1949 revolution and subsequent relative isolation of the city through the 1980’s by the victorious Communist regime preserved much of this environment.

Shanghai Business District – East Bank of the Huangpu River

Like many large commercial cities, it’s a fascinating place to visit with plenty to see, and is an excellent base for other China travel. The main issue is that you need to obtain a China entry visa, although in certain cases you can obtain up to 24, 72 or 144-hour transit visa exemptions.

Huangpu Neighborhood

Shanghai’s main city area is centered around People’s Square, a large park that also holds some museums, with largely residential districts to the west and the business district to the east. The eastern area is bordered by Shanghai’s famous Bund waterfront on the Huangpu River, with a concentration of unspoiled Art Deco era buildings that is hard to find except in other cities that grew rapidly in the mid-20th century, such as Detroit: https://wp.me/p7Jh3P-nP

The Bund

Shanghai’s layout reflects the two main 19th-20th century foreign settlements – the International Settlement (to the UK and USA) in the east along the riverfront (largely in the eastern part of the Huangpu District); and the French Concession, which runs to the southwest of People’s Square along Huaihai Middle Road and the northern part of the Xuhui District. Just south of the former International Settlement and next to the river is the old city, that was originally a walled city and which remained separate from the International Settlement to the North.

You could easily spend 3-4 days in Shanghai and find plenty to do, especially if you have never visited mainland China before. There are some pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods within the former French Concession area such as the rather upmarket Xintiandi and Tianzifang areas. The old city (start at Yuyuan Garden metro) is south and east of Renmin Road and includes some isolated archaeological remnants and gardens. Here are some ideas of in-town things to do, as well as some area side trips that I’ll write about later.

The Shanghai Museum (People’s Square – south side). If you want an introduction to Chinese history and culture, the Shanghai Museum is equivalent to a national art museum. You can get the various imperial dynasties – going back over 2,000 years – outlined in your head through the extensive watercolor, pottery, currency and other collections. I have always wondered how much of China’s historical artifacts survived the Cultural Revolution in 1966, and notably some of the material came from overseas Chinese collectors. The museum is closed Mondays and has free entry.

There is interesting transitional currency with late 19th/early 20th century bills.

The Bund and Art Deco Shanghai. Manhattan on the Yangtze: Shanghai has a high level of preservation of its buildings from the late 19th through the mid-20th century, and was a major commercial center of East Asia for the first half of the 20th century. You could be downtown in a US city that grew around that time. There are plenty of online offerings for historical tours to understand this – see below, but book ahead. China had been dealing with invasion by Japan since 1931 and Shanghai was attacked by the Japanese in 1932 and then again in 1937, being occupied until 1945.

The main business area is located northeast of People’s Square towards to the Bund, with many of the major buildings lining the Bund. If you want to pick one place to see, the Peace Hotel, originally opened as the Cathay Hotel in 1929, has an impressive Art Deco ground floor area.

Eating Around. Without getting into the usual street food obsession, Shanghai Chinese cooking works very well if you are after something light and casual, and there are plenty of formal restaurants covering the main cooking styles of China. The Shanghainese post-revolution diaspora has meant that many Shanghai specials have worked their way into the Chinese repertoire. A few key types include:

Xiao Long Bao – Soup filled dumplings, usually pork or shrimp, but vegetarian options are common.

Shengjiang Mantou – oh yeah. Soup filled dumplings with a flakier pastry shell, fried around the base.

Hongshao Rou – braised pork belly. A favorite of Chairman Mao apparently, although there are varieties nationwide.

Jiaohua Ji – beggar’s chicken. Stuffed, marinated and roasted in a paper shell.

For the most part, restaurants catering to the local crowd often offer picture menus where the menu is in Chinese. The various city shopping malls usually have a restaurant level – these are usually quite good in Asia as they are clean, bright and air-conditioned, and not at all the usual chain debacle you get in the West. Some that are worth a visit include:

Da Hu Chun (11 Sichuan Street, Huangpu) – full range Shanghai classics.

