This was my first exposure to the Georgian alphabet. If I had to guess what it says, I’d roll with, “Pedophile Art Studio: I specialize in painting naked children.”
Hips don’t lie
Did you know that supreme Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had once been a young Georgian chap named Ioseb Jughashvili?
CCCP – Cyrillic denotation of the Soviet Union
Geezer statue near the Azerbaijani consulate where I’d been handling visa issues
A billboard ad for EAD or Elvis American Diner
Just like in Armenia and Azerbaijan, a lot of people in Georgia tend to wear black jackets all the time…
…except this rebel who stood out in his ridiculous purple windbreaker.
Typical-looking Georgian Orthodox church
From a distance I saw this building that looked like it was about to tip over.
Guess it was designed that way…bizarre
There were a lot of head statues all over Tbilisi. Whose heads they were, I haven’t a clue.
Icabod Crane lookin’ asses
Gimme mo’ head
Beat-up apartment complex in the same area
Side of the same building in the picture previous
Apartment building down the street
Georgians love to booze
In fact, Georgians love to booze so much that I saw this little personal reminder posted on the dashboard of a car I’d been walking past.
Mmm…You can really taste the KLASIK
Beer nuts – You know they’re good when the can’s got a mustache guy giving the thumbs-up on it
Georgian Lari. 1USD=Approximately1.6GEL
When you fold Georgian Lari a certain way, the images on the currency look blowjobbingly gay
Beat the Meatles
Monument of St. George slaying a dragon in Freedom Square
Local cab driver named Irakli which sounds kind of like how Scooby Doo would pronounce the word “exactly”
I paid Irakli to drive me out to David Gareja Monastery one day and it almost turned into a huge disaster. I’ll one day soon be writing about the incident.
Get shitfaced – Commie style
Classic Tbilisi porch
Classic Tbilisi dude smoking a cig under the classic Tbilisi porch in the picture previous
Average-looking Tbilisi building
“The Mater Fuckers”
Old Soviet ads…
Ditto
Same
Dude hossing a bottle of vodka on the steps midday
Hairy Georgian dude
“Peace At All!” “Make Love Not War”
“8 Rules of Religion” – Fight Club lookin’ asses
Angry Birds is EVERYWHERE
Middle Finger
Giorgi Leonidze
Georgian woman takin’ a load off at the park
At the park, people would lay out all their shit and try to sell it
Got enough knives there, guy?
Pot dealer
One of the venders up close
I shoulda bought that Commodores album
Using the hood of a crap car to sell their crap
I’d been taking a picture of this boss when…
…this strange glittery woman also wanted a photo.
As did the pervert she was with.
At the park there’d been an outdoor art exhibition, so, naturally, I had to pop in…
Tbilisi
Same
Tooting their own horns
Tbilisi porches
“Burrrrrr!” – Gucci Mane
Old dudes playing chess near the art
Me squeezin’ a titty
Just watchin’ the world go by…
My French buddy Alain pretending to have his portrait drawn
A church in the distance with the word “fuck” written in graffiti at the bottom. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “fuck” is the most commonly spray-painted word on walls all over the world.
Don’t ask me why, I just felt compelled to photograph this pile of shit I came across on the sidewalk
A wedding gown store appropriately named “Marriage”
“Excuse me, can I buying newspaper from you?”
“Yeah, what’s the address?…46 Incoherent Squiggle Street?…Yeah, yeah, okay – I got it.”
MMMkay
Statue Boy
Bag Lady
Laundry day
Abanotubani – the ancient district of Tbilisi
Grown-up kid walking on rails for fun
Old dudes playing “bored” games
Abanotubani
On the left is the entrance to the sulfur baths
Church by night
Too bad they didn’t have baby back “reabs”
“Where now?” You tell me, motherfucker!
Chaplin
“Love Always Wins” with a person burning in a fire thinking of infinity. I’m still not quite sure how to interpret this street art as of yet
“Sorry, where is Contemporary Art Museum???” “3 Little Pigs”
Wonder if the “3 Little Pigs” had any relation to this “Pig Destroyer” tag I saw a mile away
“Animals Have Rights” The right to taste delicious?
Boats & hos, boats & hos, gotta have me more boats & hos
Church’s Chicken operates outside North America as Texas Chicken
Freedom Square in the p.m.
Named Lenin Square during the Soviet era, the Lenin statue formerly overlooking Freedom Square was brought down in 1991
“Open heart, open mind”…open legs?
General Georgian sentiment
Alain doin’ a SUCK IT! in front of the Georgian flag
Fuckin’ Chuck Norris
Lost Love? Is that what that says?
Da fuck?
