Georgia Kutaisi 7 August 2023 In the few months of living in Tbilisi, I managed to conduct several lectures on information security, develop a Telegram bot with information about the local municipal transport system's bus movement, and meet many interesting and wonderful people. However, the time has come to move on: firstly, some time ago, I moved my mother to Sakartvelo because the police were threatening to plant drugs on her. Secondly, there's a chance that my younger brother will agree to move to Sakartvelo soon. All this meant that it was time to look for new accommodation where I can house my family. Compared to Tbilisi, the town really feels more spacious: this effect is achieved mainly because not many people live in Kutaisi. Just what I needed. The air here is cleaner, and there's a pleasant warm breeze in the evenings. Kutaisi is not covered in graffiti, and it's almost impossible to find litter strewn around the streets, which can't be said for Tbilisi. In the morning and evening, I constantly see cleaners on the streets who conscientiously do their job: I was genuinely pleasantly surprised by how clean and tidy Kutaisi is. A bus fare costs only 0.6 GEL if you pay with a local transport card, which you can purchase at "Daily" supermarkets and TBC bank branches. The transport system is quite well-developed, so getting from one end of town to the other is usually not a problem if you know the layout of the bus stops and which routes intersect with each other. The bus fleet is completely updated, and the buses have air conditioning. Taxis around the town cost next to nothing: for example, you can get from one end of town to the other for 4-5 GEL. Unlike in Tbilisi, drivers here are more attentive on the roads and yield to pedestrians when they are crossing at pedestrian crossings. The city has existed for over 3,000 years, so strolling through it, one can easily discover layers from completely different eras. For example, the majestic Bagrati Cathedral is incongruously overlaid with modernity in the form of a lift, which was constructed during Saakashvili's reign (the cathedral was actually removed from UNESCO's list because of this). In the city centre, there's the Colchis Fountain, illustrating myths about ancient Colchis. An interesting observation: buses going to the centre from my street make two rounds around this fountain due to the positioning of the stops. Admiring the fountain from the bus window is priceless. I settled near the railway station because I love to travel. For instance, right after moving to Kutaisi, I found that trains run from this station to Batumi. I haven't checked yet how much a trip to Batumi costs, but I have been to the sea in Kobuleti: the train fare there was only 2 GEL. The only downside for those who don't like to wake up early: the train leaves early in the morning at 5:40. It returns to Kutaisi around 23:00. The journey to Kobuleti takes about three hours, which is ample time for a good rest. One of the places in Kutaisi that I've come to love is the embankment, where there are almost no people in the evening (because they gather on the bridge to admire the views from there). From the embankment, you can admire the flow of the Rioni River, one of the largest in the South Caucasus. I often come to the embankment in the evenings with a book, to read to the sound of the rapidly flowing river. One of the most significant visible drawbacks of this city for me has been the street lighting: due to some strange misunderstanding, the city administration has preferred white lamps to yellow ones, making it almost impossible to walk around the city at night without your eyes hurting. You actually get used to this quickly, but at first, it looks unusual. In Tbilisi, for example, there's none of this nonsense: at night, the whole city is lit with yellow, not white. Copyright (c) 2023 contact@renecoignard.com Powered by Weblog v1.17.16