Di Shui Dong (56 Maoming S Road, Jing’an) – Hunan specialty.

Din Tai Fung ( Jing’an) – actually a Taiwanese chain (whose founder fled China in 1948) featuring Shanghainese specials and known for it’s xiao long bao, but a good entry-level restaurant with a simple menu.

Lao Fan Dian (Fujou and Juixiaocheng Streets, Huangpu) – another Shanghai standard.

Lin Long Fang (10 Jian Guo Dong Lu or SML Center, Huangpu) – great local mini chain.

Nan Ling (1238 Yainan Middle Street, Jing’an) – more formal Shanghai classics.

Shanghai Grandmother (70 Fuzhou Road, Huangpu) – multi-level family style offering.

The French Concession. The French Concession is a more residential, retail and green area, largely north and south of Huaihai Middle Road as it heads southwest from People’s Square, which provides contrast to the more urban/shopping/office focus in the Huangpu/Bund area east of People’s Park. It is also close to the Jing’an temple, which is worth a visit. It has a more relaxed and leafy atmosphere, in part because the French built wider, tree-lined streets. As mentioned earlier, the Xintiandi (aim for the metro station of the same name) and Tianzifang (southwest of the Jianguo West and Sinan Roads intersection) areas are good walking destinations.

Jaywalking on Julu Road

Dance Evening at Xianyang Park

The Jing’an Temple. The Jing’an temple, northwest of the French concession with a metro next to it, is well with a visit, centered around a great hall with a seated Buddha. There has been a temple in the area since 247 CE, and one on the current site since 1216; it burnt down in the 1970’s and was rebuilt in the 1980’s so is quite new, although various artefacts, such as the medieval Hongwu bronze bell, date back a ways. There is a good park just south of the temple to take a break and admire the greenery.

Walking Tours. Shanghai’s sights are well distributed around the neighborhoods and there isn’t a concentration of major points, so a walking tour can be useful. Here are a few and of course Tripadvisor has a selection:

The Shanghai Historical Society focuses on the 19th and 20th century and their walking tours are here: https://www.historic-shanghai.com/events/

Shanghai Walking Tours: http://shanghaiwalkingtour.com/english/walking_tours.html

Culinary Backstreets is food focused: https://culinarybackstreets.com/culinary-walks/shanghai/

Side Trips. There are a few cities in the Yangtze delta that are worth visiting, such as Suzhou and Hangzhou, about 30 and 60 minutes away by rail, respectively. You can always look for a bus or tour service, although rail is good option, connecting into the metro at both cities. Suzhou is a compact medieval city better suited to a day trip, while Hangzhou and it’s famous lake and forested hill park are more for an overnight stay.

Suzhou

Closer in is the canal town of Zhujiajiao, located in the western outskirts of the city facing Lake Dianshan, at the metro stop of the same name.

Logistics. I stayed at the Mansion Hotel (Xinle and Xiangyang Roads, Jing’an) and the Jing’an Campanile (425 Wulumuqi North Road), in the French Concession and Jing’an areas, respectively. Both have proximity to the metro which is worthwhile here. The Mansion Hotel is a one of a set of smaller hotels restoring pre-war Shanghai mansions, here designed by French architects in 1932 for a Shanghai syndicate leader and opened in 2007.

Airports. Shanghai is served by two airports – Pudong (PVG), the newer principal international gateway located east of the city on the coast; and Hongqiao (SHA), the original secondary airport located west of the city. Both have Metro stations and are about 60 and 45 minutes from People’s Square respectively. Pudong is also served by a fast (300 km/h) Maglev line to the Longyang Road Station in the eastern suburbs. This may save you some time although as you will have to change to get to the center it may be simpler to just use the metro.

