Stalin's favourite vodka......

Kids playing soccer in the snow in Bakuriani

"Would you like to try some of Stalin's favourite vodka?" is not a question you are asked everyday.  But then again, Georgia is a country where they say 'the guest comes from God' and hospitality, food and endless toasts at mealtimes are a national pastime.  Stalin was Georgian, and despite the fact that the Georgians suffered terribly under his rule of the Soviet Union, there is today an element of nostalgia about his Georgian roots.  His home city of Gori hosts a large Stalin museum, and small Stalin 'busts' are available for sale everywhere you go in the country.

Village of Bakuriani

Last week I was in Georgia for strategy meetings with our country directors from Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.  We met in a high village called Bakuriani in central Georgia.  Bakuriani is an old Soviet-style mountain resort with spectacular scenery, antiquated hotels and ageing ski infrastructure.  Georgia is having a heavy winter this year, so it was a long and icy drive up to the village but beautiful once we got there.  We had productive meetings, managed to get onto the slopes for a few hours of skiing and also enjoyed plenty of 'khinkali', which are a traditional type of Georgian dumpling and chacha. There's a special finesse to eating khinkali, and it's fairly standard in a restaurant to order 10 or more of these per person (and that's just the entree)!

The uncrowded slopes of Bakuriani

Georgia is a fascinating country.  Independent since 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union, there have been a number of key events over the last 20 years that have shaped the independent country.  These include a civil war, ongoing and unresolved conflict with Russia over the autonomous regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and also the so called 'Rose Revolution' in 2003 that led to the overthrow of Eduard Shevardnadze and rise of Mikheil Saakashvili to power.  Georgia has a growing economy, although poverty throughout the country remains widespread.  The capital Tbilisi has undergone a remarkable transformation since I first travelled there over 10 years ago.  The Government has spent up big to improve infrastructure and preserve the many ancient sites and monuments around the city.  A walk around the old town is particularly impressive at night, when the city and it's many Orthodox cathedrals are lit up.  

Getting around the village in the old style

After a fairly frenetic travel schedule last year, one of my new years resolutions has been to slow down a bit when I travel, especially when visiting several countries on a trip.  I was able to put this into practice in Georgia when a colleague and I visited one of the old Turkish baths in Tbilisi after work one evening.  After resting in a 40 degree naturally heated sulfur bath for an hour or so, we were scrubbed to within an inch of our lives by an old burly and toothless Georgian gentleman with a heavy wire brush.  May not sound so appealing but actually remarkably theraputic.  Perhaps it's the presbyterian and puritan blood in me.  

The Georgian capital Tbilisi

Tbilisi

Map showing the 'breakaway' regions of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia

Georgian 'khinkali'.  Would you like 10 or 20 sir??