Georgia. EU MM

[msmob]

When I was with Mass in York.. Stalin's birth place..I saw a few EU flags with EUMM


I did not realise that following the brief hostilities in 2008, that the EU was still involved in peace keeping

When you drive to Batumi from Tbilisi one passes  a few metres from a Georgian check point..a track the leads to a village in S Ossetia.


Both Poti,.the main port, and Gori were occupied by Russian forces in 2008.

11 years on and  older Georgians speak Russian, but the young study English.

Russian tourists are welcome, and can serve without a visa, but Georgians need a visa to visit Russia......

When one drives on the highways one sees signs to 'Sukumi' which is in 'Abkhazia' ..Russia's Kosovo...

Russian regards this as an independent state and one cannot drive to Sukhumi...referred to as Sukhum by Russians and Abkhazians.

War is sad..

It would be great to be able to drive up the  Black Sea coast to Sochi..


This is the  mess created by Stalin...who put Abkhazians is Georgia SSR and split Ossetia.

I am fascinated by places like these.....from Ireland, Cyprus and this region of the Caucasus...  Centuries of constant movement of borders still goes on....((

All the people are lovely and I can see the deep roots many Georgians have in SW Russia..especially cuisine.

Until you visit a place..One never really  can feel what you see on a map.

Russia is less than an hour's drive up the road..  Armenia the same time to the east... Azerbaijan is close and I walked to the Turkish border, near Batumi and saw a sign for Tehran..approx -600 mil...

Georgia is incredibly beautiful and the food wine...AMAZING..

I can even recognise the letters in their alphabet.36 characters...


I hope it will not be too long before we return to explore more

Maxx has chosen well

[Maxx2]

I've driven to near the Armenian and Russian borders. It seemed like it takes at least a few hours to get there. Then there are places that beacon to pull over and explore. But that would make getting to the border even a few hours more. This is not as a "crow flies" country, especially north through the greater Caucasian mountains. Maps can be deceiving. If I wanted to get to the Georgian Russian border, have lunch, take a quick look around, takes some photos here and there and get back to Tbilisi I would schedule at least 6 hours.



The road back to Tbilisi from the Russian border. Notice the 30 KPH sign.

Yes, it is too bad about all the fussing and fighting and all the restrictions on travel.