Georgians like to eat, they like to make interminable toasts and then drink, and as wikitravel puts it they "believe that guests come from God." Anyway they like fattening their guests up and getting them soused, maybe they were hiding some Hansel and Gretel ovens somewhere. It would fit with the lovely European old city.

Bewildered by the ready availability of espresso and pastries, I barely made it out of Tbilisi. Travellers that did reported incredibly weird shit in the mountains. Georgia has been a Christian country for a long time, but I don't know any variety of Christianity that includes sacrificing goats and leaving their heads on little shrines that women aren't allowed to approach.

Istanbul tomorrow to meet Özge. Looking forward to a shave and (through her) being able to communicate with the locals for the first time in months. I've been constantly astonished at the friendliness of almost everyone everywhere, but after a while you exhaust the possibilities of pidgin English/Russian/Mandarin. "Ah! Los Angeles!" <big smile, thumbs up> "You like [name of interlocutor's city]? Yes?" <big smile, thumbs up> "Eat, eat!"