It was to Fatehpur I went after my brief stay in Ajmer. It was a long journey, for this was in an area north of Jaipur known as Shekhavati, famous for its havelis. My old Lonely Planet guide was enthusiastic about these, but they are still still largely unknown to tourists, and I had most places there to myself. The ...
Before I move on to the journey to Rajasthan however I should write a little bit about the field visits on my last day in Delhi. We saw two immensely useful projects Aide et Action South Asia conducts. One was a centre for the children of prostitutes working in one of their principal haunts, an area in north Delhi near ...
After presenting on this blog an account of my visit to Georgia, which I had shown before on Facebook I will do the same for my visit last year to India, for the pictures are worth displaying in abundance. I went towards the end of July, for a meeting in Delhi, though first I spent a night with my old ...
The high Caucasus and a long evening After that bi-coloured river we began to climb, up and up, getting after several hairpin bends to Gudauri, famed as a ski resort, with heaps of hotels on the peaks. Alex suggested we look at a Friendship Monument on a cliff, a relic of Soviet days, but we declined the suggestion and went ...
The opera and a drive north We set off early for the opera, walking down the main Rustavelli road where Vasantha did some shopping and we had a quick snack in a café. It was nice after that to sit outside the beautiful opera building, watching the audience turn up for what was the premiere of a new production of ...
Davit Gareja I was up early again next morning, though it was to find the terrace occupied by two couples who seem to have been there all night, and were listening to loud music. But they were pleasant enough, and my two cups of coffee came up one after the other, and this morning the sunrise over the hills was ...
Another evening in Telavi Last on our list in that tour round Telavi was the Nekrevi Monastery, another set of churches piled together this time on an outcrop, with the remains too of a Bishop’s Palace. The quarters of the monks seem to have been tucked away discreetly under an overhang, and I had to rush to see the rest ...
A tour round Telavi Our first stop was the Chavchavadze house, originally built early in the 19th century after Alexander Chavchavadze had fought for the Russians against Napoleon. But his son David was bankrupted when he had to pay a ransom to a Muslim leader in the Caucasus – and I recalled then that Chechnya which was part of Russia ...
An evening in Telavi It was still light when we got to Telavi so I set off to explore the city fortress, an attempt Vasantha abandoned when the gate turned out to be all the way round the grand walls. There was a vast empty space within the walls, with some modern sculpture displayed in one corner, but there was ...
I breakfasted on some of the chicken and khachapuri while Vasantha contented himself with cherries, and then we set out in search of a taxi to take us to the Gorio fortress, which dated it seemed from Medea’s time. My Dean at Oxford, who had visited the place on a cruise, had told me the place was in ruins, but ...
After Gelati was the Motsameta Monastery which, our final stop after that grand complex, was on a much smaller scale. Since there was a short walk to it Vasantha stayed back in the car. But despite my by now aching feet I enjoyed the walk through a tranquil forest, the entrance to the complex over a sort of drawbridge, and ...
Having settled into our hotel in Kutaisi, we went out for dinner. We had eaten nothing all day, except for some fruit which Vasantha had acquired in abundance, so we wanted something substantial, and were lucky to find a restaurant very near the hotel which served excellent Georgian food. I also for the first time on this visit had wonderful ...
While walking through Tbilisi that day I had come across a tourist driver who offered what seemed a good rate for day trips outside the city. But back in the hotel we contacted Alex the driver who had brought Vasantha from the airport, and he gave us a slightly better rate, and then added on a drive to the next ...
It was not too difficult, though a trifle expensive, to go to Georgia on my return trip from Paris, or rather from London, for I went after Paris to England so I could have a few days in Oxford. Gettng from London to Tbilisi involved a night flight via Azerbaijan, which brought back memories of my exploration of that country ...
Though as I noted our ambassador in Moscow and his family were enormously kind during that 1975 visit there, the most support was provided by Piyadasa, who had worked at home and then been found a position at the Attorney General’s office where my father worked. The first trip round Sri Lanka that I remember well, when we took our ...
I begin with the new year a new series. On this blog towards the end of last year there were accounts of the last two journeys I made in 2022, to Kerala and then to Italy and Croatia. But the earlier two, to Georgia and to Rajasthan, I had only recorded on my Facebook page, so I thought I would ...
But we left the party on that my last night in Janja Gora early, and I had a good night’s sleep before getting up for sunrise. That day however, Friday November 11th, was cloudy, though there was sunshine for me to read after breakfast. Lunch then was late, for a friend from Zagreb was visiting, with Daniel having arranged for ...
I got to Daniel’s on November 7th, in time for lunch. I had told him I would eat something on the way, but he was having none of that, which made sense for lunch was the main meal of the day for them. He had prepared the most delicious spare ribs of pork, but that was just the highlight of ...
I was given a splendid breakfast next morning by a lively little old man, whose apparent affection for Sri Lanka reminded me of what I had found half a century back. And then I set off to explore, going first to the Cathedral which was practically next to the hotel. There was a service going on and a girl at ...
Later in the afternoon I made myself some camomile tea, remembering that this had been supplied by the hotel on my previous year too, and I had much enjoyed it. And the, as the light faded, for the evenings were now drawing in, the rain stopped, so I was able to go on the balcony again though there was no ...
