First day in 'Bilisi

Lots of memories of Damascus here - finding many similarities, or otherwise I'm not travelling very far. But it is different, and much easier here.

First days seem to begin with getting lost and going around on foot a lot, which I did until lunch. Managed to walk to the football stadium. There is a shopping labyrinth there that was quite something. A consumer black hole, requiring either bread crumbs, a good memory, or a modest visiting strategy. All surfaces except for the floor and ceiling were dissolved by the cover of everyday goods. And it had a kind of unintelligent design to it all, like tunnels carved by ants.

A young Russian woman had been drawing at the guesthouse today, as her husband is ill. We went out to lunch, and I accept the generous waterfall of travel and food tips that come. It started with her seeing me with a drink which did not meet her approval. She thought that she would withhold comment. But she thought the better if it, and felt strongly that I should learn a few things. So I have now been given a run-down of a menu, and tonight she gifted me with matsoni (a kind of plain yogurt) and borjomi (a kind of mineral water). She also gifted me with the notion of 'generous, but dangerous,' referring to different incidents of local generosity which have happened to her.

(There must be a game on at the stadium - someone just cried out here in the neighbourhood, and then it sounded like there was a big wind above the city. I have been told I should stay put in this guesthouse to get a sense of the everyday here. It's now become a big and recurrent wind...).

Tomorrow I am off on a day tour, specifically to the wine region of Kakheti. From the internet, I could only get information about private tours, and I can tell you that these are very expensive. From guidebooks, I get useful information on the public long-distance transport network, on which can get one can travel far for very little. However, now that I am here, I have happily found the middle-ground: the locally organized, inexpensive group day tour. I don't remember this option existing in Damascus, but I am sure they would have come had the war not broken out.