Monday - Tbilisi Out at 8.30. Bought some tea from across the road for 30 tetri - small cubes of tea, with Russian script, so probably old and undrinkable. Long four hour trip back to Tbilisi, with the coach driver attempting to kill us all several times on the way back. Some bee hives on the way back The Caucasus mountains in the background.

We arrived at Tbilisi at 12.30, same hotel, but different room. The afternoon was a free afternoon, so we took a taxi to the old part of town, intending to visit a few shops and view a few sites. The taxi driver could not understand where we wanted to go, despite the written instructions from Nino, so using Dirk Gently principles he followed another taxi.

We lost the others in the cathedral we were looking at, they disappeared out of another door. So we looked at some carpets, and other shops, no idea what the price was. It though does appear that Frank bought a few.

Found a small cafe shop with building works going on around it, with some tables outside. Bought a couple of Kazbegi beers and some nuts. The waitress followed us out and chatted. Outside there were a couple of men, the waitress told us they were her boss and a friend. Soon they produced a bottle of brandy and some glasses and we joined them in the brandy. Three bottles, the last very smooth was said to be 100 years old, but think there must have been a translation problem. Others joined us, and brought food, long sausage rolls and cheese rolls. The owner was a doctor, another an editor in chief of a broadsheet, and another a colonel. The editor and doctor met every day to chat. The poor waitress was banned to the bar.

Escape after they left, and we wondered back to the hotel, stopping on the way to have a sweet Turkish coffee in a smart cafe with a good loo.

The evening was a blur from an over indulgence of alcohol.