I was a little disappointed in breakfast because it was pretty much all western. I read in Lonely Planet that Georgians don't really eat anything for breakfast, save for khachapuri, so maybe that's why the food was standard western breakfast eats. No pictures of breakfast because I'm sure most people have seen what an omelet or a bowl of muesli looks like.
Around 11:30, I met up with my colleagues to grab lunch and then head over to our coordinating unit's offices in Tbilisi. We ended up back at the hotel restaurant for food because the driver was coming to pick us up at 1, and everyone felt it'd be easier this way. They served bread with lots of salted and herbed butters:
And then I ordered khachapuri and a bowl of minestrone, which looked more like consommé with some vegetables. I didn't get a picture of the soup, but here's a picture of the cheese bread:
I guess it kind of looks like cheese pizza without sauce. It's pretty intense because it's thin dough wrapped around lots of cheese in the middle. And this particular one was also topped with more cheese. I only managed to eat one slice.At 1 pm, the driver picked us up to go to the grantee's offices. He took a roundabout route that took us through some residential areas. I wish I could have taken pictures because some of the houses were literally shacks with tin roofs and missing bricks. And it's also pretty chilly outside right now (similar weather as Washington), but I saw many houses with clothes hanging out to dry.
Our grantee's offices are very nice. It's gated, it's got a gigantic fish tank, 3 floors, and a gigantic stuffed panda at the top of the stairs. I'll try and take a picture of the panda when we visit them again tomorrow.
We met with the Conservation Director of the program first, then with our project coordinator in Georgia. The Conservation Director invited us to go to a workshop taking place in the forest this weekend, which I was really excited about, but then he went on to say that we'd be in a meeting all day and, therefore, we wouldn't really see anything. But after putting in about half a day of work (keep in mind, we didn't arrive in Tbilisi till 3 am!), the driver took us back to the hotel.
This is what it looks like at night outside my hotel. I can see the fountain from my window.
Finally, we went to a place called Marco Polo for dinner. We passed several street vendors selling everything from felt balls to horns. There were also several street vendors who sold cigarettes and what looked to be peanuts. So maybe you would buy a handful of peanuts?
I had this dish with roasted eggplant and a walnut paste on top.
And then I had some bread with beans inside. It doesn't taste as weird as it sounds. In fact, it was quite good. I'm really looking forward to exploring some more and I really want to go to one of those sulphur hot baths and get a massage for GEL5.00...or about $3.00. Perfect!
2 comments:
the people in the street most probably sell wool socks. you should get some, they are not soft but really really warm. and really cheap. maybe you can ask them if there is a good yarn store in tbilisi?
if you feel like a not-so-pricey western-style cafe, try the cafe in prospero's books. it's laid back, they speak english, and you can browse in regional interest books. it's on rustaveli (your street) i think about halfway between your hotel and the marco polo. same side. might be hard to find among the construction.
also, you're right across the square from a very good khachapuri dive in the basement of this old house. that's all they have, khachapuri in about 14 variations, but you can try to watch the owner's wife make the khachapuri from scratch for each order through a curtain in the kitchen. i thought it was quite homey. i'll draw and scan a map tomorrow at work.
oh and i forgot, if you want a lighter soup, try the egg-lemon soup, similar to the greek version. it's called chikhirtima (or something like that). i don't know how good non-domestic food is in tbilisi, they're pretty into their own cuisine...not that you shouldn't try...
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