Metro. The Shanghai Metro is an excellent way to get around the city. You can purchase a range of passes at the airport station or at any of the station customer service centers. Apart from individual tickets, there are 1- and 3-day passes or alternatively you can just buy the Shanghai Public Transportation Card which starts at Y100 and includes a Y20 deposit refundable on return of the card. Note that the metro stations are quite large and also have a security check (including bag x-ray machine). As to cab and ride hailing alternatives, note that Uber does not operate in China – you can try the main Chinese provider, Didi Chuxing, but check online for the latest as far as obtaining an English version of the app. Logistically, note that all metro entrances have a security checkpoint (with baggage x-ray so don’t carry a bag unless necessary) before the ticket barriers.

The Shanghai Metro is Extensive

Hongqiao Railway Station Main Departures Hall

Shanghai has four rail stations, the more central Shanghai Rail Station, Hongqiao (out west near the airport), the South and West stations. Note that the ticket office at the central station is in a separate building across from the main entrance. At Hongqiao, the ticket office is post-security in the main departures hall. The ticket offices are typically busy however the lines move quite fast.

Rapidly Moving Ticket Line, Shanghai Train Station

Stuck for a Gift? The First Food Hall (720 Nanjing Road East) is worth going to for a one-stop that covers Chinese products. A four-storey supermarket and food court, it has the feel of something from the Communist era and so is worth going to. Nanjing Road East is the main shopping street, pedestrianized east of People’s Square.

Craft Beer. Craft beer has reached China, or at least it’s more expat and overseas travelled populations, and it’s worth trying. Not surprisingly, the main providers are mostly in the French Concession area and you should focus on:

Boxing Cat Brewery (82 Fu Xing Road West and (under refit in July 2019) 521 Fu Xing Middle Road. My favorite I have to say, with the very floral and moderately bitter Sucker Punch pale ale, the very solid TKO west coast IPA and the excellent King Louie imperial stout.

Liquid Laundry (Kwah Centre 2/F, 1028 Huaihai Middle Road). Gastropub owned by Boxing Cat and with a solid beer menu including other beers and their own line. Good pale ales and IPAs.

Shanghai Brewing Company (15 Dongping Road). Decent craft beer selection.

Stone Brewing Tap Room (1107 Yu Yuan Road). Not entirely local as the San Diego area brewery expands globally, but worth supporting.

Visas and Visa-Free Transit. You usually require a visa to enter China, however certain cities, including Shanghai, permit visa-free entry for transit purposes (i.e. traveling between two different countries) with up to 24, 72 or 144-hour visit periods, for citizens of 53 countries. Here is a useful summary of the conditions and you should check latest conditions with the Chinese Embassy or a visa service before you go: https://www.travelchinaguide.com/tour/visa/free-transit-144-hours.htm

Georgia: Yup, That Georgia

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Georgia is a crossroads nation of almost 4 million people that sits between Russia, the Stans, Iran and Turkey and is a branch of the Silk Road. Georgia was founded as a single independent kingdom in the 12-13th centuries, which is often referred to as the Golden Age. Not many countries get to have an epic chivalric poem of 6,648 lines that defines their country’s heroic destiny, but Georgia does: The Knight in the Panther’s Skin by Shota Rustaveli, written around 1200. However, Georgia’s fate was also to have to deal with large adjacent Iranian, Ottoman and Russian states until finally absorbed by Tsarist Russia in the late 18th century. Georgia had a subsequent but brief period of independence starting in 1917 before being occupied by the Soviet Union in 1921.

Georgian Parliament Building with Demonstration

It’s a brilliant country to visit, with a very diverse geography contained in a relatively confined area, from its Black Sea Coastline in the west, the Caucasus mountains in the north, and a desert border to the south and east with a 8,000-year old wine country in between. This trip covers journeys to Tbilisi, north to Kazbegi at the Russian border, and finally east to the wine country and south to the monastery in the rocks, Davit Gareja.

