If you ever decide to come here, be ready to meet the wind awaiting you after your journey through the old streets to reach the gardens in front of the main cathedral of the Georgian Orthodox Church
You will be greeted by traditional medieval Georgian architecture mixed with classicist elements
Many local and foreign visitors and worshippers are attracted by the murals, breathtaking frescoes, and stunning carvings, so a peaceful atmosphere cannot be guaranteed
Personally, I enjoyed my walk to the cathedral more than the actual chapels. The streets are always busy and loud, offering an authentic Kartuli experience: arguing bus drivers, stalls with fruits and vegetables, and elderly ladies peeking from their windows to keep track of who is passing by
Late March. Late morning. The air is still cool after the night. The locals are still asleep; only tourists are wandering through the town.
Rydal Keener and you are the only customers at a bar on the coastline; a coffee for him and chai for you to start the day. Perhaps a shared dessert.
The quiet halls of a museum are awaiting you after the slow breakfast. That is one of the perks of spending weekends in Southern Europe: no rush, even the sun takes its time before burning kids’ noses.
After many years of living in cities the size of which is no more than a matchbox on a map, a promenade before supper is more of a necessity than a luxury.
Another beautiful thing that shouldn’t be taken for granted is buskers accompanying your semi-sweet wine with the sound of a local tradition.
I've never reviewed museums before, even though I'm a big fan, because I thought I didn't have enough authority to do so. But can we rename it My Traveling Notes and avoid using big, loud words to describe anything in my blog?
I'm visiting Baku now, and I had wanted to visit a carpet museum for a long time. Growing up in a multicultural family, we always had a carpet on the wall as part of the decoration. The only thing was that I knew nothing about the craft of carpet-making, so this was a great opportunity to learn about something that had always been present in my life but had never fully caught my attention.
The building itself is amazing, it's shaped like a folded carpet. The location is very convenient, right on a long boulevard near the sea.
In my opinion, the interior of the museum wasn't as impressive as it could have been, and it's not because the exhibition was poor. The carpets from different centuries, made with various techniques, were incredible. I'm talking about the organization. Even though a few carpets had brief information about them, many others weren't explained well. If you're looking to simply admire them rather than learn, I think the collection is very good. Another thing I appreciated was that you could see a few carpets from private collections.
Another small thing that made the visit more enjoyable was the opportunity to touch some smaller pieces. I remember tracing them as a kid.
I almost forgot to mention the most fascinating piece of art, a woman sitting in front of a loom, creating an amazing carpet with her bare hands.
The most culturally significant part of any museum for me is the gift shop, so I'm dedicating my last paragraph to it.
I was disappointed here. I don’t judge when museum gift shops sell overpriced pieces if they’re exclusive, but selling something you can find at the nearest bazaar for ten times cheaper is a crime against humanity. The good and bad thing at the same time was that they had a few postcards with illustrations of carpets, but the selection was very limited. Also, they asked me to pay in cash, even though I saw they had card terminals. When I said I didn’t have local currency, they said they could accept euros, which was weird, but okay.
Some of the things I’ve gotten used to since moving from Asia
Sweet breakfasts. I still prefer a savoury one, but I can sometimes start my day with a coffee and a pastry
Eating anywhere. My favourite is sitting on the steps outside a church while it’s closed for siesta
Drinking alcohol as casually as a soft drink. A glass of wine or a cocktail with supper just makes it taste better
Window shopping. Before, it had only been a term from an English student’s book. Now it’s a real thing for me
Taking my time while shopping. No pressure from shop assistants; they don’t really care whether you’re there or not
Going to churches just to relax. In my country, there are Orthodox churches, and they’re low-key strict about head coverings and similar things, so it’s always felt inconvenient to step inside
I’ve been adding Oscar’s characters to my posts because I feel like no one would read them if I didn’t mention him. Just wanted to explain, in case anyone was wondering why most of my posts seem centered around him
So today I wandered to a small off the beaten path area that has a pasty shop (cordon bleu pasty is yummy!), a yarn store (I might go learn to crochet finally!), and a small park that I thought would have historical info everywhere and more walking paths etc...but it did not. It had more of a beachy pitstop vibe. It was too dang hot out (feels like early 100's and no wind really) to hang out much & trying to budget/not squander, but had a lovely drive! Wandered down a road I haven't been on as well! Love wandering doing random roads, like what's down this way! (if anything of note) gosh I'm sweaty and wanna take a nap after that heat @.@
