Georgia, day one

I've been on holiday! The first family holiday for 13 years. Back then, it was adults and teenagers, this time it was adults and old people. Oh well, time marches on...  Plus now we are five.
So... we flew from Luton to Kutaisi  late at night and woke in the morning to see from the balcony of our AirBnB a distant range of blue snow-capped mountains shimmering in the sunshine like a mirage. The Southern Caucasus. (No, this wasn't Georgia USA.)

Kutaisi  is a rising but still provincial-seeming city with a café au lait river running through it. We wandered into the market,  browsed a book stall of impenetrable volumes, stuffed  khachapuri  (hot cheese bread) in the park, were escorted for a while by a friendly street dog and ended up at the wine cellar to sample Georgia's most celebrated product.

This  relief mural in the central square is a relic of the Soviet era and appears to depict scenes and heroes from Georgia's history and mythology (interspersed with bunches of grapes) along with a cluster of  grim Russian  faces  that nobody was sad to see the back of in 1991. (There may be more to it but I can't find any information.) 

 Elder son's current hairstyle, thumbnailed, proved a major show-stopper. In  this profoundly macho society where men all wear conventional clothes and short back'n'sides, Huw's purple corkscrew curls  swivelled heads and provoked reactions of incredulity, horror, mirth and frank admiration. 

Extras.
The view north
Old houses along the Rioni river
Khachapuri cheesy flatbread
Streetdog buries piece of khachapuri
Distilling chacha (brandy) from grape pomace
The alphabet is challenging
Old women (and some young ones) wear black
Old men pass the time in the park