Monomad: A failed adventure, dangerous strays
In one of the shittest parts of Tbilisi, there's a really cool Soviet structure which was once a museum for archeology. For some reason it's no longer used, despite being something of great beauty. It sits at the top of a hill and now just rots. Much like most places in this part of the world, new or old. Now, I have harsh words for the area I attempted to navigate for a number of reasons: the main is that it is not developed for people to live in. It's essentially one long highway that goes through the city with no regard for those who may be trying to walk to and from certain areas within it. There are few if not no paths whatsoever, leaving you walking by the side of a road in which people drive over 80MPH like maniacs. The next problem is that with all this decay, it's mostly an empty space on the sides and home to a plethora of horribly unfriendly dogs. So imagine this: endless cars roaring by you, nothing but broken roads and empty warehouse type buildings, and stray dogs every few metres; most of which are ready to bark at anything. In attempt to get off that highway, you're met with the odd rustic home. Places unkept for decades. Abandoned areas of industrialism where they are more dumping grounds rather than points of historical interest.
Getting to this spot was an insane adventure that I'd consider a failure. A bus trip that seemed simple, with Google Maps claiming it'd be a short walk across the highway somewhere and then I'm exactly where I wanted to be. Imagine how simple that'd be, right? Surely things couldn't go wrong! But they did. And so wrong that I had to give up entirely on checking out this spot and simply go home.
Fresh off the bus the first thing I noticed was that up ahead the map was telling me I needed to take my walking segment of the trip on the highway itself. Which included a pass that would take me to the other side of the highway where I generally needed to be. Now, this is a highway with people going 80MPH as I mentioned before, with three lanes on either side. So that'd mean I'd be playing a game against six lanes of cars in total just to cross the road. It wasn't happening, and even with less lanes there's no way I'd ever consider that. Instead I walked more, looking on the map physically for an area that might offer a crossing. I stumbled into an underpass that was definitely not used anymore. Somehow pipes above the ground, decay everywhere. Overgrowth and bits of concrete would scatter the area. Nobody else in the area used this, it was clear. This was an underpass forgotten in time. And I could see why. This didn't feel safe nor did it feel practical. I assumed that'd be the worst of it all, and what ensued was me walking back where I came from the opposite side of the road towards the area I wanted to be at. The path disappeared.
This led to me walking on the main road and just hoping nobody was stupid enough to come close to me. Bits of safer walkways were found in the general fuel stations or pop up stores that would cater to home appliances and furniture that nobody seemed to visit. For some reason this highway is treated like one long road mall in which shops sell various home items that aren't of any decent quality. I remember a place in Armenia just like this, and I hated that area so much. I couldn't imagine how anyone could live near this, how impossible it was to navigate, how void of purpose it was and how clearly it was all thrown together by poor planning and development without direction.
Eventually I came to an area that seemed to branch off towards the former archaeology museum and that excited me a lot. The sun was setting and I was so ready to capture this area on the hill with the drone. Beautiful viewpoints of the architecture as well as the surroundings of the city. I walked down a road which seemed mostly empty. A few stray dogs would lay sleeping in their peace. Though in the horizon, one stood tall and still. I did not like how it looked at me. And I knew if I went forward more, nobody would be there to help. Cars were coming through the area and even those got chased and barked at. I made the decision to turn back and avoid this potential problem immediately. This led me back on the highway more, and I continued to look on the map for a way up the hill. I saw another a bit more up ahead and attempted that. It took me behind a shop to which a group of strays would be laying. Instantly they got up, instantly began to bark at me. I turned to leave the area, but saw them also get up and start running towards me. I ran. I didn't run as fast as I could, as I knew around the corner there were shops I could enter that would provide safety. I got back around the corner and waited to see if the dogs would follow. They did. Continuing to bark at me. A local asked where I wanted to go, and I told him the museum. He said there was no route from around here. Thanks, Google!
He also informed me that those dogs would happily eat me. We laughed about it a bit and he showed me an actual route to get there. I headed in that direction, and at this point it was peak golden hour. Beautiful lighting. I approached the general area I needed to be in, and I could see the museum up on the hill from that point. But more stray dogs occupied the generally empty space I needed to pass through. I had enough. I decided I'd cross the road where I saw a park and try to at least fly my drone over the street and get some shots of the museum that way.
To my luck, more stray dogs despite the park being full of people. One tiny little shit came yapping at me and followed me around. I knew I couldn't stick around there. I made the decision to cross the road again and go home, ultimately coming home with nothing. A total failure of an adventure. And a realisation that Tbilisi has an area I have a general hatred for. Stray dogs, poor urban planning, and far too reliant on cars.
