Welcome back to Georgia my Travelfeed friends! Some of my first blogs on this platform were actually from Tbilisi, where I have been stuck for few months during the first worldwide lockdown. I am really happy I had a glimpse of what this awesome city looked like before the plandemic really kicked in. Even then, Tbilisi changed drastically. People dissapperded and what is otherwise a buzzing capital became a ghost town.
This time everything was different however. The Russia-Ukraine conflict grew to such proportions that nearly half a million Russians found refuge here in Georgia. It is clearly visible out on the streets. There is about hundred times more people than during the lockdown. What a contrasting experience for me still remembering the "old" Tbilisi.
My mission in Georgia was simple. I had to kill some time before my winter job starts, and so I was left with nearly a full month of travels. Georgia always fascinated me and I wanted to come back to see more. During my first stay I have only seen a small part of this colorful place...
As many of you might know, Georgia is one of the easiest places in the world to visit and even to open a bank account. I did that three years ago and I wanted to renew my online banking while here. As I was getting ready to embark on my phone operator and bank's local branch run, I have met Mohamed from Lebanon and we have tried to open him the same. We really put the Georgian banking system to a time test. Mohamed chose the Bank of Georgia and we both had our cards ready the next afternoon. I asked for a new one as well as mine was slowly running out of date. Let me close this topic with a simple statement: Georgian banking services have no competition when it comes to customer service...
Next thing on our program was to visit the old town. That is also where I've lived during my last visit. I usually don't visit countries without any agenda. Georgia was a first country I've been visiting purely as investor/investigator. That got postponed a little by the virus and I had to come back to see what more this country has to offer. But for now we will stay in the old town of Tbilisi...
I wanted to see how my former apartment looks now. The purple door on the last picture used to be my entrance. Property prices went through the roof in Tbilisi and I was really surprised to see my old apartment empty - without a sign of any life at all. The owner had some plans on making a hostel out of his property, but somehow that didn't seemed to happen yet.
Unfortunately the massive change that Tbilisi went through cannot be clearly seen from my photos. Maybe if I would photograph people on the streets, one could see their faces being more "woke slav" as that seems to be the dominant type of the new inhabitants here. Lot of girls with blue hair and gamer type guys if you know what I mean. It is not really my crowd of people and so I am not going to judge them too much. Most cool people that I've met in Tbilisi this time were not from Europe at all. Iranians, Lebanese, Indians, Japanese all visit Georgia for the ease of visa restrictions. In fact during my stay a "The New Silk Road Forum" was taking place - representing what might be the future of this Caucasus country...
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