First order of the day: apply for an Azerbaijani visa. First disappointment of the day: the visa department of the Azerbaijani embassy only accepts applications Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Of course you only learn that when you’re being turned away at their door; this info is not on their website.
Strolled around the old part of the city several times today. Successfully getting lost (intended) and getting a feel for the place. And finding a barber shop. There’s lots of ‘Beauty Salons’, but not a single one of the small, dodgy, run-by-an-old-guy, cheap barber shops located in a single room in the basement of an old house that I was looking for. Got a hair and beard-do anyway. It was done with a machine built in the GDR(!), so it’s at least 20 years old. At times it felt like the guy was trying to tattoo me.
Tbilisi is cool (not in terms of temperatures!). Lots of little shops in the streets, all selling basically the same items: bottled drinks, ice cream, cigarettes. Many small bakeries selling freshly baked … not bread. All kinds of Georgian baked things which I don’t know the names of, some filled, some plain. Older women selling sunflower seeds, single cigarettes or paper tissues in the streets from mini stalls (just an upside-down cardboard box); live music (guitar and a full drum kit) in the subway. Flea market on the Saarbruken bridge, with Soviet memorabilia, medals, money, knives, daggers, sabres, porcelain, glass ware, tools, books. Allmost all of which are really second-hand, unlike on ‘flea markets’ back home.
Traffic is massive.
Zoltán cooked a great gulyás for dinner – it took ages and was ready right for the midnight meal.
I’m working on getting pictures ready to upload here. You’ll find today’s samples below. :)
For the interested, some interim statistics about this trip:
- 6 countries cycled,
- 2540km on the bike + ~1200km on the ferry + ~50km hiking,
- 11GB of pictures taken.
