Herefordshire News, Hereford News, - From The Hereford Times

Tbilisi

Posted on 6:32pm Tuesday 28th September 2010

Those freshly arrived in Tbilisi could think that they have walked onto the set of a gangster film by mistake. Most of the men are dressed in black. Large men,, who look like minders wear black Tshirts, black shirts and black trousers. The days of when a hotel lobby had a notice saying 'pistols may be kept, but submachine guns must be handed in at the desk'have long gone. Women too tend to wear black skirts ot trousers and the older ones have ankle-length black dressed and scarves. The city itself is built on both sides of the river Mtkvari. Houses and churches perch on the cliff above the river on the 'left bank'. while on the other side a huge citadel dominates its surroundings from the top of a high almost vertical hill. There is massive new building going on in the Old Town, but great care is being taken to make sure the modern blends with the old. They are used to rebuilding, over the ages the Seljuk Turks, Mongols, Persians and Ottomans have all sacked the town. There are pictures in many of the churches of the Muslims beheading the Christians who wouldn't convert. This religious oppression has led to a strongly devout Orthodox church. On Saturday evenings and Sundays the churches ,are packed. The congregation stand and because of the length of some of the services the worshipers can come and go as they please. All the women cover their heads and many people cross themselves three times when they pass a church. Everyone is welcome, I walked in on a baptism, as did several others, but neither the priest nor the parents minded. In the next couple of days I will be going up into the mountains to talk to some horsemen. The mountain people are a law unto themselves, having not really been bothered by the invaders who were prepared to pay local warlords to protect their flsnks. The temperature change will be quite a shock, it is a muggy 30 here, but up there they are only a few days off the first snows.