Two hundred days

It was two hundred days yesterday since Salome Zourabichvili was forced to vacate her residence but refused to step down as President of Georgia. Her far right successor, a popular footballer bank rolled by Russia now leads an illegitimate government.
We are in Tbilisi and over a wonderful lunch our new Georgian guide, Salome, was happy to discuss politics. Like the ousted president she is courageous and is protesting most evenings outside the parliament about the increasingly repressive government derailing Tbilisi’s EU ambitions.
An interesting day as we drove across the border, the passport control was populated by nesting swifts and sleepy dogs. Once into Georgia the landscape became more arable and it was obvious that there was a much more diverse population.
I finally retrieved my case from Tbilisi airport which involved an exciting taxi ride through the backstreets to avoid various road closures. Back in the hotel I showered and changed into fresh clothes, wonderful, and set out to follow a city walking route I’d found on AllTrails. By chance I came upon my companions who were doing something similar so I joined them and had dinner which I had intended to miss. We celebrated our arrival in Georgia and the reuniting of me and my case with an amber wine, white wine aged on skins giving it an orange hue. Very delicious it was too.