Tbilisi. Some orientation from the Narikala Citadel, Tbilisi’s long standing fortress. looking north towards downtown Tbilisi. The old town is pretty much where the hill rolls out below, and further north from the old town is the mainly Soviet-era city center that starts at Rustaveli Avenue (named after the renowned Medieval-era poet), which is Tbilisi’s main avenue going north, loaded with Tsarist- and Soviet-era buildings.

Here we look east towards the new cathedral in the background and the Metekhi Church (c. 1280s) in the foreground, over the Mtkvari River, that flows from the Caucasus south into Azerbaijan.

Tbilisi has a combination of traditional Georgian building styles, Islamic influence, Tsarist and Soviet Russian, and more modern development post-independence. If you have a couple of days, you can have a pretty full itinerary between the old town, the usual museum/early medieval church/fort combo, pretty great restaurants and a very interesting wine culture. I visited in April when the weather was cool and pleasant. You can also bathe in the sulfur bath Hamams located in the Maidan neighborhood, dating from the 1700s and still very much open. Pushkin visited. The city has many hot springs. There are two worthwhile museums in town, the National Gallery (Rustaveli 11) and the Museum of Georgia (Rustaveli 3), which has some pretty stunning pre-Christian gold artefacts.

Traditional Georgian houses line a riverbed, before the Tbilisi Central, or Juma Mosque, built in 1895, and the hills beyond. The mosque is unique in that both Sunni and Shia muslims can pray together.

There are plenty of traditional balconied wooden houses, which provide relief in the dry hot summers.

More Russian-era housing is evident, much of which is in need of some upgrade.

There are plenty of neighborhood upgrade programs going on. Much of old town Tbilisi is being progressively renovated by the city to revitalize the older central areas.

Tbilisi’s Tsarist-era opera house has eastern touches that you’d expect from colonial administrators attempt to evoke the atmosphere of a country that they are already in.

You should try the local mineral water which has lots of fortifying chewiness. I liked Borjomi, which was reportedly Stalin’s favorite non-alcoholic beverage, but wouldn’t kick the Nabeghlavi out of bed either. I declined the Stalin desk flag souvenir at the time but now regret doing so. Stalin, Georgia’s most famous son, whether they like it or not, was born in Gori, a small town west of Tbilisi. His birthplace was made into a museum and can still be visited.

North to Kazgebi along the Caucasian Military Highway. The first road trip out of Tbilisi was north to Kazbegi in the Caucasus Mountains. The first stop is at Ananuri, a chapel overlooking a lake. The main buildings are from the mid-17th century although the watchtower is from the 12th.

The main road north through the Caucasus to Russia is the two-lane superbly named Caucasian Military Highway, that continues to Vladikavkaz in Russia. Here is an ex-military GAZ truck passing by for atmosphere. Basically anyone going north to south goes over this road, that started as a horse trail at the dawn of time and has improved into a pretty rough in places blacktop.

Heading north, the Caucasus mountains take form as you increase altitude.

And the sovbloc cars keep on coming.

Finally you hit snow conditions – in April.

There are plenty of barrier-free hairpin turns and happy grazing roadside cattle to support concentration.

And then once through the snow you coast down towards Kazbegi (or Stepantsminda) and the huge truck line waiting to clear the Russian border.

Kazbegi. I hiked up to the Gergeti Trinity Church (Tsminda Sameba) in Kazbegi, which was built in the 14th and 15th centuries. The Gergeti hike is a good day trip, although it can be done in half a day if you’re reasonably fit. To get to the church, you walk west out of town, cross over the Tergi River bridge and go through Gergeti village to reach the hillside tracks.

Gergeti village has traditional stone dwellings that look ready to deal with a long hard winter.

The effects of the war on a small Georgian town must have been significant, reflected in Gergeti’s Soviet-era war memorial.

You can cut up to the Gergeti church through the switchback vehicle service tracks until you find open hillside. It’s rather steep, although running shoes worked ok.

One the way up, looking east you can see the town of Kazbegi nestled in a bowl amongst the mountains.