A “windows of Tbilisi” poster
The Georgian Parliament building
I shoulda bought that Limp Bizkit wristband…what the hell was I thinking?
Tbilisi lookin’ fresh
Tracksuit Boy
Crossing his legs to hide his boner
Man writing at a table in the park
Ancient woman
Nice local building right across from…
…this bridge housing an assload of graffiti.
East Cost Slayers or Players? Either way, their crew is being discredited by the dripping donger there in the picture
“I have a drem” that I will one day learn how to spell words in the English language
“Georgia, I will miss you” Where’s it going?
West side in this motherfucker
Beastie Boys shit
This one confused me. I’m pretty sure the artist is calling for more human rights but the message is just plain ol’ sloppy
John
The sun will come out tomorrow
In the heart on the right is a Georgian flag. Perhaps the one on the left is Estonian?
Heartbreaker
“Kill Me. I am Bill”
A squirrel on crack riding the peace train
For some reason, I can totally picture Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat living here…or better yet – that dude with the yellow and black shirt you have to find in Where’s Waldo books.
Modern Tbilisi
Presidential Palace
Presidential Palace from further away
Casino – Ding ding ding ding ding ding!!!
Church with Kartlis Deda atop that hill there in the background
Kartlis Deda – The Mother Georgia statue on the hill overlooking the city. In her left hand is a bowl of wine to greet those who come as friends and a sword in her right for those who come as enemies
The Bridge of Peace spanning the Kura River
Massive stone piano
Holy Trinity Cathedral – the main Cathedral of the Georgian Orthodox Church in Tbilisi
One of the not-so-renovated houses I came across wandering through the capital
Where da extreme makeovers at?
Please tell me this isn’t a wheelchair ramp
Three men and a penis
Old man walking in front of a tragically beat-to-shit building
The front door of the building in the photo previous. She’s beautiful.
Love to fuck or…
…Fuck Love?
Pretty much all Georgian license plates had three letters and three numbers. This one said “TIT”…
…”LOL”
Just an average-ass window I felt like takin’ a picture of
Mural on a wall
Another mural
Now walk it out
Too funny
Ciggy vender
Awesome building
Door of that same building
Building from the front
Cable car to the top of the hill
Equestrian statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali in the historic Metekhi neighborhood of Tbilisi as seen from the cable car
View from the cable car
View of the city from the top
Man at the top of the hill
Back down in the town, I saw a staircase leading to a creepy underpass with a tag offering “Free Hugs”
On that same staircase, it said “If you never try, you’ll never know!!!” I’m okay with never knowing about the free hugs in the dark dingy corridor.
Big head dude
Child playing on the monument
I’d do those drawings
Tbilisi time
“Fuck You Beach” Man, that guy must really not like sand
Fuck da Po-po
I didn’t cut off the last word of this thought, someone just didn’t conclude what it was that they’d rather fuck instead of doing
“Polis, Go and ‘Fack’ Yourself”
Some crazy head
First Wendy’s I spotted abroad. Wish it’d been open at the time
Instead, I ate McDonald’s to alleviate my homesickness. Doesn’t it look like it says “PORN” with a backwards “N?”
Speaking of McDonalds porn, the wall of the restaurant said “buns, desire” and “pleasure.” What you tryin’ to tell me McDonalds?
Locals hangin’ on a statue outside Mickey D’s
Toilet graffiti
“Fuck the system” Agreed
Georgian National Academy of Sciences
Theater troupe?
One last door for good measure
David Gareja
Irakli filling his car with natural gas to drive me out to the David Gareja monastery complex
Just chillin’ across from the gas station in front of a building painted in colors typically associated with hot dog stands
The road to David Gareja was surrounded by endless, hilly green pastures that looked like the ones the Teletubbies roam around in
Farm
Cattle crossing
Way out in the distance, I saw this big white spot moving along the side of a hill which turned out to be…
…a huge flock of sheep
“‘T’ for t-time to leave?”
My driver, Irakli, with a Jesus piece hangin’ from his rear view mirror
The terrain as we pulled up to the monastery which sits along the border with Azerbaijan
Here’s where Irakli dropped me off and told me to hike up that hill on the right
View from the base of the hill
One of the first monastic structures spotted along the climb
View of the 6th century David Gareja Monastery from the top
Same deal, but more focused on the main attraction
Church
Georgian Orthodox priest with a sick Jesus piece
Around the complex
View from higher up as I continued the climb
Little boy torture chamber?
View of the complex from the other side
Same, but closer
Do’ wit a cross on it
View from inside the complex
Rooms carved into the rock
Church
Exterior wall
Another do’
View of my exit
Sign I saw while returning to the hostel
Always good to see the stars and bars while abroad
