Midnight plane to Georgia

By the time we arrived at our hotel in Tbilisi, it was around 3 in the morning, Georgia time. Only 1 am Brussels time, but still, it had been a long day of travelling. A 3-hour flight to Kyiv, a couple of hours to change planes and then another 3 hours to Tbilisi. Funnily enough though, we were quite energised, so when the hotel guy suggested we go up straight away to check out the rooftop terrace, we took up the invitation for our first good look at the capital.

The Narikala Fortress overlooks the city

The new Bridge of Peace. I can see why it’s not a favourite with everyone, but I think saying it resembles a maxi pad, as some people apparently do, goes a bit far.

We didn’t want to waste too much of the next day in bed, so after a shortish sleep we were up in time for a 10 am breakfast at the hotel, which was a huge and delightful array of eggs, bread, cheese, fruit and something that looked like pilaf. We ate so well, we didn’t need any lunch! As usual when I visit a city, Day 1 was more or less reserved for walking around - we clocked up almost 12 kilometres. This was our main sightseeing day in Tbilisi though, so we fit in quite a lot of the main sights as well.

First up, we visited the Sioni Cathedral, a more-or-less 13th century building with pretty, mostly 19th century frescoes.

It’s definitely wedding season in Georgia - we’ve been unwitting guests at like 3 of them already.




We stopped at the Anchikhati Basilica (no photos allowed) before heading to the national museum. We only saw the ground floor, which houses golden treasures from Georgia’s early history and pre-history. The legend of the Golden Fleece was actually supposed to have taken place in Georgia, which has long had a reputation for its gold deposits. The museum offered several different explanations for the legend, one of which is a possible technique for dredging small particles of gold from the rivers by dipping a sheepskin in the water. Whatever the truth of it, there were some gorgeous objects on display, many of which wouldn’t look out of place if worn these days.

Stele of Daniel in the lion’s den. Georgia is one of the oldest countries to have Christianity as its state religion (after Armenia, I think).



A carving of an early Georgian king presenting the church he had built. Jules made me laugh way too hard by calling him monkey man.

I loved the way the fine arts museum, next door to the national museum, almost seemed see-through with its reflections of the sky.

A patriotic Georgian street

From the museum, we walked back downhill a bit to the river, where you can catch a funicular up to the fortress on the hill. It’s a pretty fun short ride which costs less than a euro.

The cable car plying its trade up the hill above Old Tbilisi

View from the top. Our new camera is a wee bit over-enthusiastic with the blurred background effect

The hill also hosts a statue of Mother Georgia. No disrespect, but the one in Kyiv is still #1. (I climbed 91 metres up inside it - this one is a mere 20.)

Selfie on the fortress walls




We were pretty exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel, so we chilled a bit on the roof terrace, watched the F1, and then headed out in the evening for some delicious khinkali dumplings. There is a special khinkali etiquette - you grab it by the ‘handle’ up top, bite into it a little to suck out the juices, and then eat most of the rest. Apparently, Georgians will laugh at you if you manage to spill any of the juices (luckily there were none scrutinising me, although Jules did a decent job) and eating the ‘handle’ is seen as a mortifying display of extreme financial distress. We had meat, potato and cheese flavoured varieties, they were delicious!

Urbane Urbino

After the Riviera, we started to head north again, to Urbino, another walled hilltop city, still in the Marche region. It's probably chiefly known for its Renaissance dukedom, and as the birthplace of Raphael. We parked at the foot of the hill, and it took quite some time to figure out how to get up into the city. I found a staircase where you can walk up inside the fortifications, but the promised elevator remained elusive. As it was a while before we could check in to our hotel, we left our bags in the car and set out to see a bit of the city before lunch. (We eventually did find the elevator to bring our bags up, you have to go inside the tourist office and pay a euro to use it, then it pops out on top of the city wall next to a cafe.)

 We were staying in an "antique room" dating from 1544, which was pretty fun. I've never been in a hotel room with a "feature well" before!

We ended up buying a light fixture similar to the star-shaped one on the ceiling here. They seem to be traditional in the area, also appearing in the Ducal Palace

The well

On the city walls with the Ducal Palace to the right

View of the surrounding countryside from the walls

Before lunch, we went to the Oratorio of St John the Baptist, a small 14th century chapel covered with frescoes by the Salimbeni brothers. It's so pretty. It's kind of unbelievable you can have these tiny little buildings filled with such treasures that no-one has ever heard of. Imagine the big deal this would be most places in the world.

This photo gives a sense of the monumental scale of the frescoes

Panorama of the crucifixion scene and the right-hand wall, with scenes from the life of John the Baptist

Expressive lamentations at the Crucifixion. And... is that kid kicking the other kid in the face?

Detail of the crucifixion scene with a naughty dog

St John the Baptist at work, with bonus dog curled up on a pile of clothes. Haven't quite mastered the "standing on top of a river" thing though

Nice naturalistic detail of someone disrobing to be baptised

Hey, it's the KKK getup from the Perugia paintings. This seems to have been how members of the confraternity dressed

The Oratorio also offered great views of the Ducal Palace rising over the rooftops

As you can see, it was a beautiful, warm day and lunch was a local speciality, crescia. Kind of like a stuffed flatbread, but much flakier. With the addition of lard in the dough, it's really more like a pastry than a bread, and 100% delicious. We went to a little hole in the wall place and queued for ages, but it was so worth it.

Photo doesn't do justice to the deliciousness, but I promise you it was cheesy meaty flakey pastry goodness. We went there twice in our time in Urbino

La dolce vita

Modena is an overwhelmingly pleasant city. Not as touristy even as Bologna (or Florence for that matter, where we are right now) and not as bustling as Ferrara, it leaves you with an overwhelming feeling of la dolce vita. If you watched the second season of Master of None, you might already be tempted to move here, and I can confirm, it's the kind of place that has you lingering outside real estate offices thinking "why not?". You don't seem to need to move faster than an amble, and there are plenty of pleasant places to window shop or stop for a drink, gelato or meal.

Modena Duomo. I loved all the beautiful Romanesque carvings

Alley next to the Duomo

Some wild grape-eating creature

Beautiful chapel inside

A lion caught a knight!

Very dangerous, these lions!

Squished by the weight of his column

Modena's central market

For lunch, we found this delightfully retro place that seemed to be frozen in the sixties/seventies (the Oreste). The gentleman in the picture, the owner (?) informed us at the beginning of the meal that there were no waiters today due to an unspecified problem, so he served everyone himself using a little tray on wheels. Service therefore proceeded at a glacial pace, but the food was delicious and the ambience was a lot of fun - you can just see the old record-playing jukebox on the left. The next table to us was made up of an odd trio of an older guy in a suit, looking very Mafia don, who kept stepping out to take calls on his cellphone, and two much younger guys, one of which looked kind of like an 80s greaser and the other who was dressed in a tracksuit, baseball cap, and mirrored sunglasses indoors. It was fun to concoct outlandish stories about what the made man and his goons were up to today.

After lunch, I treated my Bolognese friend to some gelato

Modena has some porticos too

Synagogue, with soldiers

So cathedral, food, more food, walking around and handbag shopping - that was it for Modena, and very pleasant it was too. When we move there, I promise you can all visit.