The Gergeti church dates from the 14th and 15th centuries and is even more impressive when the surrounding mountains are in the background.

I then had to get back down the highway in the afternoon, which was as interesting as the ride up, with more whiteout and trucks.

The roads could be a bit rock-strewn, although the road was open and clear of snow.

I soon found that the periodic Soviet-era road tunnels lacked for lighting but not atmosphere.

And down into the misty wooded foothills.

The Wine Country and Signagi. From the Caucasian Military Highway, I headed southeast to spend the night at the Schuchmann winery hotel near Telavi. Telavi sits in the Alavani River valley, a major wine growing region. Georgian wine is worth a look, and Saperavi, a dry red, is usually obtainable overseas, along with a range of whites that include Rkatsiteli and Mtsivane. Georgia has been making wine for about 8,000 years, and still have a traditional line of production that involves fermentation in kvevri clay vessels. The following day, I continued east to the walled silk road trading city of Signagi, which sits on a high ridge overlooking the valley. Sighnagi was mostly built in the late 18th century, and was recently spruced up by the government so looks quite neat.

Signagi was protected by an extensive fort built in the late 18th century, that commands the Alazani River valley below to this day. It is huge and in pretty good condition, with a view northeast to the Caucasus range.

Davit Gareja. I made my way south to the cave monastery of Davit Gareja, just north of the Azerbaijani border amongst a set of rock formations. The original habitations, founded in the 6th century, were rock caves that then grew into a walled and towered monastery. The monastery is still active so be careful where you wander.

The monastery complex is a combination of cave dwellings, a large keep and chapel, partly surrounded by walls and towers.

Driving in Georgia involves a lot of unintentional tracks; this is the road in and out of Davit Gareja, which is best done in daylight.

Logistics.

Tbilisi airport is easy to use and a cab into town is quick (20-30 minutes) and reasonable. The airport rail gets you to Tbilisi Central Station (which is about 4km north of the old town however) in 40 minutes and connects you into Tbilisi’s Soviet-era metro, which is efficient and worth using within the city.

I stayed just north of the old town on the west side of the river, and was able to walk around for the most part. Whole sections are under redevelopment so don’t be surprised to find a lot of construction. Restaurants are excellent and I’d recommend (addresses are findable):

Barbarestan – good traditional Georgian food and more than the usual khachapuri (bread with a cheese center), although the kinkhali dumplings are great here.

Schuchmann – cellar restaurant, worth going to check out the different wines. Georgian grapes are mostly unique to the country. Their hotel is located in Kisikshevi with details at: http://www.schuchmann-wines.com/hotel/contact/

Samikitno – cafe-type Georgian, good for staples such as khachapuri.

Shavi Lomi – Georgian fusion in a subterranean venue.

There are plenty of wine bars in town given Georgia’s range of production – some worth visiting include Tsangala’s and Code de Vino. Some of the major wineries, like Schuchmann, Shumi and Mukhrani have their own wine bars in the old town.

Driving. Car hire is reasonable in Georgia and the roads are well signposted. The standard of driving and road manners was good. There are major freeways on the main routes that are good, but many of the secondary roads can be slow going given the terrain. Be aware that Georgia relies more on dirt tracks between significant communities than you may be used to in the west, so if you’re going between smaller towns the roads are usually fine but check the grade, just in case.

Rail. If you plan to head east or west out of Tbilisi, Georgian Railways are worth a look http://www.railway.ge/en/passenger-traffic/, and also provide international service to Yerevan and Baku. Turkish connections can be obtained via the border city of Akhalkalaki. Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan have recently cooperated on a passenger and freight route between Kars in Turkey to Baku in Azerbaijan, which involves a gauge change at Akhalkalaki.

Aero Trekka

The World Has Many Corners, Let's Go See Them

Monthly Archives: July 2019

Hangzhou: Don’t Hesitate to Irrigate

Shanghai’d

Georgia: Yup, That Georgia