Lisi Lake 27 June 2009

Vlado and decided to investigate the third lake in cycling distance from Tbilisi: Lisi Lake.

The fist activity during the day was to buy a mountain bike for me. My small Brompton has its limitation when it comes to cycling on the Georgian roads of very changing quality and of course it is not suited for of-road biking. And the gearing does not fit to the step slopes around Tbilisi.

So we had asked our bike-mender for help and advice and together we went to a quite fancy out-door shop, and found a basic mountain bike suitable for my needs. We took the bike back to (seemed to be the local Mecca for bike enthusiasts, next to an old and rather worn down cycle-racing track) where our bike-mender should adjust the bike and make it ready for use. He said it would take 20 minutes but actually it took 1hour: 40 minutes for socialising with the bike enthusiasts and 20 to work on my bike. It was a nice and friendly environment, so I was sorry that I could not participate in the very interesting discussions.

When the bike was ready Vlado and I went on a short trip to Lisi Lake, rather much uphill from Tbilisi, with nice views over the town. And it seemed to be a good starting point for trips into the hills around Tbilisi, so it is probably not the last time we visit the place.

After a beer and some swimming in the lake we stated downhill back to Tbilisi.

Tbilisi Reservoir 13 June 2009

This Saturday our cycling trip was again to the Tbilisi Sea.

On our way up to the reservoir we had many nice views over the town. One of them was from a beautiful little old town where we went to ask for way. From the church we had a nice view to Tbilisi Castle.

It was a hard job for my Brompton folding bike, which is more for city cycling than for mountain biking.

Tbilisi Sea is very popular both for bathing and for sports fishing. We tried some bathing this time, next time we will maybe try the fishing.

Next to our bathing place was an abandoned soviet apartment block now used by cows (which you find everywhere where there is sport with grass) for their siesta in the middle of day.

On our way we passed a stream with raw sewage going directly to the reservoir for drinking water, not a very pleasant thought, for us Tbilisi inhabitants using the same water for dinking water. The wastewater seemed to come from a broken sewage pipe.

In the one end of the reservoir there is a huge monument on a hill visible form all around the lake. It looked like a pagan temple, probably by purpose. It is made during soviet times by a famous Georgian artist and shows some episodes from Georgian history.