 After it became clear that I couldn't attend all the activities planned for the second free day (although, quite often I wish to be in two places at once), I took the Solomonic decision of spending the time in my room, in leisure. But something in Georgia's magic pulled me out of this sensible plan. There is more than all the beautiful things I have described before, there are a lot of small and apparently 'insignifiant' details confering the place a unique and irrepetible character. For instance, where else in the wide World "mama" would mean father and "deda" would stand for mother?!
In the same style that Georgia reversed the most loved words in the world, I also decided to suddenly change my plans, once the morning came. With my eyes still closed, I took the best decision: to join the excursion. And I don't regret even for the slightest bit this abrupt change of schedule, since the organized tour was interesting yet light, with visits to several beautiful places. Together with the other two players (Alexandra Kosteniuk and Nafisa Muminova) who embarked this trip, we enriched our folkloric perception about Georgia with successive visits to a wine museum (no tasting this time!), a house with manual carpet manufacturing and a church.
The happy lot
Georgia is unique for its wine producing in clay vessels, like this one for example!
5000 liters can go in, which made the President of the Georgian Chess Federation,
Gia Giorgadze, to think of a possible chess match held inside of it!
And this is how the wine was kept...see the holes in the ground
If you are a wine lover, Georgia is the place to be
Our ears were again delighted with an unexpected recital from one of
the most famous singer and composer in the Kakheti region
Hand made is always the best
Gia Giorgadze trying to get a good price
Getting ready to visit the church - since we are all women, we needed to have skirts.
But the problem was solved quickly, as they are always prepared for visitors like us.
Also for men, if the trousers are too short, the issue is fixed within a minute
The rest of the players spent their time by either crossing the lake on hydrobycicles or relaxing in their rooms. The most daring of them where the Chinese and Indian players who ventured... horse riding! The latter activity didn't fail to tempt Alexandra Kosteniuk, Anna Muzychuk and Nafisa Muminova, once the excursion was over. And I couldn't miss the chance of immortalizing them as Amazons, of course!
The most experienced was Alexandra
 
But Nafisa and Anna enjoyed it as well
No chess - more relaxed expressions
The evening ended with a session of group pictures. All the players received from the organizers t-shirts of good quality, matching their sizes (almost) perfectly. Many times it happens that sponsors don't pay attention to this latter aspect, as long as the name of the company is clearly visible. Fortunately, this was hardly the case now - all the ladies looked superb in their t-shirts!
 Chess players are multi-talented; and they do enjoy life, too! For more photos from the second free day, kindly visit the gallerySocar photos can be found hereBy Alina l'Ami |
