Pavement art

9 April park

So now I'm in Tbilisi, sitting in a park, dedicated to an uprising on the 9th April 1989 which was put down, violently, by the Soviet Army. It happened on the street in front of my hotel.

From Wikipedia:

The April 9 tragedy refers to the events in Tbilisi, on April 9, 1989, when an anti-Soviet (but pro-Stalin) demonstration was dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 21 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

I find the pro Stalin comment interesting.

Here's a memorial although there seem to be too many names.

It's here (click this link)

And this lady is also in the park, I don't know who she is, but some monkey has enhanced her pubic region with a black felt tip pen.

Bus to Tbilisi

And then on another minibus to Tbilisi past miles of filthy industry, belching smoke and then past acres of this squalid housing.

The border

Ive made it through the border. Very nice staff on both sides. The passport man made a joke about me being James Bond.

Here (click on this link)

The dear leader

His image is everywhere, I asked the taxi driver, Shaheen, by thumbs up or thumbs down whether he was good. Shaheen responded enthusiastically with two thumbs up. I thought Azerbaijan was riddled with corruption but that message doesn't seem to have reached him.

Another odd thing in both Georgia and Azerbaijan is that there don't seem to be any newspapers. In Greece you will see old men sitting, reading a paper and drinking coffee but here there are none. I wonder if that's a legacy from the Soviet past.